Where to buy steel plates to fit into the cutting bed?

[Doug Fisher]

For those who have bought the steel plates to put on top of their honeycomb cutting table, where did you buy it? I am not sure where to start looking since it needs to be perfectly flat and I am guessing will have to be custom cut to size. Any other clues in regard to type of steel, thickness, etc., would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Mike Henry]

Metals Supermarkets has 3 locations near Atlanta and they sell metal cut to size. Here near Chicago, a 16x24 piece of 0.120" thick cold-rolled steel is $40, though there may be an adder for the cutting cost. SS304 would be $75, but is non-magnetic which could be important if you use magnets to hold down the work to the bed.

[Jeffrey Aley]

I bought a 12" x 12" x 0.030" piece from Amazon. I bought perforated, in a misguided understanding of how the airflow in a laser should (and does) work. I screwed it to a couple of pieces of aluminum angle (from Home Depot) to ensure it would be flat.

One of these days, I'll buy a 12"x24" solid (unperforated) piece (which will, in fact, fit in my 500mm x 300mm laser).

[Doug Fisher]

Thanks for the information and leads, Mike and Jeff!

How do each of you like the thickness that you bought? You each bought quite different thicknesses. I would be interested to know pluses and minuses of what you bought and whether you would buy it again.

I am thinking about buying a size 12 mm/.5 inches narrower than each dimension of my bed to give me enough room to be able insert some sort of grabber/pry to grab the underneath side and lift it enough to get my hand underneath when I want to pick up the sheet and remove it from the bed.

[Mike Henry]

I haven't bought one yet, but will sooner or later. I was a bit surprised to see that the price was so "modest", so thanks for posing the question. The 0.120" thickness was just for reference but I'm guessing that much thinner than that could tend to warp or bend with use, especially if it doesn't get used all the time when you lase.

I've played around a bit with using steel bearing balls laid into the openings on the honeycomb sheet and like that idea a bit more as it seems more flexible to me. The flat sheet could be easier to clean though, which might be important if the laser (with plate) gets a lot of use.

[Doug Fisher]

>>The 0.120" thickness was just for reference but I'm guessing that much thinner than that could tend to warp or bend with use<<

Agreed. I do wonder about weight though. I used the website to generate a quote for a piece of .10" cut to a bit smaller than my bed and it the quote indicated18 lbs. There is a weight limit for motorized beds and unfortunately I can't locate the file I saved with the specifications for my machine.

[Mike Henry]

I'm guessing (with all the risk that entails) that most decent powered Z-axes would not have a problem lift 18 lbs. The steel is cheap enough that you could try thinner stock first and replace with thicker stock later if the thin stock proves problematic.

[Jeffrey Aley]

One could laminate thinner steel (steel because it's magnetic) to something lightweight and flat (MDF??) to save weight.

[Mike Henry]

It might be difficult to get the lamination to stay laminated and bubble up a bit in various locations. It's worth a shot though. Please let us know how it works out if you try that approach.

[Dave Vigness]

Slightly off topic.

Different pin bed style. I saw a while back in one of the other forums, a guy was using small magnets and drywall screws to make an infinite pin bed on a steel plate.

I haven't made an acrylic version like Russ yet, and I'm considering that option.