How much Z travel?
I’ve got a couple of ideas bouncing around in my head for an adjustable Z table with a flat top (no threaded rods poking up) but the mechanism would eat up some of the height.
What amount of Z travel do folks find useful? I’m primarily expecting to compensate for different thicknesses of sheet goods. I’d remove the Z table for larger objects or to place a rotary attachment.
I cut a hole into the button for the Z Table, so i could put a chest or some similar in it.
For most things you typically only need up to 25mm (1") of travel. This covers cutting / engraving on 3mm to 6mm sheet goods and Engraving on 25mm boards. 50mm would be even better. To be sure I also do things that range all the way down to the floor of the laser for engraving large objects. But 0-25mm covers 90% of things I work on.
…for sheet goods you only need the thickness of the material?
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This design does not use an adjustable table, rather it clamps the sheet goods below the focal point.
@Scorch came up with the idea and built one and this design was derived from that. I have all the parts but its in que to build.
@Scorch has certainly come up with an elegant concept. Knowing myself and my propensity for pushing to the limit, I expect I’ll eventually want to try multiple passes to cut thicker materials, so I’ll want to lower the table height without shifting the position of the material in the X or Y directions. I promise to share the idea as soon as I get a model pulled together.
There have been a few scissor lifts tried but as you point out, there is not much room for adjustment. It is hard to have our cake and eat it too!