Difference between revisions of "Old Laser Cutter"
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Revision as of 16:25, 4 March 2021
30 Watt Full Spectrum Laser Cutter
Original Manual: Link to Full Spectrum's official manual
Laser Cutter Class syllabus and guide
Machine Info
- Frame: Full Spectrum K40
- Cutting dimensions: 320mm by 241mm (12.5" by 9.5")
- Max stock height allowance: 34mm (1.34")
- Laser focal distance (from lens bracket): 70.35mm (2.77")
- Controller: RAMPS v1.4 (running a "laser" version of Marlin firmware)
- Laser: 40W CO2 700mm
- Water pump with distilled water
- Air compressor
- Exhaust: Fume hood attached via 6" hose
- Set up by Paul StPierre
- Donated by Jim Bowes
How to use
Before using the laser cutter, you must first get training through an intro class or get signed off on it by the manager
The following is a handy reference for the steps to go from a design to the GCode that will run on the laser cutter.
Running the Laser Cutter (LightBurn)
https://www.portcitymakerspace.com/wiki/index.php?title=Laser_Cutter
These are instructions for how to operate our Laser Cutter using the LightBurn interface. LightBurn is both a design program as well as a laser control program. You can use it to create or import drawings, and in the same screen determine how the laser will burn/etch/cut the features on the screen.
Updated: 9/8/2020 by Alex N
Instructions for running the Laser Cutter:
- Turn on the power strip. Located next to the computer tower. Ensure all components are on: Fume Hood, Air Compressor, Water Pump.
- Grab the key from its hiding place and insert into the lockswitch, turn to the right.
- Open the LightBurn program (dragon icon).
- Load drawing file or create drawing in the program. Ensure it is aligned as you need it. Common practice is to align drawings to the bottom left corner.
- Go to the "Console" tab and hit the "HomeXY" button. Do not hit the regular home button as it will lock up the program.
- Place your material on the bed. Make sure it is well-aligned and parallel to the sides of the machine. Use a spacer tool to align to bottom left corner of cutting region if desired.
- Use the Laser Focus Ruler to set the height of the bed. Raise/lower the bed using the adjustment wheel underneath.
- Set your burn settings in the "Cuts" tab. Use some of the existing test burns for reference or make your own if your material is unique.
- Click "Start" and watch it go! Don't stare at the light.
- Never leave the laser unattended as it can catch fire!
- If there is a problem, hit the big red emergency stop button. Located on the top of the laser cutter. Please note that this cuts the power, but does not tell the software to stop the laser. To turn it off in the software, you can hit one of the "Test Fire" buttons in the "Console" tab.
- In the event of a fire, use the white dry-type fire extinguisher or the fire blanket located near the machine.
- NEVER open the lid while the laser is on!
- When done using the machine:
- Hit the HomeXY button.
- Turn the keyswitch off and put key back.
- Turn off the power strip.
- Clean underneath the aluminum honeycomb. Lift the aluminum honeycomb out and clean up any small pieces and residue left behind. (Plywood tends to leave a lot of residue underneath that can be cleaned with isopropyl alcohol).
Note: old instructions on using VCarve and Inkscape to produce GCode can be found here in the Discussion page on the wiki.
IMPORTANT NOTES
- Glitch: Running the laser cutter with the units set to "in" will cause it to go incredibly slowly.
- Caution: When using Fill & Line mode, make sure you check the settings for both Line and Fill! It defaults to setting the speed for Line at 100 mm/s (TOO FAST!)
LightBurn Video Guides:
- Lesson #1 : First Time User
- Lesson 2: User Interface
- Lesson 3: Cut Settings
- Lesson 4: Boolean Operations
Official LightBurn documentation
Highlights from LightBurn's documentation:
Maintenance
Vacuum the inside
The bed of the machine should be vacuum out regularly after cutting to clean up any small pieces that fall into the honeycomb.
Cleaning the lens and mirrors
Ask someone to show you how to clean these before attempting yourself!
A dirty lens can cause burnt gunk to build up and potentially crack the lens. Here is a video from the ATX Hackerspace on cleaning their lens - How to Clean Laser Optics
Aligning the mirrors
This should be checked once or twice a year.
A guide on aligning the mirrors can be found here.
Laser Cutter Materials (from ATX Hackerspace)
Original page There are a wide range of materials that our Laser Cutter can cut, etch or mark - but some simply don't work (eg metals) and some are extremely hazardous to either humans or the machine itself (eg PVC and Vinyl). It is therefore imperative that you check these lists before attempting to cut materials that you have not worked with before.
It is not always obvious which materials will work - for example: Polycarbonate/Lexan produces flames and lethal chlorine gas which will rapidly corrode this normally $10,000 machine into uselessness and which is extremely hazardous to the health of people nearby. Yet Acrylic - which looks, smells, feels and tastes just like Lexan - cuts smoothly and cleanly and is one of the best materials to use with the laser! So check and double-check what you're cutting.
Where to Find Materials
Inventables has acrylic sheet in many colors. Laserable Rubber on Amazon
NEVER CUT THESE MATERIALS
WARNING: Because many plastics are dangerous to cut, it is important to know what kind you are planning to use. Make has a How-To for identifying unknown plastics with a simple process.
| Material | DANGER! | Cause/Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride)/vinyl/pleather/artificial leather | Emits chlorine gas when cut! | Don't ever cut this material as it will ruin the optics, cause the metal of the machine to corrode, and ruin the motion control system. |
| Thick ( >1mm ) Polycarbonate/Lexan | Cuts very poorly, discolors, catches fire | Polycarbonate is often found as flat, sheet material. The window of the laser cutter is made of Polycarbonate because polycarbonate strongly absorbs infrared radiation! This is the frequency of light the laser cutter uses to cut materials, so it is very ineffective at cutting polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is a poor choice for laser cutting. |
| ABS | Melts / Cyanide | ABS does not cut well in a laser cutter. It tends to melt rather than vaporize, and has a higher chance of catching on fire and leaving behind melted gooey deposits on the vector cutting grid. It also does not engrave well (again, tends to melt). Also, cutting ABS plastic emits hydrogen cyanide, which is unsafe at any concentration. |
| HDPE/milk bottle plastic | Catches fire and melts | It melts. It gets gooey. Don't use it. |
| PolyStyrene Foam | Catches fire | It catches fire, it melts, and only thin pieces cut. This is the #1 material that causes laser fires!!! |
| PolyPropylene Foam | Catches fire | Like PolyStyrene, it melts, catches fire, and the melted drops continue to burn and turn into rock-hard drips and pebbles. |
| Epoxy | burn / smoke | Epoxy is an aliphatic resin, strongly cross-linked carbon chains. A CO2 laser can't cut it, and the resulting burned mess creates toxic fumes ( like cyanide! ). Items coated in Epoxy, or cast Epoxy resins must not be used in the laser cutter. ( see Fiberglass ) |
| Fiberglass | Emits fumes | It's a mix of two materials that cant' be cut. Glass (etch, no cut) and epoxy resin (fumes) |
| Coated Carbon Fiber | Emits noxious fumes | A mix of two materials. Thin carbon fiber mat can be cut, with some fraying - but not when coated. |
| Any foodstuff ( such as meat, seaweed 'nori' sheets, bread, tortillas... ) | The laser is not designed to cut food, and people cut things that create poisonous/noxious substances such as wood smoke and acrylic smoke. | If you want to cut foodstuffs, consider sponsoring a food-only laser cutter for the space that is kept as clean as a commercial kitchen would require. |
Safe Materials
The laser can cut or etch. The materials that the laser can cut materials like wood, paper, cork, and some kinds of plastics. Etching can be done on almost anything, wood, cardboard, aluminum, stainless steel, plastic, marble, stone, tile, and glass.
Cutting
| Material | Max thickness | Notes | WARNINGS! |
|---|---|---|---|
| Many woods | 1/4" | Avoid oily/resinous woods | Be very careful about cutting oily woods, or very resinous woods as they also may catch fire. |
| Plywood/Composite woods | 1/4" | These contain glue, and may not laser cut as well as solid wood. | |
| MDF/Engineered woods | 1/4" | These are okay to use but may experience a higher amount of charring when cut. | |
| Paper, card stock | thin | Cuts very well on the laser cutter, and also very quickly. | |
| Cardboard, carton | thicker | Cuts well but may catch fire. | Watch for fire. |
| Cork | 1/4" | Cuts nicely, but the quality of the cut depends on the thickness and quality of the cork. Engineered cork has a lot of glue in it, and may not cut as well. | Avoid thicker cork. |
| Acrylic/Lucite/Plexiglas/PMMA | 1/2" | Cuts extremely well leaving a beautifully polished edge. | |
| Thin Polycarbonate Sheeting (<1mm) | <1mm | Very thin polycarbonate can be cut, but tends to discolor badly. Extremely thin sheets (0.5mm and less) may cut with yellowed/discolored edges. Polycarbonate absorbs IR strongly, and is a poor material to use in the laser cutter. | Watch for smoking/burning |
| Delrin (POM) | thin | Delrin comes in a number of shore strengths (hardness) and the harder Delrin tends to work better. Great for gears! | |
| Kapton tape (Polyimide) | 1/16" | Works well, in thin sheets and strips like tape. | |
| Mylar | 1/16" | Works well if it's thin. Thick mylar has a tendency to warp, bubble, and curl | Gold coated mylar will not work. |
| Solid Styrene | 1/16" | Smokes a lot when cut, but can be cut. | Keep it thin. |
| Depron foam | 1/4" | Used a lot for hobby, RC aircraft, architectural models, and toys. 1/4" cuts nicely, with a smooth edge. | Must be constantly monitored. |
| Gator foam | Foam core gets burned and eaten away compared to the top and bottom hard paper shell. | Not a fantastic thing to cut, but it can be cut if watched. | |
| Cloth/felt/hemp/cotton | They all cut well. Our lasers can be used in lace-making. | Not plastic coated or impregnated cloth! | |
| Leather/Suede | 1/8" | Leather is very hard to cut, but can be if it's thinner than a belt (call it 1/8"). Our "Advanced" laser training class covers this. | Real leather only! Not 'pleather' or other imitations! |
| Magnetic Sheet | Cuts beautifully | ||
| NON-CHLORINE-containing rubber | Fine for cutting. | Beware chlorine-containing rubber! | |
| Teflon (PTFE) | thin | Cuts OK in thin sheets. See https://www.ulsinc.com/materials/teflon ; the issues listed in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer_fume_fever. Our laser cutter has ventilation but does not seem to exhaust everything so be extremely careful. | |
| Carbon fiber mats/weave that has not had epoxy applied |
Can be cut, very slowly. | You must not cut carbon fiber that has been coated!! | |
| Coroplast ('corrugated plastic') | 1/4" | Difficult because of the vertical strips. Three passes at 80% power, 7% speed, and it will be slightly connected still at the bottom from the vertical strips. |
Etching
All the above "cuttable" materials can be etched, in some cases very deeply.
In addition, you can etch:
| Material | Notes | WARNINGS! |
|---|---|---|
| Glass | Green seems to work best...looks sandblasted. | Only FLAT GLASS can be engraved in our cutter. No round or cylindrical items. |
| Ceramic tile | ||
| Anodized aluminum | Vaporizes the anodization away. | |
| Painted/coated metals | Vaporizes the paint away. | |
| Stone, Marble, Granite, Soapstone, Onyx. | Gets a white "textured" look when etched. | 100% power, 50% speed or less works well for etching. |
External Resources
- Boxes.py - TONS of Box Generators
- List of Materials that can be laser cut
- Puzzle Creator by Wolfiesden
- Gear Generator
- Maker Case (box generator)
- MakeABox.io (box generator)
- Box Generator - Jerome Leary
- Open Designs - Obrary - repository of open/free designs
- Polygonia Design Suite - Pattern generator
- Joinery - a large variety of joinery options for generating parametric joints for laser cutting (or Cricut). Takes an SVG in, pops an SVG out. It is also possible to save profiles.
Main Menu
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