Quick Swap Fillers 40W and 2W IR

Snapmaker 2.0
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Finally got some quick swap kits for my machines. Then immediately had to design some fixes… sigh.

While the QS plate lines up perfectly with the existing holes on the units that require a plate to be attached (1.6W, Single Extruder, CNC, and 10W from my modules). Thus no adjustment was needed to focus height on the laser.

10WQS
10WQS1920×1298 422 KB

Above is a QS plate attached to the 10W laser, you can see the mounting bolts directly behind it.

The 40W and 2W IR, however, that have built in QS connections… sit much lower. The IR is particularly egregious. The loss of laser height is 25.5mm for the 40W and 40.3mm for the IR. This also moves the center of gravity much lower, which causes a higher torque force on the mount point during movement, especially rapid movement. Think of a hanging weight/swing. If you move, the lower the center of gravity, the higher the lag and stress via lever force.

So I’ve modeled up some fillers to bring the mount height back to exactly where the screw mount holes are. This keeps the focus height the same (for those who use automagic header gcode), all I have to do is adjust for the thickness of the plate (11mm for built-in like the IR, and 15mm for add-on plate, like the 10W). I also had to move over 0.3mm to re-center X, but that’s almost negligible.

40W Without, and with:

40WMountWithout
40WMountWithout1539×2557 258 KB

40WMountWith
40WMountWith1799×3021 388 KB

2W IR Without and with (omfg look at that low swing)

IRMountWithout
IRMountWithout1559×2620 336 KB

IRMountWith
IRMountWith1384×2046 328 KB

And the fillers, simply print and slot in during mounting;

2WFiller
2WFiller1920×2758 831 KB

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I also was wondering: Why do these lasers hang so deep? I usually just eyeball them to sit half way down - the force of the lever is enough to hold them in place. Requires focus calibration of course, but with the focus lever this is nice and quickly done.

Your insert introduces repeatability - so perhaps less focussing? Still, I’ll be too lazy to go down this route :slight_smile:

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I’m all about repeatability. Once everything is set up, zero fiddling. Even if I swap things out, I want it to automatically set itself up. Hard limits, mathmatical origins, etc. to ensure the highest level of accuracy is what I strive for.

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