4. Computer controlled cutting¶

Group assignment:¶

The group assignment can be viewed using this link

Individual assignment:¶

This week, the assignment was Computer controlled cutting. I learned the process of getting your designs from 3D to the Vinyl cutter and the Laser cutter.

I used fusion to design one part of this weeks project. I’m not familiar with all the capabilities of fusion 360, so I also used OpenJSCAD for a parametric design.

Fusion 360 parts:¶

First you get your design ready, in my case I used Fusion360.

Sketch, extrude and determine the scale of your part:

Afterwords select the face of the part in question and export it to origin as an “svg” file like so :

OpenJSCAD parts:¶

Since my first design could not be assembled, I made another press fit design. We had a class about OpenScad, so I will use the online version for the design https://openjscad.org/.

I started with a sketch in Inkscape

Then, in OpenJScad I defined the measures and the ferf and I started with a circle

Then made a slot in the center. This is done with an operation (similar to inkscape), so I made a difference of the circle and the square

Then move the slot to the side of the circle

Then move the slot a little more to leave space in the center

Then copy and paste the same slot, but use rotate to put it in the next position

Then make more copies and rotate 45 more degrees each time

Laser cutter¶

When ready, Fusion 360 and OpenJSCAD can export to svg files.

SVG files are imported in Visicut to generate gcode for the laser. Open your SVG file in visicut, do the nesscesarry allighnments and then “export lasercode”. Do not forget to save as “name.gcode’ .

In Visicut, you can make your final adjustments to align your design according to the parameters of the Laser.

Parameters:

Set to cut everything.
Set power to 65%.
Set speed to 20.

Export your design as “gcode”

The file sould be named with “.gcode” at the end

The machine¶

In this case the Laser was operated via an IP setup with which you connect to the local network and enter the ip of your computer, in my case (192.168.1.24) which is a rpi running a webpage.

The Laser should be turned on, otherwise you can not find the page. This makes it possible to operate and follow the cutting process through the web.

The interface is in french, so click on “importer” to upload the gcode file. Then move the head of the laser to the desired origin position and click on “imprimer”.