K40 Laser Knob And Dial Gauge

thingiverse

My K40 has absolutely no form of dial indicator, so I made this knob and dial gauge to make repeat cuts easier. I used a red oil marker to color in the line, but nail polish or whatever is on hand works just fine too. This is designed to fit a fully seated potentiometer (see the image) with its bottom recessed a fair amount to account for more of the threaded shaft. If yours has little tabs keeping it off the back of the control plate, the knob would probably still work but the pot shaft won't go in nearly as far so it won't be as strong of a connection. Regardless, it's best to drill corresponding holes for the tabs and bend the tab over the top of the control plate to keep the pot from ever spinning on you and putting a strain on your cables. This is a slip fit on my machine, so a small dab of lock tight (blue) or a very small dab of super glue or hot glue may be needed to keep it in place depending on your printer quality.