Assignment #3: Vinyl and Laser Cutting

Date: 13-02-2020

Part1: Vinyl Cutting

- Using Adobe illustrator, a 2-D image of the Libre Freestyle was traced in assignment 2.

- The following steps are performed:

1- Open Silhouette Studio program and import the dxf file for the 2-D design:

2- The selected image is as shown:

3- Select the image, set the speed and force and then click send.

4- The colors of vinyl paper to be used are three: white, black, and blue.

5- We cut each vinyl paper into the proper size.

6- We first load the device with white paper. When the job Is finished we load the other color and click on repeat job. When each job is finished we click on unload.

7- For each of the three colors, remove the undesired parts and keep the important ones.

8- We first place the white part, and then the black, and the last part is the blue.

Part2: Laser Cutting
- Using Adobe illustrator, a Kerf design is traced.
- The following steps are performed:
1- Using the Curvature Tool, trace all the parts of the kerf design.

2- Isolate the image and delete it and import the resulting traces as a dxf file.

3- Import the dxf file in Rhino program and resize the image so that the junctions are 3.2 mm in width.
This is the best size for the cardboard material to be used.
The brown layer represents the holes and the black represents the outline.

1- Open the laser program on the special laptop in the lab and import the dxf file.
aser will cut the holes first.

5- Change the settings to: speed=20, power= corner power= 100. Then click on download to export the file to the flash drive.

6- Switch on the laser machine by turning the key clockwise. Wait until the laser goes back to the end and then plug in the flash drive on the side.

7- Select you file by choosing its name on the green screen. Press Enter.

8- When the job is done, remove the flash and press ESC.

9- Put the cardboard on the machine platform and fix it until it is completely flat as seen in the pictures. Then press on test to see if the cardboard area is enough for the design to be cut.

10- Turn the compressor as seen in the pictures.

11- Press Start. The laser will start cutting.

12- When the laser stops cutting press ESC.

13- Collect the fallen pieces from the bottom drawer.

14- Count the number of pieces and assemble the kerf design. The result is a Peacock.

Group Assignment #1: Laser Cutting

Date: 15-02-2020

For the group assignment we tried different materials to be used for the kerf tests.
As for the material, we tested 4 mm cardboard.
1- One of my colleagues used Solidworks program to design a model to test the fit of the 4 mm cardboard and then we exported it to DXF.

2- We opened the file in "Lasercut" and set the parameters as: speed: 100 power: 20 engrave: 100 The we downloaded it and finally export the gcode.

3- To start cutting we turned on the power, the compressor and the machine.

4- The machine begins to cut.

5- Our cut was not satisfactory cause it was too fragile so we made a wider piece.

6- We found that the best fit for a 4mm cardboard was 3.6 due to compression.

7- Final Results: