How to Choose a Suitable Laser Cutter engraver
Enclosed Type
How to Use a Laser Cutter
by：Transon
2020-12-07
Laser cutting machine is one of the most useful tools in modern shops.
The laser cutting machine works by directing a very powerful laser beam at an exact focal length to the material they cut or etched, depending on how the laser cutting machine is set up.
Laser cutting machines cut materials similar to other computer-controlled tools, except that they cut materials using beams instead of blades.
When the laser cutting machine is set to etching something on the surface of the material, they work like a printer and are actually etching images on something using a laser beam.
This note aims to be a resource for anyone who wants to do laser cutting for the first time, learn more about how the laser cutting machine works, or just explore the wonderful world of laser cutting machines.
The first thing you need to use a laser cutter is a laser cutter.
However, if you haven\'t already, buying one may not be within your budget.
Epilog recently released a laser cutting machine with a budget of less than $8,000. 00.
With this in mind, I will explore other ways to get your hands on the laser cutter.
First of all, there are always local universities.
Community colleges are fairly inexpensive to attend classes, and it doesn\'t hurt to see if they offer any art or engineering courses involving laser engraving.
Less than hundred dollars (
Depending on the cost of each credit)
For a class, you should have a laser cutter available for the entire semester.
In this way, not only can you get the laser cutting machine at a cheap price, but you can also learn some tips and tricks, as well as constant practical experience.
If you just want your design and don\'t have the cash to buy the machine, you can search locally for some businesses that cut for your laser.
There are many places to operate laser cutting products for others.
You can also try to find a place to use a laser cutter to see if they mind helping you.
Another way to make your design without buying a laser cutter is to work with a company like Ponoko that will cut any design you send to them and
There is a good set of instructions in this regard.
If you really want your own laser cutter but don\'t have the money, there are a few options.
You can go to the manufacturer\'s website to see if they have a pre-purchase-
Have your own model, or go to a website like ebay and hope you buy what you get.
You can also treat it like a car because it costs about the same price as a rentalto-own.
We have it now.
Or know how to access)
Laser cutter, let\'s take a look at what materials we can cut and what basic things we can do with them. Cast Acrylic -
Etchable cutting (
Nice frosted look).
Extruded acrylic-can be cut (
No frost during etching).
Laser safety plastics such as ABS and polyester-
Can be etched and cut. (
PVC and vinyl are not laser safesee step 4)
Alumina anode-can be etched (
Black anodized aluminum provides the best contrast in all anodized aluminum)Brass -un-
Coated brass cannot be etched by laser, it needs to have some kind of coating (such as paint). Glass -can be etched.
This includes bottles (
Full and empty)
Glass and plain flat glass.
A more special etching technique is needed. Wood -
It can be etched or cut, and too high a power will distort the carved image.
There are also some materials that will not tell you that you can cut, such as: skincakechocolategingerbreadmeatpancakesinger NailsCard StockPaperStampsThe the last thing you need, except for your laser cutting machine and material you cut, is a computer that loads some form of vector graphics software.
For the purposes of these instructions, I assume you have CorelDraw x4.
If you like to use something else, there are a few other instructures that can help you with these programs. Inkscape:Laser-
Homemade Holiday decor ketchup and Inkscape with free software cutting jewelry: SketchUp, Inkscape and Ponoko laser cutting part 1 SketchUp, Inkscape and Ponoko laser cutting plastic, laptop and a bunch of other things are flammable, so please don\'t walk away halfway and you may be back to more of what you wish.
Like most metals, aluminum is rather reflective.
It has the potential to send the beam back from where it came from, damaging the laser diode.
Don\'t let the reflective side face up towards you when cutting reflective things, and make sure you don\'t use too high power.
Apart from all the bonuses that no one tells you can cut, there are a few more things you should try to avoid.
PVC and vinyl produce corrosive chlorine gas that will not only hurt you, but also permanently damage your machine and remove the warranty during this process.
I highly recommend it if you can stay away from both materials.
If you want to check the chlorine, the people at Burnination will put together a great instructional video to help you out!
Never etching things too fast.
If you assume that the power and speed settings are correct and cut directly into your project, you may cut further than you planned (
This is never good for things like laptops).
If you start a little light, you can re-print multiple times in the same area or increase the power to your liking.
It is always helpful to have a sample test.
Do not lean on the cellular bed platform inside the machine.
From the experience of trying to touch something at the back of the machine, I can tell you that the cellular platform is not enough to support the weight.
This is entirely determined by the power settings.
You can control the power of the laser when printing. The more power-
The hotter it is, the hotter it is-
The greater the chance of fire.
Whatever experiment you have.
Everything will be a little different.
Each type of wood will be slightly different from the next one.
A slightly thicker acrylic sheet may only require a slower hair or a higher power.
Test every thing and write it down when you find out what works for that particular thing!
Whenever you use that particular thing in the future, you know where to set it.
Different laser cutting machines have different wattage settings and it doesn\'t help to change the same power level between the two machines. The speed you choose determines the speed of laser cutting.
The slower the speed, the longer the laser stays at each position, resulting in more heat. . .
I think you know what\'s going on.
This also means that the slower the speed, the deeper the cutting or engraving.
In several Epilog manuals, I found out that they recommended the following balance.
Acrylic etching-
High speed, low power (easy to cut)
High power is possible to distort acrylic resin.
Acrylic cuttinglow speed, (relatively)high power.
Etching of anodized aluminum-
High speed, low power consumption. Painted Brass -
High speed, low power (
It doesn\'t take much time to get rid of the paint)Glass -
Medium speed and high power (
Experiment because of all kinds of glass)Plastic -
Your experiment with plastic wood type
Experiments and calculations were carried out for each Wood.
The following two images are not included in the instruction manual on the epilogs website.
As you can see, even if you use the same Watt, the speed and power of different machines are different.
So please test your material first.
When cutting materials with a vector, there is an additional setting in addition to power and speed.
Frequency setting controls how many laser pulses per inch are applied to the workpiece you cut.
When the laser cutting machine works, it does not turn on the laser for the duration of the cutting.
In raster mode, it behaves like an inkjet printer, printing thousands of dots per inch (dpi).
Depending on how dark the area you want to etching is, more dpi will be applied.
However, the vector is a straight line that will be etched like a knife cut.
To achieve this, you use slower speeds than the grating at equal or higher power, turn on and off a bunch of lasers per second, and your eyes can\'t even judge that it\'s doing it.
The frequency can be set between 10 to 5000 pulses per inch (ppi).
Since these pulses travel in the same straight line as the laser (Laser)
, They ended up creating the impression of the straight cut that the laser opened throughout the duration.
However, there are some reasons for changing ppi.
The higher the Ppi is set, the hotter the material is.
So if you are using wood or something else that is flammable/combustible, you may want to lower the ppi.
This is also useful for reducing the burnt/burnt look of what you are cutting (like wood).
If you are cutting acrylic fiber and you want a pointed angle, low ppi can be useful to you.
But if you want to have beautiful rounded corners and smooth edges, the higher ppi will help to achieve this look by melting the acrylic edges cut by laser.
Test some different settings on the practice sheet to see how the appearance changes your material.
When using a laser cutter, you can use two different cutting techniques, vector and grating.
The grating is usually used to carve things, while the vector is better at cutting things.
Grating engraving is very similar to ordinary printers.
I hope anyone who intends to use a laser cutter has used an inkjet or laser printer at some point in the past.
The printer prints on the page from top to bottom, while printing from left to right.
They do not start printing in the lower right corner, and then continue printing in the upper left corner to the middle of the page.
Grating cutting works the same way.
When you click print in any program that decides to print, the laser cutter will start at the top of the work you are working on and go down to the bottom, when the laser moves from left to right on anything you carve.
The laser is continuously and quickly turned on and off at ordinary printers and wherever it does not spray ink.
It will be a little different if you have never experienced vector cutting before.
It will start at a point on the image and turn on the laser (
For more information, see Step 6: frequency settings)
, Then continue online and track the entire image before turning off the laser.
That\'s why it tends to be used for cutting instead of etching.
Maybe every video helps to understand it all.
When using Raster, you can try any image type you like and see how it is produced.
When using Vector, you should draw the outline of anything you cut 0. 001-inch (0. 025mm)
So the laser has a clean line to track. (Warning!
I\'m at large!
I already know the settings for the content I am cutting.
If you are cutting new materials, please use the following instructions on the test materials.
Just make your print small enough to fit your test material. )
On the computer, start the CorelDraw x4. (
If you want to learn CorelDraw in more depth, I suggest you search for tutorials on Google.
There are many websites that provide very useful techniques and techniques. )
Open the file to print. (
This could be a photo of the camera, painting or anything you want to etching/cutting)
Adjust the size of the image area to fit the bed of the laser cutting machine (
This will help to place materials later).
Move what you want to print to an easy-to-reach place. (
I put my picture under 8 inch, more than 12 inch)(
There is a step that can help with the above issues.
If you grab the top left corner of the image, the ruler will meet there (
There\'s a corner there)
, And drag the dotted line to the corner of the printable image area, and the ruler will reset to your image area to make it easy to place things. (
For more information, see the fifth image below))
Once everything is ready: File-
> Print the conversation and we will click Properties \".
Select a raster or vector based on what you plan to cut and set the speed accordingly.
If you are doing a test cut, you can speed up printing by reducing the resolution to a lower DPI. (
Don\'t print with a vector unless your image is formatted correctly! See next step. )
For printing vector images, you need to make sure that all the lines you want to print are thick lines.
I used the add text function to type \"structures\" in the program \".
It is automatically set to vertical, so I chose not to rotate it to the horizontal as it fits well.
Instructures are a thick way to print in a vector as is, so we\'re going to do something to edit it.
First, right-click the text and select convert to curve \".
Then, after the conversion, select the tracking tool (
In the upper right corner of the menu bar on my screen)
Click \"send line \".
Finally, on the right side of the page, the position where the color sample is located is the fill setting.
Click on the white box with X, which means there is no filling, see where, your letters are ready to be cut!
Again, go to print, select Preferences, and adjust as needed.
When you are ready to print, it is time to prepare the laser cutting machine.
So let\'s open it!
Once the case is opened, place your material where you plan to cut it.
This is where the ruler in the image comes in handy, and hopefully the laser cutter you are using has built-in ruler to help you locate things. (
If you place something in the top left corner and the bed is raised to high, please do the following steps first).
Once everything is placed (
If you feel at risk, or before)
You may need to adjust the bed.
If you look on the front control panel of the laser cutter, there should be a focus button.
If you press that and then down the arrow, you should see below the bed.
Keep putting the bed down until you have enough space for the laser to not touch your material.
The extra space here is good and we will focus the machine later.
Every laser cutter I use won\'t open the lid to print, so this is a great way to test on your work.
Now that everything is ready, let\'s do a test run.
Open the lid!
If you put the lid on, you may get more than test.
If you are not sure if it will be cut as the lid opens, please try it on your test piece first.
Set preferences for files-
> Speed and low power consumption printed to 100% (
It\'s not important. it\'s not printing.
If you want to double the guarantee, you can set it to 0 power).
Also, in print preferences, click the auto focus button.
This will ensure that the laser is at an appropriate distance from anything you cut to get the most accurate cut.
Save your preferences and print the files.
The status screen on the laser cutter should update it to receive new work.
Press the \"Go\" button when you are ready and the print should start.
There is also a \"pointer\" button on the control panel.
If you click on it, the red laser will turn on and show that you are a laser cutter at any given time.
This is a useful way to understand where the cuts will be.
Before the printer starts printing, it should hover over your material and adjust the height of the bed to keep the proper focus.
If not, please double check if \"Auto Focus\" is selected in the file \"->Print ---> Preferences.
Before you actually cut, you may need to make sure that the print area is included in the space you want.
There are a few simple ways to do this.
If you tape in your print area, or tape a piece of paper in the area you intend to print (
Make sure you cover more than just the expected print area, and if your measurements are off, that\'s why it\'s useful to test the cut)
, You can etching on paper or tape and make sure that the laser will only cut the area you plan.
High speed printing, low power consumption.
It doesn\'t take much to cross the paper, I think I used 10-
15% at full speed.
I use almost the same tape.
If you are going to use tape, I would recommend blue paint household tape.
When stripping, it doesn\'t stick that much, and it doesn\'t leave tape stuck on anything.
But again, I strongly recommend that you try it yourself on any material you plan to use it first.
Always test first!
When testing the cut, make sure to open the exhaust fan and you will not want to cause a paper fire.
The images I used in this step came from an old project I did, etching the laptop.
I use these for obvious reasons, although it is different from the acrylic resin I used in all the other steps.
When you\'re ready to cut, it\'s time to remove the tape or paper and cover it with the lid, hoping everything goes well.
Back on the computer, in the file-> Print ---
> Preferences menu, select raster or vector based on what you plan to cut.
Once selected, you can choose the power and speed settings that best suit your product.
Don\'t forget Hertz settings if you cut with a vector.
Hope you write this down when you do the test.
After selecting and placing everything correctly, click OK to start printing from your computer.
On the laser cutter make sure to remove all the tape/paper/anything else.
Make sure your cut is not moved.
Make sure the lid is closed and make sure that a new print conversation appears on the printing window in front of the laser cutting machine to the control panel.
Open the exhaust fan if everything is OK.
Open the air compressor if you are doing vector cutting.
Make sure everything is set up correctly for the last check and click continue on the laser cutter control panel \".
Sit down now and watch it print.
You want to hang around when it prints to make sure nothing is on fire and nothing weird needs you to stop everything.
To clean, make sure you have all the right cleaning materials: lens cleaning the things that the paperweight cotton SwabLiquid lens cleaner uses to fix the lens cleaning paper (
We have plastic scissors.
There are two mirrors and a lens to guide the beam.
One of the mirrors and lenses is located in the part of the moving and cutting material, and the other is at the far right end of the arm. (
See the second photo note below)
After each use, you need to clean all of this, otherwise your laser will not stay in good condition and will not cut continuously every time it has to be used.
To clean the lens, fold some lens cleaning paper carefully.
Make sure you don\'t touch no matter which part of the paper you intend to clean the lens.
Insert your fixed tool (
We use plastic scissors. .
Drop one or two drops of liquid lens cleaner on it and wipe off the lens.
If the paper is dirty, take a new piece of paper and repeat the process.
Your lens is clean when your paper is no longer dirty.
You can wipe the mirror with a cotton swab.
Brush off the mirror with it and check the swab for dirt.
The mirror is not clean if you see dirt, you need to take a new swab (
Or rotate the one you are using)
Wipe repeatedly until there is no more dirt/dust coming off.
The mirror away from the lens does not need to be cleaned frequently because it is not on the straight line of the material smoke generated by the laser.
When needed, you can remove the honeycomb bed and vacuum any debris that falls below.
Hope you have your own laser cutting now (or etched)thing.
Whether you decide to etching into a transparent plexiglass to make the LED logo, or your computer looks better, or you want these directions to help.
If on your journey to etching and cutting things with laser, you find anything confusing here, or you think I\'m missing something important, please let me know, i\'ll add it right away!
In my exploration of the knowledge of laser cutting machines, I found some interesting websites that I really couldn\'t include in the stepsby-
Step: add perspective to Text3d text effect example Club (
Many different examples are provided on different surfaces, most of which provide speed and power settings)
Technical Library (
A lot of useful information)
Wikipedia entry for laser cutting (
If information on exactly how all this works, then tons)
If you have any very useful links to technical/help information about laser cutting machines, please feel free to leave a comment and I would be happy to check it out!
The laser cutting machine works by directing a very powerful laser beam at an exact focal length to the material they cut or etched, depending on how the laser cutting machine is set up.
Laser cutting machines cut materials similar to other computer-controlled tools, except that they cut materials using beams instead of blades.
When the laser cutting machine is set to etching something on the surface of the material, they work like a printer and are actually etching images on something using a laser beam.
This note aims to be a resource for anyone who wants to do laser cutting for the first time, learn more about how the laser cutting machine works, or just explore the wonderful world of laser cutting machines.
The first thing you need to use a laser cutter is a laser cutter.
However, if you haven\'t already, buying one may not be within your budget.
Epilog recently released a laser cutting machine with a budget of less than $8,000. 00.
With this in mind, I will explore other ways to get your hands on the laser cutter.
First of all, there are always local universities.
Community colleges are fairly inexpensive to attend classes, and it doesn\'t hurt to see if they offer any art or engineering courses involving laser engraving.
Less than hundred dollars (
Depending on the cost of each credit)
For a class, you should have a laser cutter available for the entire semester.
In this way, not only can you get the laser cutting machine at a cheap price, but you can also learn some tips and tricks, as well as constant practical experience.
If you just want your design and don\'t have the cash to buy the machine, you can search locally for some businesses that cut for your laser.
There are many places to operate laser cutting products for others.
You can also try to find a place to use a laser cutter to see if they mind helping you.
Another way to make your design without buying a laser cutter is to work with a company like Ponoko that will cut any design you send to them and
There is a good set of instructions in this regard.
If you really want your own laser cutter but don\'t have the money, there are a few options.
You can go to the manufacturer\'s website to see if they have a pre-purchase-
Have your own model, or go to a website like ebay and hope you buy what you get.
You can also treat it like a car because it costs about the same price as a rentalto-own.
We have it now.
Or know how to access)
Laser cutter, let\'s take a look at what materials we can cut and what basic things we can do with them. Cast Acrylic -
Etchable cutting (
Nice frosted look).
Extruded acrylic-can be cut (
No frost during etching).
Laser safety plastics such as ABS and polyester-
Can be etched and cut. (
PVC and vinyl are not laser safesee step 4)
Alumina anode-can be etched (
Black anodized aluminum provides the best contrast in all anodized aluminum)Brass -un-
Coated brass cannot be etched by laser, it needs to have some kind of coating (such as paint). Glass -can be etched.
This includes bottles (
Full and empty)
Glass and plain flat glass.
A more special etching technique is needed. Wood -
It can be etched or cut, and too high a power will distort the carved image.
There are also some materials that will not tell you that you can cut, such as: skincakechocolategingerbreadmeatpancakesinger NailsCard StockPaperStampsThe the last thing you need, except for your laser cutting machine and material you cut, is a computer that loads some form of vector graphics software.
For the purposes of these instructions, I assume you have CorelDraw x4.
If you like to use something else, there are a few other instructures that can help you with these programs. Inkscape:Laser-
Homemade Holiday decor ketchup and Inkscape with free software cutting jewelry: SketchUp, Inkscape and Ponoko laser cutting part 1 SketchUp, Inkscape and Ponoko laser cutting plastic, laptop and a bunch of other things are flammable, so please don\'t walk away halfway and you may be back to more of what you wish.
Like most metals, aluminum is rather reflective.
It has the potential to send the beam back from where it came from, damaging the laser diode.
Don\'t let the reflective side face up towards you when cutting reflective things, and make sure you don\'t use too high power.
Apart from all the bonuses that no one tells you can cut, there are a few more things you should try to avoid.
PVC and vinyl produce corrosive chlorine gas that will not only hurt you, but also permanently damage your machine and remove the warranty during this process.
I highly recommend it if you can stay away from both materials.
If you want to check the chlorine, the people at Burnination will put together a great instructional video to help you out!
Never etching things too fast.
If you assume that the power and speed settings are correct and cut directly into your project, you may cut further than you planned (
This is never good for things like laptops).
If you start a little light, you can re-print multiple times in the same area or increase the power to your liking.
It is always helpful to have a sample test.
Do not lean on the cellular bed platform inside the machine.
From the experience of trying to touch something at the back of the machine, I can tell you that the cellular platform is not enough to support the weight.
This is entirely determined by the power settings.
You can control the power of the laser when printing. The more power-
The hotter it is, the hotter it is-
The greater the chance of fire.
Whatever experiment you have.
Everything will be a little different.
Each type of wood will be slightly different from the next one.
A slightly thicker acrylic sheet may only require a slower hair or a higher power.
Test every thing and write it down when you find out what works for that particular thing!
Whenever you use that particular thing in the future, you know where to set it.
Different laser cutting machines have different wattage settings and it doesn\'t help to change the same power level between the two machines. The speed you choose determines the speed of laser cutting.
The slower the speed, the longer the laser stays at each position, resulting in more heat. . .
I think you know what\'s going on.
This also means that the slower the speed, the deeper the cutting or engraving.
In several Epilog manuals, I found out that they recommended the following balance.
Acrylic etching-
High speed, low power (easy to cut)
High power is possible to distort acrylic resin.
Acrylic cuttinglow speed, (relatively)high power.
Etching of anodized aluminum-
High speed, low power consumption. Painted Brass -
High speed, low power (
It doesn\'t take much time to get rid of the paint)Glass -
Medium speed and high power (
Experiment because of all kinds of glass)Plastic -
Your experiment with plastic wood type
Experiments and calculations were carried out for each Wood.
The following two images are not included in the instruction manual on the epilogs website.
As you can see, even if you use the same Watt, the speed and power of different machines are different.
So please test your material first.
When cutting materials with a vector, there is an additional setting in addition to power and speed.
Frequency setting controls how many laser pulses per inch are applied to the workpiece you cut.
When the laser cutting machine works, it does not turn on the laser for the duration of the cutting.
In raster mode, it behaves like an inkjet printer, printing thousands of dots per inch (dpi).
Depending on how dark the area you want to etching is, more dpi will be applied.
However, the vector is a straight line that will be etched like a knife cut.
To achieve this, you use slower speeds than the grating at equal or higher power, turn on and off a bunch of lasers per second, and your eyes can\'t even judge that it\'s doing it.
The frequency can be set between 10 to 5000 pulses per inch (ppi).
Since these pulses travel in the same straight line as the laser (Laser)
, They ended up creating the impression of the straight cut that the laser opened throughout the duration.
However, there are some reasons for changing ppi.
The higher the Ppi is set, the hotter the material is.
So if you are using wood or something else that is flammable/combustible, you may want to lower the ppi.
This is also useful for reducing the burnt/burnt look of what you are cutting (like wood).
If you are cutting acrylic fiber and you want a pointed angle, low ppi can be useful to you.
But if you want to have beautiful rounded corners and smooth edges, the higher ppi will help to achieve this look by melting the acrylic edges cut by laser.
Test some different settings on the practice sheet to see how the appearance changes your material.
When using a laser cutter, you can use two different cutting techniques, vector and grating.
The grating is usually used to carve things, while the vector is better at cutting things.
Grating engraving is very similar to ordinary printers.
I hope anyone who intends to use a laser cutter has used an inkjet or laser printer at some point in the past.
The printer prints on the page from top to bottom, while printing from left to right.
They do not start printing in the lower right corner, and then continue printing in the upper left corner to the middle of the page.
Grating cutting works the same way.
When you click print in any program that decides to print, the laser cutter will start at the top of the work you are working on and go down to the bottom, when the laser moves from left to right on anything you carve.
The laser is continuously and quickly turned on and off at ordinary printers and wherever it does not spray ink.
It will be a little different if you have never experienced vector cutting before.
It will start at a point on the image and turn on the laser (
For more information, see Step 6: frequency settings)
, Then continue online and track the entire image before turning off the laser.
That\'s why it tends to be used for cutting instead of etching.
Maybe every video helps to understand it all.
When using Raster, you can try any image type you like and see how it is produced.
When using Vector, you should draw the outline of anything you cut 0. 001-inch (0. 025mm)
So the laser has a clean line to track. (Warning!
I\'m at large!
I already know the settings for the content I am cutting.
If you are cutting new materials, please use the following instructions on the test materials.
Just make your print small enough to fit your test material. )
On the computer, start the CorelDraw x4. (
If you want to learn CorelDraw in more depth, I suggest you search for tutorials on Google.
There are many websites that provide very useful techniques and techniques. )
Open the file to print. (
This could be a photo of the camera, painting or anything you want to etching/cutting)
Adjust the size of the image area to fit the bed of the laser cutting machine (
This will help to place materials later).
Move what you want to print to an easy-to-reach place. (
I put my picture under 8 inch, more than 12 inch)(
There is a step that can help with the above issues.
If you grab the top left corner of the image, the ruler will meet there (
There\'s a corner there)
, And drag the dotted line to the corner of the printable image area, and the ruler will reset to your image area to make it easy to place things. (
For more information, see the fifth image below))
Once everything is ready: File-
> Print the conversation and we will click Properties \".
Select a raster or vector based on what you plan to cut and set the speed accordingly.
If you are doing a test cut, you can speed up printing by reducing the resolution to a lower DPI. (
Don\'t print with a vector unless your image is formatted correctly! See next step. )
For printing vector images, you need to make sure that all the lines you want to print are thick lines.
I used the add text function to type \"structures\" in the program \".
It is automatically set to vertical, so I chose not to rotate it to the horizontal as it fits well.
Instructures are a thick way to print in a vector as is, so we\'re going to do something to edit it.
First, right-click the text and select convert to curve \".
Then, after the conversion, select the tracking tool (
In the upper right corner of the menu bar on my screen)
Click \"send line \".
Finally, on the right side of the page, the position where the color sample is located is the fill setting.
Click on the white box with X, which means there is no filling, see where, your letters are ready to be cut!
Again, go to print, select Preferences, and adjust as needed.
When you are ready to print, it is time to prepare the laser cutting machine.
So let\'s open it!
Once the case is opened, place your material where you plan to cut it.
This is where the ruler in the image comes in handy, and hopefully the laser cutter you are using has built-in ruler to help you locate things. (
If you place something in the top left corner and the bed is raised to high, please do the following steps first).
Once everything is placed (
If you feel at risk, or before)
You may need to adjust the bed.
If you look on the front control panel of the laser cutter, there should be a focus button.
If you press that and then down the arrow, you should see below the bed.
Keep putting the bed down until you have enough space for the laser to not touch your material.
The extra space here is good and we will focus the machine later.
Every laser cutter I use won\'t open the lid to print, so this is a great way to test on your work.
Now that everything is ready, let\'s do a test run.
Open the lid!
If you put the lid on, you may get more than test.
If you are not sure if it will be cut as the lid opens, please try it on your test piece first.
Set preferences for files-
> Speed and low power consumption printed to 100% (
It\'s not important. it\'s not printing.
If you want to double the guarantee, you can set it to 0 power).
Also, in print preferences, click the auto focus button.
This will ensure that the laser is at an appropriate distance from anything you cut to get the most accurate cut.
Save your preferences and print the files.
The status screen on the laser cutter should update it to receive new work.
Press the \"Go\" button when you are ready and the print should start.
There is also a \"pointer\" button on the control panel.
If you click on it, the red laser will turn on and show that you are a laser cutter at any given time.
This is a useful way to understand where the cuts will be.
Before the printer starts printing, it should hover over your material and adjust the height of the bed to keep the proper focus.
If not, please double check if \"Auto Focus\" is selected in the file \"->Print ---> Preferences.
Before you actually cut, you may need to make sure that the print area is included in the space you want.
There are a few simple ways to do this.
If you tape in your print area, or tape a piece of paper in the area you intend to print (
Make sure you cover more than just the expected print area, and if your measurements are off, that\'s why it\'s useful to test the cut)
, You can etching on paper or tape and make sure that the laser will only cut the area you plan.
High speed printing, low power consumption.
It doesn\'t take much to cross the paper, I think I used 10-
15% at full speed.
I use almost the same tape.
If you are going to use tape, I would recommend blue paint household tape.
When stripping, it doesn\'t stick that much, and it doesn\'t leave tape stuck on anything.
But again, I strongly recommend that you try it yourself on any material you plan to use it first.
Always test first!
When testing the cut, make sure to open the exhaust fan and you will not want to cause a paper fire.
The images I used in this step came from an old project I did, etching the laptop.
I use these for obvious reasons, although it is different from the acrylic resin I used in all the other steps.
When you\'re ready to cut, it\'s time to remove the tape or paper and cover it with the lid, hoping everything goes well.
Back on the computer, in the file-> Print ---
> Preferences menu, select raster or vector based on what you plan to cut.
Once selected, you can choose the power and speed settings that best suit your product.
Don\'t forget Hertz settings if you cut with a vector.
Hope you write this down when you do the test.
After selecting and placing everything correctly, click OK to start printing from your computer.
On the laser cutter make sure to remove all the tape/paper/anything else.
Make sure your cut is not moved.
Make sure the lid is closed and make sure that a new print conversation appears on the printing window in front of the laser cutting machine to the control panel.
Open the exhaust fan if everything is OK.
Open the air compressor if you are doing vector cutting.
Make sure everything is set up correctly for the last check and click continue on the laser cutter control panel \".
Sit down now and watch it print.
You want to hang around when it prints to make sure nothing is on fire and nothing weird needs you to stop everything.
To clean, make sure you have all the right cleaning materials: lens cleaning the things that the paperweight cotton SwabLiquid lens cleaner uses to fix the lens cleaning paper (
We have plastic scissors.
There are two mirrors and a lens to guide the beam.
One of the mirrors and lenses is located in the part of the moving and cutting material, and the other is at the far right end of the arm. (
See the second photo note below)
After each use, you need to clean all of this, otherwise your laser will not stay in good condition and will not cut continuously every time it has to be used.
To clean the lens, fold some lens cleaning paper carefully.
Make sure you don\'t touch no matter which part of the paper you intend to clean the lens.
Insert your fixed tool (
We use plastic scissors. .
Drop one or two drops of liquid lens cleaner on it and wipe off the lens.
If the paper is dirty, take a new piece of paper and repeat the process.
Your lens is clean when your paper is no longer dirty.
You can wipe the mirror with a cotton swab.
Brush off the mirror with it and check the swab for dirt.
The mirror is not clean if you see dirt, you need to take a new swab (
Or rotate the one you are using)
Wipe repeatedly until there is no more dirt/dust coming off.
The mirror away from the lens does not need to be cleaned frequently because it is not on the straight line of the material smoke generated by the laser.
When needed, you can remove the honeycomb bed and vacuum any debris that falls below.
Hope you have your own laser cutting now (or etched)thing.
Whether you decide to etching into a transparent plexiglass to make the LED logo, or your computer looks better, or you want these directions to help.
If on your journey to etching and cutting things with laser, you find anything confusing here, or you think I\'m missing something important, please let me know, i\'ll add it right away!
In my exploration of the knowledge of laser cutting machines, I found some interesting websites that I really couldn\'t include in the stepsby-
Step: add perspective to Text3d text effect example Club (
Many different examples are provided on different surfaces, most of which provide speed and power settings)
Technical Library (
A lot of useful information)
Wikipedia entry for laser cutting (
If information on exactly how all this works, then tons)
If you have any very useful links to technical/help information about laser cutting machines, please feel free to leave a comment and I would be happy to check it out!
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