We have a 30W flat bed laser cutter in LDS012 with a maximum material size of 590 x 410.

See Phil Dixon to discuss its use

This machine will not cut metals – the laser is not powerful enough.  It will, however, cut a wide range of non-metallic materials.  We need to be sure that no toxic or corrosive fumes will be emitted during the cutting process – ie. PVC gives of corrosive fumes which will corrode the laser mirrors.

Materials containing chlorine, fluorine, bromine and iodine as part of their molecular structure must not be used with the laser cutter.  This is because of the production of corrosive gases which will damage the laser cutter and its filters.

You may need to obtain the material data sheet before we can cut the material.

Acrylic up to 12mm

MDF upto 5mm

Most timber, HIPS, common polymers, etc. – maximum thickness dependent on the nature of the material.

Try and have a scrap piece of the material for testing settings.

The two variables in the cutting process are the laser power and the speed it moves at.  These need to be optimised to ensure a complete cut which has a minimum kerf angle.

With a high speed and low power the laser can also be used for engraving on the material surface.

 

Requirements

You will need your 2D graphics in a vector file format such as .dxf, .dwg, .wmf.  The files needs to be created or imported into Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, MicroGrafix or 2D Designer.  The driving software is then similar to a printer driver.

For profile cutting all vectors need to have ‘zero’ [minimal] thickness and no fill.

We cannot ‘print’ directly from Creo.  If you export a .dxf or .dwg from a Creo drawing then make sure you select the older AutoCAD version 13 in the export options not the default AutoCAD 2004.

Because of the fire risk when using this machine it can only be operated by trained members of staff.

Get the print properties setup as far as you can then see a member of staff to check them

Setup – for plain cutting and etching

Printer setup: select Mercury as the printer

Printer Properties

Tab > Option > Manual Colour fill

Tab > Pen > [colour refer to line colours in file.  Power and speed need to be set according to the material – eg. cutting through 3mm acrylic needs 100% power, 2.2% speed]

Tab > Paper > [set paper size to the sheet size in the software NOT the size of your material]