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40W CO2 laser with 10600nm wavelength.

K40 uses a laser with the wavelength of 10600nm. This kind of range should be covered by OD7+ accordingto the Internet.

I found OD4s which have the range of 5000-11000nm and are meant for CO2 lasers. I asked the retailer ifthese will suffice and why I don't need OD7+ if they'll say these will do. The OD (optical density) valueis about how much light is kept out (99 % OD1, 99.9 % OD2, 99.99 % OD3, etc…) so I guess from some basesafe OD value, the increasing OD value becomes about for how long the eye is protected in an event of adirect impact, but that's only a guess at this point.

https://laser-shop.cz/ochranne-pomucky/2195-laserove-ochranne-bryle-pro-co2-blokujici-vlnove-delky-5000-11000nm.html

K40 uses a CO2 laser and in case of a malfunction, it might release dangerous CO2 fumes. CO2 is not thesame thing as CO so it's important to buy the right kind of a detector! Most people who have some kind ofa detector already will have a CO detector, CO2 detectors are more expensive and harder to come by. Ifound one which should work for the K40:

https://www.hutermann.cz/produkt/detektor-oxidu-uhliciteho-co2-s-pameti-merenim-teploty-a-vlhkosti-hutermann-co2-601-meric-vydychanosti-vzduchu

K40 will also emit CO fumes in case wood it being engraved or cut. In case of other materials, variousother kinds of fumes might be let out of the machine. It's not a terrible idea to get a CO detector inaddition to the CO2 detector as it could detect improper ventilation of the wood burn fumes or a firestarting to develop in case the material being worked on catches fire. I already use a CO detector athome and will probably get the same one for the shop, too:

https://www.alza.cz/honeywell-xc100d-cssk-a-d5502997.htm

Ground the laser chassi so that in case of an electrical discharge through insufficient insulation, themachine doesn't discharger into you, the operator. It uses high value (even though with low current, butthe current is direct - DC) and getting zapped by it could induce a cardiac arrest and kill you.

Do not leave the laser cutter unsupervised as the material being engraved or cut could catch fire whichcould spread.

It is a good idea to wire an endstop switch to the lid of the laser cutter in case the lid gets openwhile the laser operates.

Never run the laser cutter without the water pump connected and fully submerged in distilled water asit could significantly shorten the lifespan of the laser tube.

I'm not sure whether the K40 could handle cutting CCL, but there exist research which seems to lookinto laser cutting CCL which might be interesting to read:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02395722

• Get this on Scihub

Cutting and engraving CCL could be interesting if figured out how to do safely both towards the K40(mirror and laser tube damage) and the operator (reflection increasing risk of eye damage). It couldbe used to engrave PCBs and even bore vias (although not plated). Theoretically, an entire PDB couldbe manufactured using the K40 alone with no other processing steps such as masking, washing, etching,drilling or milling.