Laser Cutter Training

The Laser Cutter

The Laser Cutter

●Jinan King Rabbit Technology Development Co., Ltd. RL-150-1290

●1290 = 1200x900mm = 47.2 x 35.4 inches cutting bed

●150w CO2 Laser●Meant for high-power cutting, does engraves

as well●~4-5x as powerful as most hobbyist laser

cutters

How the Laser Works

Mirrors

Laser Head

Laser Tube

Material Vapor Infrared

Laser Beam(invisible!)

Compressed Air LineLaser

Head Mirror

How the Laser Works

Cutting vs Engraving

●Cutting is simplest, just a continuous beam of laser cutting:

Materials You Can Cut

●Acrylic●Wood/Plywood●Paper●Fabric●Leather●Nylon●Felt

Cutting Plastics vs Biologicals

●Cut multiple passes on plastics to avoid melting

●Cut one pass on biologicals (mostly woods) to not re-burn already burnt material

Cutting vs Engraving

●Engraving is a scan function. It cuts lightly, very fast, in many tiny passes:

●Doesn't need to penetrate entirely.

Materials You Can Engrave●Glass●Granite●Ferric Metals●Non-ferric with a coating (CerMark)

CerMark● $65/bottle spray* that lets

you engrave non-ferric metals

*http://www.laserbits.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=356_487

Things with lots of these make bad gases

Things NEVER to Use in the Laser

Things NEVER to Use in the Laser●Lexan●Vinyl●PVC●Teflon●Hint: anything that turns yellow when cut:

●If unknown/not on chart, ask before using

Joint Methods

Joint Methods

Joint Methods

Joint Methods

Joint Methods

Joint Methods

Datum: Resets the Laser Head Positions

Laser: Fires Test laser beam(*pew*)

Stop: Halts and Cancels Cut

Lighting: Turns on/off internal lighting

E-Stop:FUUUUUUUUUUUU-

Key: Turns on/off laser cutter

Table Up/Down: Moves work table up/down to bring items in and out of focus (like moving closer/further from a camera)

Jog Arrows: Moves focal head around table

Esc: Press this all the time to get the laser to do what you're telling it to

Start/Pause: Starts/Pauses the loaded Cut

Test:Has head trace the outline of the cut loaded

The Control Panel

Focusing the Beam

● Start with table high● Fire test laser dot● Move table down● Fire another test dot

(should be smaller)● Continue to fire till dot

gets bigger● Move the table back up a

bit again, now you're in the middle

Lens Cleaning

Lens Cleaning

Cleaning agents:●Alcohol for wood/paper/particulate●Acetone for plastics based materials

Process●Mix Alcohol/Acetone 1:1 and soak the lens●Open tube, get out lens●Wipe lens lightly with Q-tips (don't rub!)●Dry lens by wiping with kimwipes (don't rub!)●Re-assemble tube, align markings

Operation

Laser Cutter●Main Body

oOpen Compressor ValveoTurn on VentillationoTurn on Laser CutteroCheck RefrigeratoroCheck Ventilation unit

●ComputeroStart LaserCut 5.3

Design Software

●LaserCut 5.3 (simple, today's training)●CorelDraw (has laser drivers)●AutoCad (has laser drivers)●Inkscape (free)●Solidworks (on classroom computers)●Adobe Illustrator

Export to PLT or DXF

Select tool:Use to select, move, change properties

Time:Show predicted cut time

Simulate:check to make sure it will do what you plan

Resize:Resize the selected object

Layers:Hide/show layers

Drawing tools:draw stuff!

LaserCut 5.3

File:Import/export files, save job settings

“The MSPaint of Laser Cutting”

Layers:Change order, operation (cut/engrave), cut speed, cut power, and repetitions

Download:Download job to laser cutter

Layer Colors:Change selected object to one of these layer colors

LaserCut 5.3“The MSPaint of Laser Cutting”

Jobs in laser (none here)

2.) Download current:Download current job to laser cutter1.) Delete Current Jobs

LaserCut 5.3

Training at the laser

Lets go try it all out!