Laser Cutting

These are the 4 important hazards and the respective safety control measures on the operation of laser cutting machine

Hazards	Safety control measures	Pictures to support the explanation
1.Cutting specific materials can create fumes and gases that are toxic when inhaled	A fume extractor is installed to remove these gases
2. Exposure to laser beam can cause eye damage or skin burns	A lid is used to cover the laser cutter when it undergoing laser cutting and users are advised to not stare at the beam
3. When cut, some materials may catch fire	Fire extinguishers are present near the laser cutter to put out the fires
4.Debris that are made present on the cutting materials may pose a fire  hazard	An air compressor is installed to blow away the debris on the cutting material

Materials that can be cut/engraved using laser cutting machine ✅

Material	Photo of material
1. Plywood
2. Acrylic
3. Cardboard
4. Paper

Materials that cannot be cut/engraved using laser cutting machine ❌

Material	Photo of material
1. Polyvinyl Chloride
2. Styrofoam
3. Rubber
4. Metal

Steps on the operation of universal laser cutter machine 📈

a. Starting the compressor, turning on the laser cutter machine and fume extractor

Steps and description	Photos to support the description
Switch on the power for the PC, laser cutter and air assist
Switch on the power for the fume extractor

b. Importing a .DXF file to coreldraw and modify the lines/fill for cutting and engraving

Steps and description	Photos to support the description
Importing a file from fusion to Corel-Draw - Select file > Import > Select .DXF file > Press Import
Changing line colour/width and fill colour

c. Sending the Corel-Draw drawing to laser cutter software and setting the laser cutter power, speed, PPI in the software

Steps and description	Photos to support the description
Click on file > print and click on the cogwheel
Universal's material setting will appear Click on LOAD for more material settings
Select the presets that matches your material type and thickness and select OPEN Power: describes the output power of the laser 100% is maximum power (will cause ugly charring). For dark wood engravings or stamp engravings, you generally need a high power, whereas low values are used for materials such as paper. Speed: describes the movement of the laser head. Fast speeds lead to short exposure times, slow speeds lead to long exposure times. PPI: Pulses per inch, frequency may also be know as PPI and is a way to control how many times the laser pulses over a given distance during the cutting process. The higher the frequency the more pulses you have and the more they will overlap resulting in a smoother cut, however the downside to this is that the higher the frequency the mroe heat it creates while cutting which can cause melting or charring on certain materials. z-axis: Usually set as the material height for optimal focus point Once done click OK.

d. Starting the job on the laser cutter machine

Steps and description	Photos to support the description
The control panel Activate/ deactivate the laser cutter Start the cutting/ engraving Pause button to pause/ resume the cutting/ engraving
Red button to power on the laser cutter. If it is green, deactivate and activate it again.
Essential tools Zoom- to zoom into the work file. Focus- Projects a laser dot on the laser cutter itself to check whether the work is within a workable space. Move- To move drawings within the available workspace Estimated time- To check the estimated time for the cutting or engraving to finish
Zones Try to keep the work in either zone 1 or 2 as the laser is usually concentrated around those areas There will be power drop in areas 3 and 4
Moving the object Use the in built ruler and the move tool to move the object to the empty spaces of the cutting material
Focus tool With the lid still open, click on the focus tool and a laser pointer will appear Use this to check if the file is within safe cutting area Click the bottom right and top left corners of the file
Estimate time Click on the estimate time button to check for the timing
Start the cutting/ engraving Shut the lid Press the play button on the laser cutter or on the UCP
Monitoring and finishing the cut/ engrave Do not stare at the beam directly for too long Once done, wait for 1 minute and let the air extractor remove the toxic smell and particles Test if the material has been cut through by tapping on the cut material
Housekeeping Remove unwanted materials and dispose them Deactivate laser cutter Switch of necessary switches

DOs and DONTs	Photos to support the description
Use a fire extinguisher to put out a large flame and ensure you alert other people nearby that there is a big fire
Blow out a fire if it is negligible
Do not use a fire extinguisher to take out a small fire as it may damage the laser cutter

Learning reflection on laser cutting

In my opinion, I prefer to do laser cutting over 3D printing. The process of 3D printing just seems way more interesting and more interactive. By going through the competency test in week 2, it gave me a first hand experience of what it will be like to use a laser cutter to vector cut and vector engrave. Laser cutting is also not a skill that everyone will learn and I am really excited to be given this opportunity!

Coming to the makerspace workshop for the first time, I still felt a bit unsure on what i should do even after watching the video provided multiple times. As a result, I failed on my first attempt as I was confused with vector engraving and engraving. This made me feel highly discouraged. However, I tried my best to move on and learn from my mistakes, even telling others about how I failed and how I filled the entire emoji with green as I thought I was supposed to engrave it. On the second try, I felt that the competency test examiner did a good job in teaching us all of the proper steps to ensure that our laser cutting experience was both safe and enriching at the same time, allowing us to have a more enjoyable experience with the laser cutter overall.

This is only the beginning of laser cutting and I am sure that we will be learning more about laser cutting soon! Overall, I hope to be able to use the laser cutter more often to familiarise myself with it more and at the same time, use the laser cutters at the other 2 Fablabs. Maybe I can even laser cut components for a keyboard such as keycaps or a plate made of acrylic or wood!