Air assist

The DC-K40III is sold as a "laser engraver".

But, I want to use the machine as a laser cutter. It's more than capable of this.

Out of the box, I tried to cut paper and wood. Unless I was very lucky, the edges would begin smouldering or even catch fire.

To stop materials from burning, laser cutters need "air assist", a stream of air directed at the cut to blow out any flames and cool the material.

I rigged up a simple system using an electric car tyre pump from Halfords, some PVC tubing and cable ties.

Using this system, I get fairly good cuts without smouldering or flames. This is a small box cut from 3mm plywood.