3. Computer controlled cutting¶
Assignment¶
This week assignments:
group assignment:
do your lab’s safety training
characterize your lasercutter’s focus, power, speed, rate,
kerf, joint clearance and types
individual assignment:
cut something on the vinylcutter
design, lasercut, and document a parametric construction kit,
accounting for the lasercutter kerf,
which can be assembled in multiple ways,
and for extra credit include elements that aren’t flat
Research¶
For this week assignment i had to make som research on how to make parametric design, i havent realy did that befor, so i use copilot and ask how to make parametrics in Fusion. then i went to Youtube and look for some Fusion parametric video. i have done few works for vinulcutter. so i am not useing to much time in research on that topic. For the croup assignment i need to do some research about how to do that and ask my instructor about the laser cutter in Reykjavik Fablab.
Parametric constructing kit¶
I did start by evaluating wich program i was going to use, after looking little bit around on freecad and Fusion i desided to use Fusion caus i know that little bit better than freecad and i always get stuck when using freecad and cant to any thing there unless starting again, i feel Fusion is much more user friendly software. I havent given up on Freecad yet i just need more time to play whith it.
So i startet by following instruction from copilot after looking some video on youtube. that transcript from Copilot didint work 100% for me but was great start and help to understand parametrics. So i had to make some adjustment for my design. Here is the transcript from copilot:
Sure! Here are step-by-step instructions to create a parametric construction kit in Fusion 360
that can be assembled in multiple ways, using chamfer joints and a material thickness of 4mm:
Step 1: Set Up Parameters
1. Open Fusion 360 and create a new design.
2. Go to the “Modify” menu and select “Change Parameters.”
3. Create parameters for key dimensions:
o Material_Thickness: 4mm
o Kerf: (measure your laser cutter’s kerf, e.g., 0.15mm)
o Tab_Width: (e.g., 10mm)
o Slot_Width: Material_Thickness + Kerf
o Slot_Length: (e.g., 20mm)
o Chamfer_Size: (e.g., 2mm)
Step 2: Create Basic Shapes
1. Create a New Sketch on the XY plane.
2. Draw the Base Shape:
o Use the rectangle tool to draw the base shape of your parts (e.g., walls, roof panels).
o Dimension the shapes using the parameters you set up.
3. Add Tabs and Slots:
o Draw rectangles for tabs and slots on the edges of your parts.
o Use the “Dimension” tool to set the width and length of the tabs and slots using the parameters.
Step 3: Add Chamfer Joints
1. Create Chamfers:
o Select the edges of the tabs and slots where you want to add chamfers.
o Go to the “Modify” menu and select “Chamfer.”
o Set the chamfer distance using the Chamfer_Size parameter.
2. Adjust for Kerf:
o Ensure the slot width is set to Material_Thickness + Kerf to account for the laser cutter kerf.
o Ensure the tab width is set to Tab_Width and the length to Slot_Length.
Step 4: Add Parametric Constraints
1. Use Constraints:
o Apply constraints to ensure parts align correctly. For example, use the “Equal” constraint to make all tabs the same size.
o Use the “Coincident” constraint to align the edges of tabs and slots.
Step 5: Create Multiple Assembly Options
1. Design Interchangeable Parts:
o Create different shapes and sizes for walls, roofs, and other components that can fit together in various ways.
2. Use Patterns:
o Use the “Rectangular Pattern” or “Circular Pattern” tools to create multiple instances of tabs and slots.
Step 6: Test and Iterate
1. Export Your Design:
o Export your design as a DXF file for laser cutting.
2. Perform a Test Cut:
o Cut a few parts and assemble them to check the fit.
3. Adjust Parameters:
o If necessary, adjust the parameters and constraints in Fusion 360 and repeat the test cut.
Step 7: Document Your Process
1. Keep Notes:
o Document the parameters and adjustments you made.
2. Save Your Design:
o Save your Fusion 360 design file for future reference and modifications.
In this picture here above you can see all tha parametrics i costum made by pressing the Plus sign in the rigth top corner, then i gave the parameter name and set the unit to mm and then some value. here in my country we use metric system.
I made three type of bricks but ended up with four types cause when i cut my kit out then i accidentally had construction line through the rectangular piece so i got that cutted in two parts, it was actualluy nice surprice and fit great into my kit.
Here in this pictur you can see the rectangular form one with centerline and one without the center line this was cut out on 5mm cardbord.
This piecec fit good to geather
Setting i used on the laser cutter to cutt this out in cardboard was:
1. Speed 30%
2. Power 80%
3. Freqency 500Hz
Vinyl cutter¶
Reykjavik Fablab vinyl cutter.¶
In Fablab Reykjavik there are two vinyl cutters Roland GX-24 an Roland GS-24 i used the GS-24 for my assignment.
- Model: Roland GS-24
- Acceptable media: 50 - 700 mm (2 to 27.5 in.)
- Max. material thickness: 1 mm (0.039 in)
- Max. cutting area: Width: 584 mm (22.9 in.) - Length: 25 m (984 in.)
- Cutting speed: 10 - 500 mm/sec (4 in to 19.69 in/s) (all directions)
The STICKER¶
Few months ago i was playing and trying to learn more on Inkscape, then i did a little project and made a sticker. But i never cutted it out in the vinel cutter like i had planned to do. Then when this assignement came in Fabacademy it seem to me it was the perfect opertunity to finnaly cutt it out and stick it on my Fabacademy notebook. I am not going to document how i made the file, cause its very long since i did that file, however i will document the prosess of cutting, weeding and transfer the sticker on the notebook.
I had little problem in this assignment, iff you look closly on the picture here above you can see that some lines are missing, they rurn out to be to thin (cross lines beetween the wheels) and the seccond one is that there was on the left side of the wing one line didint transfer fully.
How to setup the vinyl cutter¶
On this picture you can see the placement of the knife, its the black rounded thing inside the white thing.
There is a little clip that hold the knife in place, you have to unlookck that clip and take the knife out to test if knife is good, then you take your finger and touch the tip of the knife to find out iff it`s in place or not if it isint out enough you have to screw the house of the knife little bit, when you think it is long enough you put the knfe back in plase an look it in with the clip.
Then you can run a test to see if the settings for the knife are good enough.
1. Place some vinyl in tha machine(will cover how to addjust the vinyl further down in this documentasion)
2. On the control panel press arrow down twice until it says piece on the screen, (this tels the machine it is a little piece of vinyl) then press enter and the machine starts to meassure the piece that you han in the machine.
3. Then hold an press down the test button
On this picture you see five white lines and under two of those lines you see tvo wheels and you can also see some sensor under the wheel on the right side, when you put vinyl in the machine you need to put it over the sencor an beetween to of the white lines and under the wheels and lookit in wwith the handle on the back side of the machine.
Here comes few picture of printer settings, weeding and transfering
Group Assignment¶
Laser cutter¶
This is the epilog mini laser cutter at Fablab Reykjavik that i used for my assignment.
Specification:
- Model: Epilog mini 40
- Engraving Area: 610mm x 305mm (24 x12in)
- Max Material Thickness: 203mm (8in)
- Laser Wattages: 40 Watts
How to set the focus.¶
I am used to use the laser cutter from before but i still will document little bit how it works. To use a laser cutter then you allways have to start by setting the focus on the laser.
1. First you have to choice the material and put it in the laser cutter, put the uper corner on the material in the upper corner on the cutter.
2. Then you take the littlu triangle we call the focus iron and put it on the laser head.
- press X/Y off
- press Go
- Use the arrow buttons to addjust the height on the bed, the material are supposed to touch but not lift the focus iron.
3. Addjust home point(starting point).
- Press and turn on pointer.
- Then move Y and X axes to the point were you want to start(make sure the axes are free).
- Press Set Home.
- Press Reset.
- Close the glass lock.
Then its how to configure the computer and printer settings.
1. Open the .pdf document you want to use.
- choice and press print.
2. Print windows settings
- Choice the right printer
- Press properties
3. Setting the size.
- choice combine (if cutting and engraving) (raster if only engraving and vector if only cutting).
- Set resulution to 400 DPI.
- Set Raster and Vector(settings here depends fully on the type of material and its thickness).
- Press Ok.
4. Then when back in print window.
- Choice Actual size.
- Press print (then the computer sends the file to the laser and it is ready to cut/engrave).
5. Now its time to start the airpressure(**DO NOT FORGET**).
6. Laser cutting
- When the green lights goes off the data has then arrived the laser and its ready to cut.
- Press Go
REMEMBER NOT TO LEAVE THE LASER UNATTENDED¶
Kerf test¶
In Inkscape we made a square box 100 x 80 mm with 8 lines plus the outlines an cut it out then we measure the gap than was in the hole made after cutting, we measure that gap as 2,69mm then we divided in that number with the number of the cutting lines or 2,69/10 that gives oss a kerf about 0.269mm
testing the cutting range¶
This test is to measure how much thikness ekstra the kerf cuts from the material We used MDF 4 mm material in this test we made some parametric drawing in fusion for this test we draw a kind of comb and made some lines in it that in the middle was set to material thickness and then we added or subtract 0.05mm for each slot that we moved In the end i found out the material was hangin togeather wherer we had the material thickness -0,15mm
Setting i used on the laser cutter to cutt this out in MDF was:
1. Speed 11%
2. Power 100%
3. Freqency 500Hz
Design file .f3d Design file .svg
