Introduction to Zund G3 L-2500

Zund G3 L-2500 are high-precision machines that can be used to cut paper, card board, leather, acrylic sheets, ply etc.,. Zund G3 cutting systems excel in delivering both exceptional productivity and unsurpassed cut quality. It uses energy-efficient, adjustable vacuum generators to hold-down the materials. The Zund G3 can be modifies and upgraded to meet and adapt to new requirements It has a dimension of 3410.0mm × 3150.0mm × 894.0mm and weighs about 970kg.


The technical details of the machine can be found in its manual. Some important specification can be seen below;

Base machine: Dimensions, weight, material

Tools & Modules
In Zund we can combine the modules and tools you need from a wide range of tooling option. ZUnd G3 provides 11 different cutter sizes to let you select the perfect machine size for all your production needs. A standard three modules can be fastened onto the module carriage in a zund cutter. The use of modules and tool inserts means that Zünd cutters can be highly specialised on the one hand, whilst still being able to be easily converted for processing other materials on the other hand.

Zund G3 provides modular, flexible, and adaptable high-performance modules and tools for every applications. Additional information about the Zund Tools and modules can be seen in the picture below;



For more information you can refer to tools and modules on Zund official site.

Design using Inkscape

For this week's assignment, I had to create/fabricate something using a new machine not used till now. As mentioned above, I opted for the Zund G3 L-2500. Zund provides multiple tool options as well as material choices. Since, we had access to FabLab for only that day, I designed a simple key chain using Inkscape to be cut using Zund.

Fabrication using Zund G3 L-2500

In Zund there are four softwares for manufacturing namely Cut server, Cut Editor, Cut Manager and Cut Queue.



TO cut the design using Zund;

To cut the design, we need to carry out the following steps;

1. The first step when using zund is to apply compressed air to the Zund machine. COmpressed air is used to hold the material down on the machine bed and is also used in Router Module



2. Next we need to do tool setting using the workstation. The workstation can be seen below;




3. Now we open our design file into the Zund application. To do that click on the Cut Editor option. Then click on files → Click Import file → select your file



4. Next we select the material and specify the material thickness. To do that click on the Material option on right hand corner.



5. Now we select the engraving part and cutting/routing part of the design. To do that we use the Method Attribute located at the right hand panel.
   • For routing/cutting; click on Method Attribute → click on change method → select routing on methods option → select the bit diameter → name the file → click ok.
   
   • Similarly for engraving; click on Method Attribute → click on change method → select engraving on methods option → select the bit diameter and machine depth → click ok.
   
   In Zund, the color yellow represents engraving part and the color blue represents the cutting/routing part.
   


6. Now that the design is ready, we sent the design to cut center using the Send to sever button on the top



7. Next we open the Cut Queue. A list of jobs will be displayed. From there I select my design. Then I make the necessary tool settings.
   • For engraving; Select engrave file → set end-mill= R202-A dia2 → click on general → set machine depth=1mm.
   • Similarly for routing; Select routing file → Choose the end-mill= R202-A dia2 & click on general → set multi-pass max depth= 1.5mm and base depth= 0.2mm
   



8. Next turn on the vaccum by clicking on Vaccum on/off option at top



9. Lastly set the x-y axis and click on start cutting

The machine cuts the design and the final product is as shown below.

Project Files

• Design file