Laser Cutting

Laser Cutting

Tutorial lesson

In the tutorial lesson in week 2, we learnt everything about the laser cutters.

So, laser cutters are able to cut and engrave material using laser beam. The laser is produced in the CO2 tube. The tube contains sealed carbon dioxide and nitrogen, when high voltage electricity passes through it, a laser beam is produced. The laser beam is then reflected to the carriage.

In the carriage, the focus lens will focus the laser beam to a single focal point. This will cut through or engrave the material in the laser cutter.

There are only a few suitable materials that SP laser cutter can cut such as wood (up to 6mm), acrylic (up to 5mm), carboard and paper.

There are also a few safety precautions to take note of when using the laser cutter. Never stare into the laser beam when in use and do not use materials that contains chlorine or foam. Never leave the laser cutter unattended when cutting or engrave and do not cut or engrave metal materials.

Practical Lesson

Before the practical lesson, we were tasked to create our own laser cutter standard operating procedure (SOP). So during the practical, I have learnt some flaws of our SOP and my team have come together to improve on our SOP. 

Previously, our SOP combines the Fusion M2 and Fusion Pro versions. However, after using the pro version for the competency test and the M2 version for printing out parametric designs, we realised that there are a few differences between the two versions. Therefore, we have decided to make separate procedures for each version. 

The startup procedure for both versions are quite similar:

Start-up Procedures:

Steps	Description
1	Turn on the air compressor located at the back of the laser cutter machine, the switch is in red. (no need to turn on for Fusion Pro because it is built in)
2	Turn on the fume extractor located at the side of the laser cutter machine by pressing the green button.
3	Turn on the laser cutter machine by switching on the black switch, and wait for the machine to finish initialization. For Fusion M2 For Fusion Pro
4	Proceed to the work station, and send the drawings to the laser cutter.

The operating procedures will be separated into each version for easier reference:

Operating Procedures:

Pro version

Steps	Description
1	Open CorelDraw and click on Files>New
2	Import DXF file or SVG file or create your own design in CorelDraw. Click ‘Ok’ to import.
3	The shapes that were in the file will show up. Click on the lines or the area to fill.
4	Use RGB colour. Change the colour G to 255 with no hairline for engraving. Change R to 255 with hairline for vector cut.
5	For engraving, change fill colour to green. For vector cut, fill colour remains as no fill.
6	After setting the line weigh, colour and fill depending on your needs, click on File>Print, press print.
7	Press auto focus on thickness which is on the top right of the screen.
8	Open material library which is at the top right of the screen.
9	Select the material and its thickness.
10	Select 300DPI option which corresponds to your material.
11	If the material thickness at the material library do not have the same thickness as the actual material, you change the thickness manually.
12	Carefully raise the cover of the laser cutter machine, place the material into the printer, and adjust the sketch on the epilog dashboard.
13	Click Print.
14	Check your file name and estimated time to cut on the LCD Touch screen.
15	Once confirmed, press “PLAY” button to begin cutting/engraving.
16	Observe the laser cutter throughout the cutting/ engraving process to ensure that no flame.
17	Once the cutting or engraving has completed, wait for 1 minute with the lid closed and the fume extractor running. Then, open the lid and remove the finished pieces from the bed.

 

M2 version

Steps	Description
1	Open CorelDraw and click on files > new
2	Import DXF file or SVG file or create your own design on CorelDraw. Click ‘Ok’ to import.
3	The shapes that were in the file will show up. Click on the lines or the area to fill.
4	Use RGB colour. Change the colour G to 225 with no hairline for engraving. Change R to 225 with hairline for vector cut.
5	For engraving, change fill colour to green. For vector cut, fill colour remains as no fill.
6	After setting the line weigh, colour and fill depending on your needs, click on File>Print, press print.
7	Epilog dashboard will open, choose auto focus: on, choose air assist: on.
8	Open material library which is at the top right of the screen.
9	Select the material and its thickness.
10	Select 300DPI option which corresponds to your material.
11	If the material thickness at the material library do not have the same thickness as the actual material, you change the thickness manually.
12	Carefully raise the cover of the laser cutter machine, place the material into the printer.
13	Adjust the objects using the mouse tool on the left bar and adjust base on the location of the 2 rulers on the top and on the left.
14	Click print.
15	Check your file name and estimated time to cut on the LCD screen.
16	Once confirmed, press “GO” button to begin cutting/engraving.
17	Observe the laser cutter throughout the cutting/ engraving process to ensure that no flame.
18	Once the cutting or engraving has completed, wait for 1 minute with the lid closed and the fume extractor running. Then, open the lid and remove the finished pieces from the bed.

Similar to the startup procedure, the shutdown procedure for both laser cutter machine are similar:

            Shutdown Procedures:

Steps	Description
1	Clean the tray where the small pieces of waste material may fall through. Also, remove the larger pieces of waste materials and discard them into bins.
2	Close the lid of the laser cutter.
3	Turn off the switch (black) of the main laser cutter, followed by turning off the fume extractor button in green. Finally, turn off the air compressor switch in red.

Individual Competency Assessment
In the competency assessment, we were tasked to cut out a given file. The lecturer asked me to choose the heart shaped sketch. Here's the cut out material:

Parametric Construction Kit
Our grouped have decided to make a weighing balance for our parametric construction kit. We had to decide on the estimated dimensions at first. This is what we came up with:

These are the models that are created on fusion 360:

This is the embedded file of the weighing balance:

This is the final product when everything is assembled together:

During the practical, we printed out the main parts of the weight balance to find out whether it requires kerf. However, due to time constraints, we did not manage to print out the rest of the parts. So, we made use of what we have to make this possible. 

Reflection

In this practical, we did our competency test and also printed our parametric construction kit. Before the competency test, the lecturer have shown us the steps to print them. However, on my first try at the competency test, I missed out an area, which is to fill the engraving portion green. So, I was deemed incompetent. On the second try, I managed to complete it and print the "test" piece.

I feel that learning how to operate the laser cutter machine is very important. This is because there are many things that we can print using the laser cutter machine. Moreover, if I am competent enough, I can print all the interesting items that I want to. I can also use this skill to laser cut parts for other projects. For example, for the air-to-water machine that my group thought of last semester, I could cut out the box for holding everything in place. 

I used to think that operating this laser cutter machine is quite difficult. However, now I think that I is not that hard to operate. Since we can use the laser cutter machine, I have many ideas on what I can cut using the machine. I have seen many interesting designs online, and if I have the time, I plan to use the laser cutter machine to cut out these designs. I will also discuss with my groupmates on what we can cut out for our projects and plan ahead. I am also taking a module called Social Innovation Project currently, and if we plan to build a prototype for a certain product, I will definitely think of using the laser cutter to cut out some parts. In conclusion, I find that this practical session is very useful for future projects.

References:

Epiloglaser.com. 2021. Fusion M2 32/40 Technical Specifications. [online] Available at: <https://www.epiloglaser.com/laser-machines/fusionm2-techspecs.htm> [Accessed 27 October 2021].

Vector-conversions.com. 2021. Raster (Bitmap) vs Vector. [online] Available at: <http://vector-conversions.com/vectorizing/raster_vs_vector.html> [Accessed 27 October 2021].