Laser Engraver Cutter - WHHSFTC/1718RobotDesign GitHub Wiki

This article is about the operation of the laser cutter/engraver.

General

  1. Make sure it is on. This requires you to turn the key in the on/off switch as well as release the emergency stop, which can be done by turning the red knob in the direction of the arrows.

  2. Turn on the chiller. It can be found on the ground by the laser.

  3. Load the file. You will want to save whatever you have as a .dxf file and then import that into LaserCut on the computer in the laser room.

  4. Focus the laser. There is a diagram in the room engraved into a wood block that holds the focus squares. Pressing up will raise the bed, lowering the distance between the laser and the material, and hitting down will lower the bed increasing the distance between the bed and the material.

  5. Check Settings. Begin by setting your start point (found in green). If you select bottom left, the laser will begin where the laserhead is when you press start, and will cut up and to the left. Next adjust speed, power, and mode (found in purple). Increasing speed decreases cutting power, and increasing power increases cutting power. Finally make sure that mode is always set to cut, even if you are not trying to go all the way through the material. The only time it should be set to engrave is if you want to fill something in like the sidewalls of the robot. The last thing is to make sure it is set to always blow (it should be there automatically)

  1. Hit download (light blue) and a small window will pop up.

First click Del all (pink) and Download current (orange).

  1. Hit start and let it go!

Cutting and Engraving

It is possible to cut and engrave one piece in one cut.

Here is an example. If you look in the top right you will the black is cut at speed 12 and power 80, and the magenta lines are being engraved at speed 20 power 60. You must change the color of the lines before you import it into LaserCut, otherwise it is impossible to only change the color of only certain lines and not the entire file.

Common Issues

Make sure the chiller is actually on.

If the cut is too large or too small, go back and re-export the .dxf file. Because the .dxf file is unitless, sometimes when it is converted to/from it will change inches to mm. When you export your original file type (.ai, .cdr, etc...) a small window with settings should pop up asking for units. Check to make sure the units are correct.

The large laser sometimes will not download the file. Just import the .dxf as usual, but instead of doing anything else click save as and save it to the walnut public folder. Close lasercut, then reopen it. Then open the file you saved (it should be .ecp) and proceed with focusing etc...