4. Computer controlled cutting¶
FABLAB Kamakura 2026 Students’ Group work for week03¶
Students; Daisuke Hanamido, Kohshi Katoh¶
Safety Instruction about CNC in Kamakura¶
Laser Cutter in FABLAB Kamakura is Trotec Speedy100.
Type: CO2 with Gas filtering system
Although it has Gas Filtering System, it is recommended to open the window while Laser Cutting material especially plastic.
Important:¶
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Never ever leave from Laser Cutter while in cutting operation!! If laser stops due to some mechanical or software error, it will easily get fire.¶
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Prepare a Fire Extinguisher (CO2 type) and Fire Stopping Fabric for emergency.¶
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Always check the material property if it is relevant to cut by Laser or not especially “Plastic”.¶
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Beware about Laser cutting Acrylic produces toxic gas.¶
Open the window for cutting material by laser especially plastic.
“Trotec Speedy 100” Operation and best parameter setting for the material¶
We learned operation process by finding the best parameter (power, speed) for the carton Board that FABLAB Kamakura prepared for our assignment.
System activation¶
Setting Laser position relative to the material surface¶
Hang the “Calibration Tool” at the edge of laser lens.
Operate the Table with the “Table Up and Down Key” so that the material surface touches the calibration tool to be moved or fallen.
Gradually operate the Table Up moving Key.
Now the hanged Calibration Tool moved (almost fallen).
The laser Focus distance was set.¶
File preparation for Laser Controlling PC¶
Prepare a drawing file which is made by Vector Drawing.
Following file was prepared as the first step of laser cutting by ink-scape.
Transport this drawing file via USB-Key into Laser Cutter controlling PC, and open the file by “Illustrator”.
In case Cut or engrave line modification is necessary, it can be designed in this Illustrator.
For Cutting part, change the color of line to pure RED with “255” setting of RED and other colors as “0” at RGB setting.
For engraving part, change the color of line to pure BLACK by setting “0” for all colors at RGB setting.
Select “Print” to send the data to “Trotec Engraver”.
Choose “Trotec Engraver” at Printer selection, and wait until the bottom button shows “Print”.
Then, click “Print” to activate “Trotec Engraver”.
Laser parameter setting¶
By Printing to “Trotec Engraver”, you will see Trotect-icon blinking at the bottom of display.
Click the icon, and you will see the following window.
The yellow framed area in the following picture is the part to set the Laser Cutting condition such as “Power”, “Speed”, and “Frequency”. We focussed to change the “Power” and “Speed” to find the best setting for our material.
The Material we used this time was “3mm thickness Carton Board”.
There is a recommended setting for “3mm thickness Carton Board” in the Lab as follows.
* For Cutting
* Power: 85
* Speed: 1.2
- For engraving
- Power: 30
- Speed: 100
Now, set the laser cut point with X-Y Operation Key.
Then Align the Parameter Set File by Drag nd Dropping “the file” into the operational window.
Move the silhouette of the file so that the left top corner meet the “lens Point”.
Then, click the right bottom Arrow button to start Laser Cutting.
We started our trial with this value.
The engrave part laser setting seems not relevant with totally cut with carbonized black color at the cutting edge…
We decided to make the test cut piece to save the material for numbers of tests as below picture with bit parameter change as follows;
* For Cutting
* Power: 80
* Speed: 1.2
- For engraving
- Power: 25
- Speed: 100
Still it is too strong for both cutting and engraving setting.
For continuously laser cutting with the same cutting design, select “Job restarting”
In order to see the result of “engraving”, we decided to put the “fill-in rectangular” in each cutting case.
Happening!!¶
While we were proceeding, we have found that our parameter changing is not being reflected into the Laser Cutting condition.
Test 1¶
- For Cutting
- Power: 85
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Speed: 1.2
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For engraving
- Power: 30
- Speed: 100
Test 2¶
- For Cutting
- Power: 80
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Speed: 1.2
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For engraving
- Power: 25
- Speed: 100
Test 3¶
- For Cutting
- Power: 70
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Speed: 1.2
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For engraving
- Power: 15
- Speed: 100
Test 4¶
- For Cutting
- Power: 65
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Speed: 1.2
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For engraving
- Power: 10
- Speed: 100
It’s strange… The result is not changing…
We decided to change dramatically as follows.¶
Test 5¶
- For Cutting
- Power: 40
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Speed: 1.2
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For engraving
- Power: 1.0
- Speed: 100
This is very strange!! What it going on?
Then, we found that the value set in “Trotec Parameter Setting Window” is not reflected to the “Trotec Operational Window” as following picture.
It seems the parameter value is default standard one.
Why???
Is it because of the “file name” written in “Japanese Letter”?
Then, changed the file name in “English Letter”, and tried the Laser Cutting.
Now the values are reflected and successfully laser cut with the value set.
Note: We should use “English Letter” for the “Trotec Parameter Setting file name”.¶
Learning Point: Check the Operational Window if “the Value” is reflected.¶
Laser Parameter Setting Result¶
After eight different Laser Cutting trial, we end up to achieve the best setting for 3mm Carton Board.
Here under are the trial without actual Laser Cutting condition due to the file name error.
Here under is our Laser Cutting best result for 3mm thickness Carton Board.¶
Our Best Setting for 3mm thickness Carton Board¶
Kerf Trial¶
Thanks to Daisuke Doyo in Fab Academy 2018, we could have a very useful tool to check the best width of slot with the current Kerf condition.
It’s a comb shaped slots designing tool.
Knowing the thickness of Carton Board as 3.0mm, we decided to design the tool 3.0mm as the base with 0.05 pitch.
By using the same Laser Cutting Parameter which we have achieved, we cut the Comb Tool.
