K40 Build: Part 2

In this part I cover my receipt, unboxing, and teardown of my K40.  I bought from an eBay seller that advertised price included shipping and shipped from the US.  All turned out to be true as I had a huge orange package on my doorstep less than a week later!

Laser & Accessories in the 2 orange packages

I eagerly hustled the boxes indoors and immediately noticed a strange, funky, oily/chemically smell.  Oh no!

WARNING:  If you are sensitive to unknown chemicals or smells, DO NOT BUY A CHEAP LASER FROM CHINA!!!

I then started the opening process, removing one set of 7 layer bubble-wrap and foam to reach the box.  Inside was another 9 layers of bubble-wrap and foam.  By now I had to bail for a while and air out the house.  Pe-yew!  Anyway, finally got it unpacked and removed even more foam from the laser tube.  I checked it out and it looked OK.  I wanted to ensure the tube & PSU were good to go before I began my teardown so I placed a receipt under the laser head and hit the laser switches.  Fire!

Laser tube looks good!

Next up I took a bunch of shots to document how things were hooked up.  Basically all worthless since I wound up replacing almost everything!  However, a couple of things re-enforced by decision to replace all by the laser tube wiring.  First, the IEC receptacle was A) huge and B) had scary cloth-like tubes covering the exposed leads.

Scary wiring!

I also noted the infamous "big green resistor" on the right side of the electronics bay.  That would definitely have to go!

Big Green Resistor

One thing to note is the ridiculously small engraving area out of the box.  That was going anyway, but seriously...  If you look at the photo you can see an open part in the middle of the bed.  That is a clamp.  And no, you can't use all of it because the springs compress so you can only move it about halfway back.  Max size was something like 5"x2.5".  Wow, let me get my crackers out.

Ridiculously small bed

After taking all the pics, I basically went through and unbolted everything except the laser tube and rear (1st) mirror.  I kept the laser PSU, X-Y stage and mirrors and lenses, exhaust duct, and the fuse holder.  I now had a nice clean case for me to work my depredations on...

My canvas