K40 Air Assist Mount (laser cut)

thingiverse

V2 Update - I changed the design a little bit after using the V1 for a while. I had some problems with the positioning of the hose, while easier to insert smoke was being blown across the machine and not towards the extractor directly + the ties I put in place eventually vibrate out and I used bluetack as a temp measure to keep them in. In the reworked design (red) I positioned the hose to blow back to the rear by moving the hose. It's more effort to put it in place now but I think worth it especially if it stops the occasional excess hose laser'ing. To bend it I just gave it a few shots of heat with a kitchen blowtorch while holding it with plyers but some matches would probably also work. The rear shield for the K40 is also to stop the potential of the wheels catching and pulling the hose. I also changed the side spacers slightly, they pinch in the middle but also have holes for zipties. It's a bit of a trick to get the zipties in so there is probably room for improvement on a V3 (probably also adding something to help you when you align your mirrors. I only did this in clear/red acrylic because that's all I had in plastics but something less brittle is recommended. ----- This is the (white) V1 of this particular thing as Im out of the white acrylic I was cutting it in to try it out. In short I got a fancy air assist head for my laser cutter and it wasn't so great and a bit rattle'y. There are plenty of 3D printed attachments for improving your K40 but not so many you can cut on your own cutter so I made this. It basically takes an aquarium 5mm (7mm outside) hose from your air pump and holds it near the cutting head of your laser. In the first cut I did this fit together quite well until I took the paper off the acrylic so you can either use some zip ties or wire like I did or remix this a little bit to be a bit tighter. If you are remixing I also made the space for the hose open on the side for accessibility but I think in the next version that should just be a straight enclosed hole. I also have some intention of extending the hose side vertical spacer to do something with holding the hose lower down but I am not going to get back to this for a little bit so consider it V1 and I encourage others to improve on the design.