![]() ![]() Which means, we are using it for something that isn’t it’s intended use – but it’s not like that’s stopped wargamers before!īasically, it’s a crapshoot when you purchase one of these – and that’s something you need to be aware of before reading any further. The legend goes that these Laser Cutters were originally created for engraving Japanese Hanko stamps ( A rubber seal that is used in place of a signiture in Japan, of which the average person has four different ones – Ginkōin (銀行印), Jitsuin (実印), Mitomein (認印) and Sanmonban (三文判) depending on the purpose), which is why they have an incredibly tiny clamp in them that is useless for absolutely anything except this purpose. There is no single manufacturer or official design spec for these, and they are all slightly different, but work on the same or at least very similar principles, a blue sheet metal box, containing an (allegedly) 40 watt laser (but usually closer to 30 watts), using roughly similar controls (some are analogue, some are digital), and with roughly similar connections. The “K40” Laser is a catch all term for the blue (and sometimes red), water cooled Chinese made lasers you find for around $300-400 USD on Amazon and Ebay. If you see something that should be changed, improved or updated, feel free to email me or comment at the bottom of the page. I’ll aim to keep it updated as I learn more, things go wrong, things get fixed and things get upgraded, as is usually the case with these cheaper Chinese made products. Hopefully this will become the essential resource or wargamers who are looking to purchase a K40 style laser cutter with everything all in one place. It’s been a massive learning curve, and there’s plenty of things that I wish I knew going in, things I would have done differently, and other tips and tricks that I’ll aim to put together in one resource to make it easier for those who are looking to add a laser cutter to their list of toys (in addition to FDM and Resin 3D printers) for miniature and tabletop wargaming. ![]() So pulled the trigger and started ordering parts.As an Amazon Associate will earn from qualifying purchases.Ī month of so ago I purchased myself one of these big blue “K40” style Chinese laser cutters from Ebay, and over the last few weeks I’ve been working towards getting it usable for cutting and engraving MDF and Acrylic plastic for a wide variety of miniature wargames products: from Tokens and Templates to Terrain. So after I had gone through a few different iterations, I was comfortable with the design. ![]() This should correspond with optimizing the size of components to a common metric, I’m using aluminium slotted profile for the build, which are typically sold in 1 metre length so having components that were say 510mm would be more wasteful than say 490mm, so that was something to be aware of. ![]() I wanted to make the cutting bed area as large as possible for the overall footprint of the machine, and that footprint could be no wider than a door frame, since a single door was the only way in or out of my shed. The design considerations were mainly motivated by 2 things - size and price. I started by modelling the assemblies in CAD - I used Rhino because that’s what I was fastest with at the time, but if I was doing it again I’d use Fusion 360 for it’s parametric features. I thought it would be valuable to share an overview of my experience and explain my reasoning and methodologies, so even if you’re not specifically interested in building a complete laser cutter from scratch, you’ll hopefully be able to take something away from this. ![]()
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