We have a decent sized 50 W china laser in our local makerspace with the typical honeycomb bed to lay your materials on.
I’ve been doing improvised setups to place my materials inside reproducably, but mostly this has been done with cutoffs. Also to level them up to not get reflections on acrylic and provide enough access for suction for fumes.
Anyone got a recommendation for a jig that:
Is fairly easy and cheap to diy
withstands a few cuts meant for 5 mm wood or acrylic
doesn’t introduce reflection hazards
elevates the material at least a few mm and leaves room for cutouts and multiple stabilisation spots
allows for a repeatable and square placement of materials (down to about a mm)
I was thinking along the line of some square-contraption that I can fixate on top of the current bed at a right angle + some pegs to elevate and support the material, both made from matte aluminum square tubes.
I use lots of different types of jigs, they are all made out of either 3.5mm mdf or plywood, some hold just one piecet others upto seven, mostly leather. Each jig has locating holes which go over 10mm pegs on the bed of my laser, the holes are in exactly the same place for each jig, so I can change jigs and always know the laser head is in the right position without having to re-align it. I used to locate the pegs directly in the honeycomb bed, but now I have a piece of laser cut laminate flooring which has the pegs located in it, this allows for more accurate positioning.
Something like a square, that will also support the material (built-in or through additional material) and which also allows for repetitive material-placement through some kind of alignment to the bed.
So far I’m considering something like a thick square with some attached pegs to locate and fixate it, combined with some (possibly magnetic) blocks / pegs as support.
(the flat ones)
