Some new toys for my Taig

[fretsman]

Laser jig is finally setup

This is a simple laser jig setup that I "lifted" from Greolt (Greg) from here at the CNC Zone. He shared his macro and I must say I love it for those "not so precise" setups when you just want to find a quick location of material. I have a lazer button setup on my Mach 3 screen and when I have the laser just over the area I want to start cutting, I just click the button and the X and Y travel over to the exact point the laser crosshair previously was. The Laser holder is made from black acetal.

My vac jig is just about completed and it works perfectly with the 1/8' O-ring gasket. It was made from Nylatron and was free so I can't complain. I'd like to do a longer grid someday but this will do for now. And just so nobody asks, "how the heck is that working?", the black piece of HDPE is just sitting on top of the vac jig to show the crosshairs, it is obviously not being "pulled" down as it's not completely covering the gasket.

I still want to make some side clamps to keep the material from moving laterally when being machined or engraved. Double faced tape is good but If I can get this to work, which it seems to be, it'll make material changes nuch easier and quicker.

[SpeedsCustom]

Dude! What the heck! Thats awesome stuff right there. I like that lazer set-up. Can't those be taken off from drills etc?

I rarely use an edge-finder, should start...but still. Lots of times I just line it up with some jogging etc. Thats nice!

-Jason

[fretsman]

Thanks, Jason.

Can't those be taken off from drills etc?

Actually those are usually 2 single lined lasers that mesh on the table. This is incorporated into one unit. Defintely not the "precise" way to pickup an edge but for just a quick finder, it works great and has that "cool" factor that we all love.

[SpeedsCustom]

Sure is cool!

Still have so much work to do on my taig. I love the taig!


-Jason

[Teyber12]

How do you use your vacuum setup? sorry im a noob... Do you place an object on it and pull a vacuum? is this enough to hold down for milling operations? what vacuum pump are you using?

very nice

[fretsman]

Thanks -

Yes, I place the part down on the grid with the gasket located at the perimeter of the part and turn on the vac and give it a little push down and you can hear the pump change sound as it creates the vacuum.

I haven't done any steel but I have taken very light cuts with a fly cutter to clean up aluminum and plastics by clamping plates all around the material so that it can't move sideways.

You can see more of my little setup here:

http://cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60058