Laser Cutting

 For our first practical in this semester, we learnt how to operate the laser cutter and use it to create a tool kit. Before we are ready to operate the laser cutter, we must complete a mandatory quiz and write an SOP about the laser cutter. After the practical, I have improved the SOP. Said SOP can be seen below. (Strikethrough = removed; highlighted = add-in).

Safety

1. Nothing hanging from the neck

2. Tie up long hair

3. Open cover fully

4. Do not put head under the cover

5. Do not slam the cover

6. Check green lit LEDS to know if cover is fully closed

7. When cutting, do not lean over the cover

8. Do not cut metals, foam or chlorine containing materials

9.  Do not stare into the beam while cutting

10. Check that the focus lens is clean

Start Up

1. Turn on the air compressor (red switch)

2. Turn on the fume extractor (green button)

3. Turn on the main laser cutter (black switch)

4. Wait for laser cutter to finish initialization 

5. Proceed to workstation for uploading of drawing/design

CorelDraw to Print

1. Use vernier calipers to measure the thickness of the material 

2. Place cutting material into laser cutter

3. Import DXF or SVG file

4. Set line weight, color and fill depending on your needs [cutting, engraving or scoring] (Vector Cutting: Red, hairline, no fill) (Engrave: Green, no weight, Green fill) (Engrave Etch/Score: Green, hairline, no fill)

5. Click print when ready

6. Turn on Auto Focus (thickness)

7. Select drawing and click import material settings and choose the material used for cutting

Note: Under import material settings there are 2 tabs: Engrave and Vector. Use Engrave tab for engraving, Vector tab for cutting

8. Type in the thickness of the cutting material measured in step 1

9. Turn on air assist

10. Click print 

11. On the laser cutting machine, verify the name of the file you are cutting and estimated cutting time and click the green button ‘GO’

12. Place cutting material into laser cutter.

13. Close fume hood fully. Ensure that the two LEDs at the side are lit up.

14. Press the green button "GO/PLAY"

15. After printing is complete, wait for 1 minute

16. Open the cover fully and remove the cut design

Shutdown

1. Remove any materials in the laser cutter

2. Turn off the main laser cutter (black switch)

3. Turn off fume extractor (green button)

4. Turn off air compressor (red button)

5. Perform housekeeping

Before operating the laser cutter, make sure that the air compressor, followed by fume extractor, then finally the laser cutter is turned on. For our laser cutter, the air compressor can be found below the table, next to the laser cutter. The fume extractor can be found behind the laser cutter.

CORELDRAW

After that, you can insert your desired DXF file using a USB into the computer connected to the laser cutter. Go to "file>import" then select your DXF file. The interface should now have your product.

Another thing to take note is that for the parts of your product you want to vector cut, make sure that the colour is set to RED, and line weight should be set to HAIRLINE. For engraving, the colour should be set to GREEN, and line weight should be set to 0.

After you are satisfied with the final product, go to "file>print". A pop-up like shown below should appear. Simply click on "print".

EPILOG DASHBOARD

After that, you will reach the interface as shown below. Make sure that auto focus is turned on/set to "thickness".

After that, we set the material that we want to engrave/vector cut. Since we are using plywood of 5mm, we selected "plywood 5mm".

For engraving, we set the "power" to 70% and thickness to "5mm". The other settings remains unchanged. 

Once you are done, click on "print". The file will be transferred to the laser cutter, and you can check with the interface at the laser cutter. Next, you simply place your desired material into the top-left of the laser cutter, close the fume hood (make sure the fume hood is completely closed! You can check that by looking out for the two LEDs lighting up on the laser cutter.), then press "GO/PLAY". During cutting, be sure not to stare at the beam as it is bright. After cutting, WAIT FOR 1 MINUTE to allow the fume extractor to remove the harmful fumes created from laser cutting.

Your product should be ready to be removed and used! Our laser-cut product can be seen below!

CONCLUSION

After this practical, we learnt how to use the laser cutter, including its safety principles. Safety is the number one priority when operating the laser cutter and each step must be followed strictly to ensure no injuries occur. Laser cutting is useful for our final year project, if we want to laser cut a specific material for our prototype for example. This practical has taught us another valuable skill we can use in the future.