Laser Cutting (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡

On week 3, we had our first CPDD practical in FABLAB! It was about Laser Cutting which is something very unfamiliar to me but at the same time, it felt really exciting as it seems really fun to operate a laser cutting machine to print our own parametric construction kit.

Before we can even start laser cutting our parametric construction kit, everyone had to go through a competency test with the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that our own group has came up with. I am glad to say that my group members and I all passed the competency test. 🥳

However, we realised that there were certain details that we missed out in our SOP and hence, we edited and improved it.

Here is Group 2's Improved SOP :

Start-up

1. Turn on the air compressor (red switch) at the back of the rig switch

2. Turn on the fume extractor (green switch) at the side of the machine

3. At the main laser cutter machine, turn on the on-off switch. Wait for the machine to complete initialization

Any order of the start-up is fine, as long as all three switches are turned on

Operation of laser cutter including the basic use of Corel-Draw

1. Select the TOP sketch of the design created on Fusion 360, and export it as a DXF file to a thumb drive.

2. At the laser cutting station, open a new file on Corel-Draw

3. Import the DXF file from Fusion 360 to Corel-Draw

4. Ensure that appropriate colours are used for specific instruction

- red for cut , green for engrave

5. Once the colours have been set, click on the fourth icon and select ‘print’.

6. Turn on Auto Focus (for Epilog M2 machine) or THICKNESS (for epilog pro machine)

7. Import the material setting from the library. For cutting, select the VECTOR tab and select the material you want to use.

8. For engraving, select the ENGRAVE tab and select the material you want to use (acrylic, wood etc.)

9. Ensure to specify the thickness required to cut (3mm, 5mm).

10. Check from the laser cutter machine, the position you want the material to be cut, and input that axis on Corel-Draw.

11. Ensure AIR ASSIST is on (for epilog M2 machine)

12. Once done, proceed to printing.

13. To start cutting press GO (green button)

14. Wait for 1 minute before opening the hood of the laser cutter machine.

15. Make necessary adjustments to the drawing (if needed) and repeat above steps for cutting.

Engraving starts before cutting.

Shut-down

1. Once laser cutting is complete, clear away all unused material. Dispose it in the recycling bin.

2. Turn off the on-off switch on the main laser cutter machine.

3. Turn off the fume extractor (green switch) at the side of the machine.

4. Turn off the air compressor (red switch) at the back of the rig switch.

Any order of the start-up is fine, as long as all three switches are turned on.

Parametric Construction Kit

Other than the steps in the SOP, our group decided to engrave our names on the parametric construction kit. On Corel-draw, we added a text box and added our names. Then, we had to select GREEN for the words since it is an engrave. Once we select the material pack, thickness, and laser power setting (50%), we started the laser cutting machine and our cute parametric construction kit is done!

All in all, it was another fun day of trying out new machines! Despite the few struggles we had in between (laser cutting machine not cutting anything ; cut at the wrong place, end up cut into the hole), we were able to pick up new skills as we overcame these struggles. Laser cutting is definitely crucial for us as we will need to apply what we have learnt to create some of the components for our chemical product. Hence, I will try my best to remember what I have learnt and apply it when needed!

That's the end of my blog, thanks for reading! 🌼

See y'all again soon! Stay tuned! 👻