Archive:Using the Laser Cutter

- Using the Laser Cutter -

Guide version 0.1

• SAFETY INDICATION *

If you like to watch the laser cutting head cut your design, make sure to use the laser protection goggles.

Import your design DXF file in LaserCAD. Set the cutting speed and power for the different cutting colors.

Place your material board on top of the cutting area. Make sure no oddments are on the cutting area that would otherwise lead to an askew alignment of the material board.

Turn on the Laser Cutter System (LCS) by switching the Main Power Switch at the Laser Control Panel (LCP).

Turn on the venting system by using the switch on the LCP.

Load the file to the LCS. To do so, press the Download button in the LaserCAD application on the LCS computer. LaserCAD will open dialog box, press Download again.

Align the origin position. The origin position corresponds to the top left corner of your design file. Use the cursor buttons on the LCP to move the laser cutting head to the position where you would like to start cutting the material. CAVEAT: When placing the material board to the utmost left position on the cutting area of the LCS, the first few centimeters underneath the honeycomb of the cutting area are not obscured by the aluminum bar holding the honeycomb. Cutting in this area is dangerous. Therefore, do not cut within this area that is overlapping with the aluminum bar holding the honeycomb. Instead, shift the material board a few centimeters to the right such that none of the cutting area coincides with the aluminum bar underneath the honeycomb.

When you have found the origin position, press the Origin button on the LCP to save the origin position.

Press the Box button on the LCP. The LCS will drive the laser cutting head in a box around the predetermined cutting area, a so called bounding box. Make sure the area of the bounding box does not exceed your material board that you would like to cut.

Focus the laser cutting head. Use the focussing board which lies around the LCS.

Turn on the Laser by using the Laser switch on the LCP.

When all of the above points are passed, make sure all control lights are green.

You are now ready to start cutting. As stated above, if you like to watch the laser cut, put on the laser protection goggles.

Then press the start button on the LCP to start cutting.

Common problems and FAQ:

Question 1: I have an SVG file with my design. How can I use it in LaserCAD, the laser

           cutting app?

A: LaserCAD allows us to import DXF files. You need to convert your SVG file to an

  specially prepared DXF file. If you do not follow the following steps LaserCAD may 
  show an empty layout after importing. 
  Step 1: mark all objects in your design in Inkscape (CTRL-a).
  Step 2: group it (CTRL-g).
  Step 3: convert objects to  path (SHIFT-CTRL-c). 
  Step 4: convert contours to path (ATL-CTRL-c).
  Step 5: save as DXF R14 file. Make sure the character set is set to Latin1.
  Step 6: done. Now you may import to LaserCAD

Question 2: When importing my DXF file, which I have created with Inkscape, some of the

           elements are missing?

A: In case you pasted the missing elements into Inkscape by copy-pasting them from

   another document (even if it was another Inkscape document), the copied element is
   rendered as a bitmap. This hinders it to be correctly converted to a path. 
   Likewise, maybe your DXF file was not created properly. Make sure you follow the steps
   under Question 1 of this FAQ.