CNC Laser Station – Design (part 2)

This is part 2, part 1 can be found HERE.

After a few days of mulling this design, I’ve decided that I’ll re-enforce the bottom of the CNC laser station by putting cross panels on the bottom because there is a strong possibility that I’ll be adding caster wheels so I might as well add what I’d need NOW so that if I decide to use it in this fashion later, it’s already built to handle it.

At this same time, this will strengthen the bottom so that it doesn’t sag over time and make the overall frame all the stronger. Additionally, it will make the side baskets stronger as well as they reinforcements will be located under the three tabs that are currently unsupported.

The next issue I want to refine a bit more around is the top, I want to extend the top shelf a bit so that I can have additional vertical placement of items. I don’t know how my workspace will evolve over time but having too many storage options is rarely a problem. I have pencils and pens and I think having a space to stick them in along with who knows what else won’t add any real production time to this project.

I made these storage bins “roundish” so I can easily throw various things in them without concern over damaging them, think things like CNC laser focusing keys and various, more fragile accessories, along with general pens and pencils of course.

The design is looking almost done now, one things that is bugging me though are the bottom baskets, although there shouldn’t be much pressure pushing them away from the main CNC laser station, there is really nothing holding them there so what I did was add two internal supports that interlock within that. This way, if there are any forces pushing them away, the entire station will be dragged along for the ride instead of having them just fall out.

This doesn’t need to be anything fancy, just a stick with some glue applied to it is more than strong enough to keep everything together.

I’m pretty happy with the design, it more than suits my current needs and is light years ahead of my current set-up regarding functionality and workplace optimization. I can’t wait to use it! First though, I’m going to review each part of the model to make sure what I built is physically possible followed by optimizing the files to laser cut this entire CNC laser station.

I’ve now separated my two main material thicknesses, sure, it’s easier to make something from all the same thickness but in this case, I got a good deal on thicker material so I couldn’t pass it up. The design is easily modified though to be done using the same thickness material if that was required.

On the far right is the whiteboard material I’ll cut separately that will be the top surface of the CNC laser station. I only have a set amount of 9 mm thick plywood so I made some pieces “thickness independent” should I run out of stock material, which means I can substitute more layers of 6 mm to replace the 9 mm that I wouldn’t be using.

The building of this model has already began by the way, part 3 will be on CNCROi.com‘s blog later in the week.