Laser Cutting

LASER CUTTING 

The first practical and its already a dream come true for my CPDD journey and that issssss LASER CUTTING. 🔦

Let's look at the different types of laser cutters available in Fablab:

Understanding Laser Cutter

How does laser cutter work?

• The laser beam is created in a tube filled with carbon dioxide gas.
• Mirrors and lenses are used to direct laser bean to the laser head and focused on the material surface.
• Air assist is from the compressor which helps to prevent flare ups and keeps things clean by directing vapourised material downwards away from the cut and away from the machine's lenses and mirrors.

Vector or Raster?

• Vector: Vector graphics are rendered by a computer using mathematical formula. Hence they are crisp and sharp
• Raster: Raster images are made up of tiny coloured pixels

Here's a photo for comparison

As we can see (or hear) from the name, "cutting" is part of the name and when it comes to "cut" ✀ its dangerous❗.  Laser cutting area is not a place to horseplay.

1. These are the 4 important hazards and the respective safety control measures on the operation of laser cutting machine:

No.	Hazards	Safety control measures	Pictures to support the explanation
1	Fumes and gas accumulated can create fire hazard	Fume extractor is installed to remove gas
2	Residue and debris can create fire hazard	Air assist is installed used to minimise the heat around the laser head and removing debris from around the contact point
3	Small flame may ignite on material	Opening the lid will stop the laser to prevent fire
4	Materials may catch on fire	Fire extinguisher is used to wipe off fire

Besides the hazard, we should also know what are the materials that can be cut or engraved using laser cutting machine in Fablab. Using inappropriate material can cause fire to arise. beeebooobeeboo🚒🧯

2. Below are the materials that can be cut/engraved using laser cutting machine in Fablab.

No.	Approved materials✅	Photo of material
1	Paper/White Card
2	Cardboard
3	Balsa Wood
4	Acrylic
5	Plywood

Below are the materials that cannot be cut/engraved using laser cutting machine in Fablab.

No.	Prohibited materials ❎	Photo of material
1	PVC
2	Metal
3	Foam
4	Rubber

Note: the allowed material thickness for cut is maximum 5mm

So, now the question is, HOW do we use a laser cutter (specifically the UNIVERSAL laser cutter):

3. Below are the steps on the operation of UNIVERSAL laser cutter machine in Fablab:

a. Starting the compressor, turning on the laser cutting machine and fume extractor

	Steps and description	Photo to support the description
1	Switch on the POWER for the laser cutter, AIR ASIST and EXTRACTOR
2	Switch on the FUME EXTRACTOR

b. Importing a .DXF file to coreldraw and modify the lines/fill for cutting and engraving

	Steps and description	Photo to support the description
1	Click on File>Import>Select your .DXF File and press Import
2	Click on Tool on the bottom right of the screen
3	Click on Colour drop-down menu
4	Change to RBG
5	Change the values accordingly to the laser wanted	An example for vector cut
6	Click on Width drop-down menu and change to Hairline(for vector and vector engrave) or None (for engrave)
7	Click on Fill tool on the bottom right of the screen
8	Click on Colour model and change to RBG
9	Select the colour wanted and click OK

c. Sending the coreldraw drawing to laser cutter software and setting the laser cutter power, speed, PPI in the software

	Steps and description	Photo to support the description
1	Click on File>Print
2	Click on Gear next to the printer
3	Click on Load
4	Select the PROFILE that matches your material type and thickness then click on Open
5	Click on Apply>OK>Print

d. Starting the job on the laser cutter machine

	Steps and description	Photo to support the description
1	Click on Task tray(at the bottom right of the screen) and select universal control panel (UCP)
2	Activate the laser cutter in UCP (red button)	(the play button will turn from grey to green)
3	Shut the lid gently
4	Press either play button in the UCP or the physical button(green button) on the laser cutter
Shutdown
1	Ensure the lid is remained closed for 1 min to allow for smoke and fumes to be exhausted
2	Deactivate the laser cutter and off the switch for the laser cutter, exhaust and air assist
3	Discard unwanted materials(big item goes to the recycling bin and small item goes to the bin)

e. DOs and DONTs when there's flame/fire on the material being cut

DOs	Photos to support the description
Immediately hit the emergency button/switch off the power
Open up the cover to cut off the laser
Attempt to blow off the flame
If the fire is uncontrollable, use fire extinguisher

DONTs	Photos to support the description
Do not use fire extinguisher when the fire is small

4. Below is my learning reflection journal on the laser cutter activities.

Woah, the competency test at first was a little intimidating however after knowing I passed, I am sure I am competent to operate it by myself. Using coreldraw was rather simple as it is just like using power point slides. 😱😓

Laser cutting helped me to ignite the flame in Diploma in Chemical Engineering as it's something I like to do. Especially seeing the product being cut or engraved. With this skills, I am able to use it during internship, work or even my own personal items such as engraving the things I want. yeehheee

After preparing the SOP for so many days and making sure I wrote down every piece of information, regardless, experience is still needed as we may know what to do or know where to find that thing in a software that we have never used before. Thankfully for the resources provided by Dr. Noel where it shows the simple navigation through a video and that helped me to prepare more for the competency test and I'm pretty sure I've watched the video more than 10 times.

Even with passing the competency test, there are still other area that I am lacking. Dr. Noel taught us a new way to save time during the competency test, which is to select the whole thing and change it to RBG green and hairline, then select outline and change to red. With this method, instead of selecting the inner sections one by one, it can save a lot of time especially during the competency test cause every second is important. ⏱

Laser cutting is fun as I don't even need to wait long for the product to be formed, it literally just took 10 seconds or less which is mind blowing. With this new knowledge, I wouldn't just need to stick to 3D printing but there's also another option which is laser cutting. This open way to more opportunity and design that I can make during CPDD protoyping. Here's what I made during the competency test.😵

Additional notes on using laser cutter:

Using UCP:

1. Zoom- scroll on the mouse to zoom in and out

2. Focus view (laser pointer)- click on any space of the area, it will be shown on the material by the laser to check if it is within the safe zone

3. Relocate- move your object within the plane on screen (to save material, best to start from x:0.5mm, y:0.5mm)

4. Estimate view- click on start and it shows how long is the cut

If want to relocate the object to the last laser pointer point, press on "relocate" and select the corner where the object to be relocated and then press "pointer".

The power should not gone beyond 50% as it will be too strong and will waster alot of energy and power.

The cut should be done in a slow speed to cut through material that is too thick.