Difference between revisions of "Laser for Newbies"

Revision as of 04:48, 14 October 2011

RTFM?

• FamiLAB Laser Manual
• Read the laser cutter information we have provided!

Set Up

1. Turn the laser PC on
2. Turn the laser on
3. Check to make sure the "Laser Switch" is engaged. It is the tiny red button that makes things burninate. If you accidentally disengage it, you will spend 20 minutes trying to figure this out.
4. Cut the material to fit. Roughly 12"x12", but a little bigger should work fine.
5. Put the material in the laser cutter
6. Check the distance from the material to the diode (54mm) If you are unsure what this means, check page 16 in the green folder marked "Lazer Manual". You will need calipers to check this.

Warnings

1. There are no endstops. If your print is too big, it will try to print outside the printable area. Which is bad. Very bad.
2. The door does not lock. If you try to open it, you will succeed. Following that, you may be injured or killed. Don't do this while it is running.
3. That orange plexiglass will not save your eyes. Do not look at the beam. If you have to, wear laser safety goggles. Even then, may the odds be ever in your favor.
4. If you don't know if you can cut it, don't. You could burn up the laser. And die.
5. If you start to smell fumes, that's normal. However, make sure the exhaust fan is connected and running while the laser is cutting. It should turn on automatically, but it sometimes gets shorted or disconnected. Also, if the smell is uncharacteristically deadly... stop the laser. You didn't listen, did you? See warning number 4.
6. The cut speed and power settings in the Full Spectrum software reset everytime you load a file.

File Preparation

General Steps from Create to Print

1. Create the file in InkScape
2. Print to XPS
3. Open in the Full Spectrum software
4. On the Vector Cut tab, these items will be cut
5. On the Raser Cut tab, these items will be etched

To Cut

• Everything in the file should be black at roughly .1px
• Everything in the file should be vector
• Once you see sparks, the laser has completely cut through your piece and is hitting the aluminum mesh.

To Etch

To Do Both

Troubleshooting

• When you load into the Full Spectrum software, if your lines show in Raster (Engrave), but not in Vector (Cut) - check your stroke opacity in Inkscape - set it to 100% to get solid black lines and try again...