Lightobject Power Z Table for K40

A powered Z table fixes the height problem at the bed. Lightobject designed this one for the K40 and D40K, and it arrives already assembled. Raise the bed until the material's top surface meets your focus gauge, run the job, lower it for the next piece.

Where a Z table earns its place on a K40:

• Mixed stock. Card, 3mm plywood and 6mm acrylic in one afternoon, each at true focus.
• Tall items. Boxes, blocks, cutting boards and tiles that will not fit under the head on the stock bed.
• Deliberate defocus. Dropping the bed a set amount softens the spot for wider engraving fills.
• Thick cuts. Moving focus a little into the material on the second pass of a thick sheet.

It also takes guesswork out of setup. Shims get lost, stacks shift and a lab jack tilts. A bed that moves square and stays put means the only variable left is the material.

The K40 upgrade order puts a proper bed after optics, alignment and air, which is right: a Z table cannot fix a beam that does not reach the lens clean.

That is why Lightobject says it fits most K40s rather than all of them. K40 cabinets vary from one factory to the next, and a few details decide whether this table drops in or needs work first:

If the duct is in the way, many owners trim it back so it sits flush with the rear wall. Do that with the machine unplugged, file off burrs and check the exhaust still seals to the fan.

• Measure with the stock bed removed, not around it.
• Photograph the bay with a rule in the shot for reference.
• Compare against the K40 dimensions guide for your cabinet type.

The 4 inch figure is most likely the table's height, which tells you how much of the bay's depth it takes before the bed starts moving.

Know what your K40 can and cannot do. The stock K40 board, the Lihuiyu M2 Nano, drives only the X and Y axes. Replacement boards in the same mould are two-axis too: the MEFORE board is sold as 2-axis GRBL control, and the M3 Nano set follows the stock layout. None of them has a spare Z output for this table.

That leaves a few routes, depending on what arrives:

1. Its own control. If Lightobject supplies a driver and up-down buttons, mount the box outside the bay and run the cable through a grommet.
2. A separate driver. A stand-alone stepper driver with a small power supply and a switch gives manual up-down control.
3. A board with a Z axis. Some upgrade controllers include one; plan that swap as a separate project.

Manual up-down control is all most K40 owners need. You set the height once per job with a gauge block, so the bed does not have to move under software command. Automatic focus is a bigger project than the table itself.

Software setup for any board change lives in the K40 software guide, which covers what each controller works with.

1. Remove the stock bed and clamp, unplugged, and vacuum the bay floor.
2. Set the table in place and check it sits flat on all feet without rocking.
3. Add a work surface. A honeycomb or flat plate on top gives cut parts somewhere to go.
4. Check level. Raise the bed near the head and measure the gap at all four corners of the travel with a feeler or gauge block.
5. Find true focus with a ramp test on scrap, then make a gauge block to that height.
6. Mark a home height for your most common material so you can return to it fast.

Keep it working with a short routine:

• brush ash and resin off the lifting parts after cutting sessions, before it hardens
• check the corners are still level every few weeks, or after moving the machine
• clear offcuts from under the platform, since debris there is both a jam and a fire risk

Write your common heights on a card taped inside the lid: 3mm plywood, 6mm acrylic, the usual box lid. A written list beats memory at the end of a long day.

Recheck the mirrors when the table goes in; the K40 alignment guide walks the beam from tube to lens.