Computer Controlled Cutting

I set up a user-defined parameter "thickness" with the material thickness in mm. I initially set 4 mm with the possibility to change later with the use of the parameter option

I drew a rectangle. In the width and height field I typed "thickness" instead of a value and selected the user-defined parameter from the drop-down menu

The value should automatically set to 4mm, with the 'fx' prefix that indicates an expression or parameter

I drew another rectangle. This time typing "thickness*3" to multiply the material thickness value

I drew the intended shape always using the parameters

I drew a vertical line in the middle. I set it up to construction

I used the mirror option to symmetrically copy the geometry across the construction line

I used Trim to remove the unnecessary curves

I must have accidentally removed some of the constraints defining the shape in the trimming process and it was no longer fully parametrically-controlled

I deleted all the dimensions and constraints to start over

I selected all the curves and applied equal constraint

I applied dimension (D) typing "thickness" in the field to one of the curves. With the equal constraints applied, the other curves should inherit this value

I applied vertical/horizontal constraint to all the curves

Now it should work and scale all the curves uniform

Following the same process I created another module

I turn the machine on and turned the ventillation system on

Security measures at Aalto Fablab preventing unsupervised usage

I measured my material thickness with a digital caliper

I focused the laser cutter by moving the bed up and down

I used the designated focusing device on the laser cutter head (there should be just slight friction between the tool tip and the material surface)

I set the default pre-defined power, speed and frequency for my material from the Imported Settings menu. For my 4mm thick MDF it was Speed 7%, Power 100%, Frequency 10%.

I tested the settings with a small square first rather than the full job. The default settings worked just fine, so no adjustment was necessary in this case

I exported the design from Fusion 360 as a DXF file. That file I opened in Illustrator and changed the cut lines width to 0.01. I clicked Print, placed the design on my material sheet in the Trotec camera preview and sent it to Job Manager. Then clicked Quick Print to send the job to the laser cutter