Laser Cutting

What's up Guys!!! <3

I recently just moved blog platforms from Blogspot to Wix, so please pardon my poor editing skills for the current time being.

For my first-ever Blog, I want to share about the first time I ever got my dangerous hand on a laser cutter. However, I can't really do that because there was a lack of time in class and my laser-cutting session got delayed for a week. So instead, I'm just going to document the basic concepts and procedures which I've learnt from the online learning packages for laser cutting.

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1. These are the 4 important hazards and they have their own respective safety control measures on the operation of laser cutting machine.

Hazards	Safety control measures	Pictures to support the explanation
Fire may break out	Engineering Control The air assist will blow off any dust particles from the laser head to prevent them from catching fire. An Emergency button is installed in the room to cut power to the laser cutter Administrative Control Students are briefed on what to do when a fire occurs: When the fire is negligible, blow it away. If the fire is unable to blow off, place the material on the floor and step on it to put out the fire. If the fire is uncontrollable, go to the closest fire extinguisher and put it out. Signs are placed on walls to direct students to where the fire extinguisher and emergency button are located.
Smoke and fumes may be produced while laser cutting	​Engineering Control The fume extractor will suck out any harmful gases which are produced during laser cutting. Administrative Control Safety procedures require the users to turn on the fume extractor before cutting. Students cannot cut materials which contain chlorine (e.g. PVC) or foam.
Staring at the laser	Administrative Control Students have been briefed to monitor the cut by glancing and NOT staring as it could cause eye damage
User can get burnt from the laser beam	Engineering Control The laser-cutting machine will automatically turn off when the lid is opened during operation. Administrative Control Students have been briefed to not put their hands in the laser cutter when the laser is turned on.

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

Material	Photo of material
1. Cardboard
2. Acrylic
3. Plywood

Below are the materials that can't be cut/engraved using the laser cutting machine in FabLab.

Material	Photo of material
Metal
Foam
Rubber

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 desccription	Photos to support the description
1. Switch on the power for the Laser Cutter, Air Assist 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	​Photos to support the description
​Importing a .DXF file to CorelDraw Select File > Import > Select your .DXF file and press import
​To modify the lines for cutting, engraving or scoring/vector engraving, change the line width, colour and fill as shown below: Vector Cut: Pen outline colour: RGD Red (R:255, G:0, B:0:) Fill colour: None Line width: Hairline Engrave: Pen outline colour: None Fill colour: RGD Green (R:0, G:255, B:0) Line width: None Scoring / Scoring / Vector Engrave: Pen outline colour: None Fill colour: RGD Green (R:0, G:255, B:0) Line width: Hairline	*Tools used to change pen outline colour and fill colour.

c. Sending the Corel Draw to laser cutter software and setting the laser cutter power, speed, PPI in the software.

Steps and descriptions	Photos to support the description
After modifying the lines and fills, it is ready to be sent for laser cutting. Click on File -> Print
​Click on the Cogwheel for settings
Universal's Material settings will appear. Click on "LOAD" for more material settings
Since adjusting the Laser Cutter power, speed and PPI is quite difficult to do for beginners like us, the FabLab staff have already preset those settings with respect to their material names in a folder. Therefore, select the presets that match your material type and thickness and select "OPEN"
​Things to take note Power: Describes the output power of the laser. Speed: describes how the laser head moves. Slow speeds result in extended exposure durations, whereas fast speeds result in short exposure times. PPI: Pulses Per Inch is a way to control how many times the laser pulses over a given distance during the cutting process. Z-axis: Usually set as the material height for optimal focus point.
Once done, click "OK"

d. Starting the job on the laser cutter machine

Steps and description	Photos to support explanation
On the UCP, click on the power button to activate the laser cutter on the top right of the control panel. IF YOU SEE THE PLAY BUTTON IS GREEN BEFORE YOU ACTIVATE THE UCP. PLEASE DEACTIVATE AND REACTIVATE IT AGAIN
​There is a built-in ruler in the Laser cutter, we will make use of a small empty space available on the material.
With the lid still open, click on the focus tool, and a crosshair will appear on the material.
​We will now check if our file is within the safe cutting area, we do not want to have our object cutting over the voids. Click as close as possible to the extreme corners of the file to ensure that the file is within a safe cutting zone. The laser head will then move to the point, please make sure hands are cleared from the area before doing this.
Click on the Estimate Time button and press the START button to check for the timing.
READY TO CUT Shut the lid gently Press either the play button on UCPor the physical button on the Laser cutter

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

​DOs and DONTs	Photos to support the description
DOs 1) Students MUST be actively watching the laser cutter at ALL times, due to the fact that the material may catch fire. 2) Any flame MUST DIE OUT within 1-2 seconds. If the flame persists, lift the lid of the laser cutter and stop the cutting operation. 3) If the fire is negligible, try putting it out by blowing it off 4) If the fire is unable to blow off, a. remove material from the laser cutter b. place it on the floor and step on it to put out the fire 5) If the fire is uncontrollable, go to the closest fire extinguisher and put it out. Get people’s attention by shouting for help.
DONTs 1) Do not leave the laser cutter unattended.

4. Below is my learning Reflection on the laser cutter activities.

Even though I still haven't touched the laser cutter yet, I feel like I can use the machine with ease especially after seeing all my friends pass the test on their first attempt including Ali Redza, who is one of the most non-tech-savvy friend I have. So I guess when I do my laser cutting test next week, I'm going to try to complete it in the fastest time possible because I can now recall all the steps with ease after this blog

Instead of explaining all the factual things I learnt from all the learning packages such as safety, housekeeping and the different types of laser cutters there are, I'm more interested in sharing about the difference between Engraving and Scoring/Vector Engraving. I genuinely didn't know the difference between these two terms but apparently, Engraving requires the laser to back and forth, side to side to create the shape we want to be engraved on our material. Whereas scoring requires lesser power as compared to engraving and only leaves the outline of the shape on the material. This explains why when I want to engrave a material, I'll need to fill the shape with RGB green and I don't need to set the width of the line. Whereas when I score, I'll need to ensure the line width is hairline with RGD Green as the colour as it will just show an outline of the shape on the material. The picture below shows an excellent example of the difference between cutting, scoring and engraving.