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Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

OMTech Laser Cutter: Honeycomb Rivnut

The honeycomb platform in my OMTech laser cutter was secured by a pair of M4 screws passing through the surrounding frame into a pair of nuts requiring considerable contortion to install. As a result, I tended to use the screws as locating pins by just dropping them into the holes, which didn’t prevent me from jostling the honeycomb out of position on a few occasions.

With everything torn down as part of the move, I drilled out the holes in the frame and installed a pair of M4 rivnuts:

OMTech laser - Honeycomb screw rivnut
OMTech laser – Honeycomb screw rivnut

The scar around the hole in the honeycomb came from the factory; I have no idea what they were doing to cause that much wear.

Anyhow, installing the screws now requires zero contortionism and they locate the honeycomb much more securely.

I should conjure knobs for the top of the screws to eliminate the need for a hex key, although that’s definitely low on the task priority list.