Week 3: Computer Controller Cutting¶

Week 3: Computer Controlled Cutting

ITS LASER WEEK BABY.

I MADE THIS BEAUTY

photo of finished piece

Lab Safety¶

FabLab NoDa Website

A quick rundown of the Fablab NoDa Safety Procedures:

Do not touch or run any of the machines when the instructor is not present
Know where the fire extingisher and first aid kit are
Wear proper PPE

Laser Safety¶

DO NOT use the laser without the instructor present
Make sure that it has proper ventallation and the airflow is not blocked
Make changes to the settings gradually and based off of the given lab settins
Smoke is okay, uncontrolled fire is not. if you see a fire, stay calm and stop the print. open the glass cover. this should automatically turn the laser off. then cover the fire with the acm panel that is located with the laser
To prevent fires, make sure to focus the laser properly, and that your materials are as flat as possible. If needed, tape down the edges of your material.

I did cause a small fire. I changed the cut settings from 13% speed to 10%. It just seemed like 3% of a difference, however it was a 23% decrease in cutting speed.

picture of charred cardboard

FREECAD & PARAMETRIC DESIGN¶

insert color coded lines photo

To make a paremetric design, I first made a prototype out of cardboard with no measurements, and then mapped out which lines need to be constrained with each other.

insert 8 iterations photo

Next I went to FREECAD.

fully constrainted photo

I have improved from last week. With all the constraints my computer wa getting slow.

colorful picture

Here’s what some of the constraints look like with color coded lines.

The cardboard I was using was about 6.5mm thick. For the slots of my design I made sure all of them were connected. When it comes to fit toleraance, 6.5mm was perfect first try. I still constrained all the lines I needed so that I can change the meaurements when I move to a new material. All the red lines in the picture are 6.5mm.

Originally I did not account for the cardboard thickness material when it came to assembly, but luckly all I had to do ws change the dark blue line and it changed all the measurements.

EPILOG HELIX 30W CO2 LASER CUTTER¶

Our lab uses Inkscape for our laser printer. In general, it is best practice to make your canvas the same size as your cut bed. Our is 24” x 18”.

However, it was inputed into the document settings as 18” x 24”, and so it will not cut anything beyond 18” width.

Set your canvas to 18” x 18”

Upload your SVG or Inkcape file

Add photo of Nesting here

Ungroup your lines and rearrange them to be space effiecent. Do not put them too close together as it can start a fire.

I needed to fix a few alignment issues with the slots. I did this through Inkscape.

Hit Print

Click the “printer” named LASER

Click preferences & type in your settings.

Laser Settings¶

Material	Speed	Power	Freq
1/8” Cardbord	25%	60-100	500
1/4” Cardbord	15%	65%	1000
1/8” Plywood	15%	100%	500-2500
1/8” Clear Acrylic	10-40%	100%	5000

Save, hit Apply, then Print

On the Laser, lay down your material, make ure it is as flat as possible and tpe down the edges if needed.

Close the glass cover

Hit GO

Watch the laser, do not look away for more than 15 seconds

picture of charred cardboard

When the laser is all done, you may lift the cover. The material may be hot when you touch it. If you do not think your material was cut all the way through, DO NOT MOVE IT and run the job again.

Now assemble the kit!

aemble 1

aeemble 2

assemble 3

assemble 4

assemble5

SILHOUETTE CAMEO¶

Next up is to cut a nice cover for my project!

Download the Silhouette Program

Use a USB connect the Silhouette to your computer

Silhouette requires a subscription to upload VG, so I used this SVG to DXF converter.

Cameo Settings use these settings

Upload your DXF file

size matching tip

My file did not immport as the right size. To make it the correct size, use the line tool to create a line that is 120mm. Silhouette works in inches, so that is 4.724 inches.

Increased the files size to match.

Peel off the cover of your sticky matt. Do not lose the cover, it keeps the matt sticky. Place your paper on the matt.

load it in baby

Load in the matt. Make sure it lines up with the guides on the machine. When it is lined up predd “load” and it will roll up the matt to prepare for cutting.

Set your settings to carstock. Hit send on your computer.

Watch the machine cut, you may need to end the cut early if your cardstock moves or gets misaligned.

When the cut is done, click unload on the machine.

cardstock peel

You can tell that it cut through by gently bending your matt at an angle. If your cardstock lift up, it wa a success! Gently peel off the cardstock at an angle.