40W Shieldless Replacement Plate

Snapmaker 2.0
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First:

I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY IN YOUR DECISION TO REDUCE THE SAFETY FEATURES OF YOUR MACHINE. ALWAYS make sure to use any class 4 laser in a safe manner and ensure any available protection is in place.

On my immediate first test run, I got annoyed with how low the shield rode above the workpiece. Any form of hold-down that might get close has to be very slimline. So I figured… I’d remove it!

I took the shield off my 40W and modeled it up to remove it. My goal was to have more open access under the laser so it doesn’t ram into my hold downs, and to help smoke clear quicker from underneath the laser. After my first test, the orange shield was already fogged up with smoke particles.

I’ve also included models with a full surround opaque shield (making the lens area solid) and a replacement with the window, you’ll have to source 80x15x1mm acrylic yourself, or salvage from your broken old one.

Models can be found here.

A bonus I found was the fact it gives me 8mm of clearance between the cone and material, so ~5mm of safe Z travel for cutting.

Reduce safety, increase capability…

18mm plywood.

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Again, reminder, removing safety equipment is never a good thing to do unless you ABSOLUTELY know what you’re doing.

I started with the base in Luban of cutting 10mm basswood. 1 pass, 220mm/min. Works well for 12mm maple plywood.

Knowing I had 5mm of travel, and knowing I’d need multiple passes I sped it up a little and began trying a combo of pass/z-drop/speed. Ended with 5 passes, 1mm drop between each.

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Just catching up a bit of reading here in the forum, now being a 40W owner. I had exactly the same issue - this shield is ridiculously low, if you have bright stock material, it reflects on the outside - you can hardly place the crosshairs correctly. Also, the added Z travel is good to put the focus point into the material rather than on top. Thanks for sharing this model - I guess I’ll make one myself!

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Hopefully it serves you well. :slight_smile: Always keep safety in mind, and ensure all other protections are in place.

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You cannot stress this too often. I am extremely cautious, always wearing goggles, having additional pairs for bystanders etc. - I value my eyesight! And I love this (admittedly by now very old) joke:

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I have this hanging on the door to my workshop;

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EDIT: Also I always refer to my laser goggles as “Safety Squints”

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After the shield moved my workpieces multiple times, I also removed it. My laser is in the artisan enclosure under my workbench. I just laser wood, so no reflections, and when I have a look for it, I wear my goggles. Especially since my Artisan is low, I have to knee in the floor to see the crosshair. Without enclosure it would be must have, but with it, it is my third protection which is a bit over the top.

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I would not be too sure here. I’ve no idea if they changed things with Artisan, but with Snapmaker 2.0 they admitted to the enclosure’s acrylic only having ~OD1. This is not enough, even for the 1.6W. You’d need OD4 min. With the SM2 enclosure, there also are tons of gaps from the folding doors, the cutouts for the touchscreen etc - so I’d say it is not really an optic protection, more a container for the fumes. With Artisan, they at least have the gaps much reduced - but what the OD rating of the acrylic is, I don’t know (my ignorance, perhaps they have it stated somewhere).

Some people argue that you only have diffuse radiation, but I stumbled across this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK_SZdMy8vc where they show that even this can be considerable.

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The Artisan enclosure is Sold as laser class 1, so it has to filter all reflections with no need to wear goggles (in theory!). I just wear my od6 when working directly on it additionally.
The Artisan enclosure is sealed, there are no gaps to front, sides and top. Just the cable hole at the back.

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The SM2 one also, and they even have some certification document - honestly, I have strong doubts… And better safe than sorry - just to use some more worn-out phrases…

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For me you can also say that for every Laser goggle. They say od6, but who knows.
There is a German YouTube video where a technican used normal plexiglass to filter blue Laser light in the Wave range of the snapmaker and measured the filtering with a Spectrometer. The result was: also the cheapest no-name-plexiglass filters to unharmful level when it is orange/red.
But in the end everybody has to set his own limits. It is not my workplace, so it is my responsibility. And I never ever look into the laser. And I did not on 10W or 1,6W. So i just removed the shield on my 40W on my own risk.

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My 2.0 enclosure actually was a mid-batch swap to higher rating OD. I have one panel (conveniently it’s the front door, left most panel… the one that visibly has the laser behind it the most) that lets through very noticeably more blue light than the other panels. I need to swap it out for one of the side door panels, I’m just… lazy. Even wearing goggles, you can look through the panel, then move over and look through the center panel, and see a visible difference.

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Interesting - I was wondering if they changed anything silently when they started the claim if making it laser class 1… Would be interesting if they’d sell an upgrade kit for the kickstarter version! Question is what this would cost - wherever I look for certified acrylic for laser, the prices are unbelievable high.

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Sadly, it’s mostly marketing. There’s nothing really special about “certified” laser acrylic. It’s just a certain color that blocks certain wavelengths, and depending on how dark it is, determines how much more visible light it blocks.

They charge more (if it’s a legit company) mostly to cover the R&D costs of paying for certification, although that likely gets paid for rather quick and it’s pure profit. Then other sneaks don’t have real certification, but charge just as much. It could also still be the exact same acrylic from the same manufacturer as just plain amber acrylic.

Basically it’s kind of like the “I know a guy” handyman/DIYer that does actually know his stuff, he just never took any certficiation tests, vs paying someone who has taken those tests. They might be just as good, just that paper causes the price to skyrocket.

EDIT: It’s also why one of the versions I put on my plate replacement was a fully opaque shield version. Nothing protects better than blocking it all.

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