DIY Pin table Update

Some time ago I wrote about Pin table (a.k.a. vector table) I made for my laser cutter.   It kind of worked, but I had issue with rivets moving slightly. This caused some issues when cutting/engraving at high speed, as whole work-piece shook.  I also wanted to have more pins to hold smaller parts form falling down constantly.  Thus I revisited my pin table and made some improvements.

First thing I did was to remove all rivets and mark grid at 1″ increments, basically doubling number of pins (before grid was 2″). Then I drilled at those places lots of extra holes. This took a tall on my 1/8″ drill bit, which got dull from the first time I made this pin table.  Fortunately I had more, but by the end of this project I dulled a total of 3 bits 🙂

One row in the middle I was not able to reach with my drill press, so I decided to just leave it as is.

Main improvement was securing rivets in the holes.  I heard some people using epoxy, but I wanted a less permanent solution. I used acrylic caulk instead.

It holds rivets in place nicely, but they can still be removed if needed.  And I’m hoping it’s not toxic when hit by laser, however I cannot guarantee that.  Use it at your own risk.

Easy way to apply caulk is to squeeze a dub on piece of paper, dip each rivet into it and then insert into aluminum sheet.

I also had to buy another box of 100 rivets.

This setup works really well for me now.  I’m now thinking of a way to secure pin table and add some kind of rulers on the sides for placing work piece correctly.