The manufacturer’s manual lists the working area as 63.0"x 39.4" Has anyone cut something that tests these limits? I’m trying to determine if that’s truly the usable area or whether there’s some unusable margin space.
(For reference, the bed size is listed as 66.9"x 44.5").
The laser head will in fact get out to those margins, but because the bed isn’t perfectly flat and square, actually cutting at that size is… challenging.
You’ll want to make sure the optics are brand-spanking-new-and-clean if you’re going to try to cut this size too.
Also, keeping your workpiece flat to the bed across the full size of the bed is a challenge, particularly if it’s wood. I would imagine plastic is easier, less likely to have warps and rolls to it.
Thanks. I plan to cut some large pieces of fabric. I plan to focus in the center and test the power settings in all four corners of the bed. If it doesn’t cut 100% I can take a scissors to it; I’m leaving a bunch of tabs as it is.
In my experience with Big Thunder over the lead up to Christmas, there’s a fairly significant bow down in the middle of the bed. So if you’re focusing in the middle, the edges will be too high, and you might get some wider cuts.
That said, I’ve never used the laser to cut fabric, my guess is that it’s quite a bit more forgiving than 1/8" baltic birch.
Table flip!!
@John_Marlow i would divide any cut pattern into sections. Then you can adjust power/speed settings for each section
Are all 4 corners of the bed on the same plane? And is that plane parallel to the gantry? If so, would a piece of 3/4 MDF stay flat if cut to the size of the bed or would it sag in the middle?
You really don’t want to use MDF as a bed for cutting. The burn/smoke marks would be very noticeable on many items you would be cutting, and it would also prevent the optimal use of the air assist since it could not blow through the full cut like you can with the mesh bed.
That air assist may make that challenging: leave it on and the fabric might flop around and cut through someplace it shouldn’t (leaving lots of tabs as you propose would minimize that issue)
Turn it off and the smoke from the fabric might cloud the lens and/or the fabric might burn.
there is a blade system underneath that supports the honeycomb so there should be no sag, at least we have not had reports of this unless too heavy of an object were placed on the bed.
the nova 63 has a work area of 1600x1000mm(63.0″x39.4″) and the laser beam will reach those extents. the actual bed size is 1700x1130mm(66.9″ x 44.5″) so yes there is a margin.