User Tools

Site Tools


laser_cutter

Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

Link to this comparison view

Both sides previous revision Previous revision
Next revision
Previous revision
laser_cutter [2018/11/29 17:56]
zwmm
laser_cutter [2019/12/11 19:15] (current)
glassgiant [Preparing Your Files]
Line 3: Line 3:
 {{ :tools:hobby_crop.jpg?300|}}Purchased in 2015, the water-cooled CO2 laser cutter will cut material up to 20x12 inches, 1/4 inch thick, and can engrave on thicker material.  The laser cutter is a wonderful piece of tech, and we continue to find new uses for it.  The laser cutter requires a special introductory course before members can use it.  Shawn is most familiar with the laser cutter. Any questions or concerns about it should go to him. {{ :tools:hobby_crop.jpg?300|}}Purchased in 2015, the water-cooled CO2 laser cutter will cut material up to 20x12 inches, 1/4 inch thick, and can engrave on thicker material.  The laser cutter is a wonderful piece of tech, and we continue to find new uses for it.  The laser cutter requires a special introductory course before members can use it.  Shawn is most familiar with the laser cutter. Any questions or concerns about it should go to him.
  
-This is the cutter: [[http://fslaser.com/products/lasers/hobby-lasers/newhobby]]+This is the cutter: [[http://fslaser.com/products/lasers/hobby-lasers/newhobby]].  It uses RetinaEngrave software.
  
 As a general rule of thumb, you can cut non-chlorinated plastics (no vinyl, no pvc), leather and wood.  Metal can't be cut or etched.  This page is a good guide to what can and can't be cut: [[https://www.pololu.com/docs/0J24?section=3]]   As a general rule of thumb, you can cut non-chlorinated plastics (no vinyl, no pvc), leather and wood.  Metal can't be cut or etched.  This page is a good guide to what can and can't be cut: [[https://www.pololu.com/docs/0J24?section=3]]  
Line 9: Line 9:
 Cutting plastics __with__ chlorine in them can release chlorine gas which is **highly toxic** to you (known as mustard gas in World War 1!) and can corrode the laser components. Cutting plastics __with__ chlorine in them can release chlorine gas which is **highly toxic** to you (known as mustard gas in World War 1!) and can corrode the laser components.
  
-The cutter mounts as a printer, so in theory any file that can be printed can be cut or engraved.  In practice, we usually use the freeware Inkscape or GIMP for cutting or engraving.+ 
 + 
 +===== Preparing Your Files ===== 
 +The laser cutter mounts as a printer, so in theory any file that can be printed can be cut or engraved.  In practice, we usually use the freeware Inkscape for cutting or engraving. 
 + 
 +To prep your file with Inkscape you'll need need an SVG.  Some tips: 
 +  * It should be as simple as possible, with objects like dynamic offsets converted to paths.  Ideally, you'd only have paths in your file.  But the software will recognize some simple objects like circles and rectangles. 
 +  * Filters should be removed.   
 +  * All colors and layers should be 100% opacity.     
 +  * All layers should be 100% opacity. 
 +  * The page size should be less than 20x12 inches. 
 +  * There should be some white space between the page border and your paths.  The laser cutter software will strip out all the white space. 
 +  * All paths should be within the page borders. 
 +  * Stroke styles should be solid. 
 +  * The laser recognizes red, green, blue, cyan, yellow, magenta and black strokes, and will treat them separately. So if you're cutting a doughnut, you might want to make the center blue and the outside red.  When you cut it, specify blue before red to make sure that the doughnut doesn't shift at all before the center is cut.  Or if you're designing a wood box that will have an acrylic window in it, make the wood and acrylic lines different colors so you can choose not to cut one or the other. 
 +  * The laser will "snap" path stroke colors to a color it recognizes (pink, salmon and rose will all snap to red). Any colors or lines it doesn't know what to do with will snap to black.  For that reason, it's best to avoid black on any lines you want to cut (so you can turn black cuts off). 
 +  * You can make SVGs from any number of programs. However, there's a bug in Adobe Illustrator that will alter the size of the SVG by 20 or 25%. Watch out for this.  See below for a fix. 
 +  * The laser cuts along the path.  So the stroke width is irrelevant to the laser when it's cutting along a path (vector mode).  Stoke width, however, is relevant when in engraving (raster) mode. 
 +  * Engraving (raster mode) is determined by a black and white value slider (everything darker than the slider value is engraved).  As such, it will really only do on/off or black/white.  It doesn't do "gray" While importing bitmapped images like JPGs and PNGs into an SVG is legal, it often produces alignment issues.  It's best to convert these to vector using something like Inkscapes "trace bitmap" tool. 
 + 
 + 
  
 ===== Pre-Cutting Checklist ===== ===== Pre-Cutting Checklist =====
Line 46: Line 67:
  
 ===== Monitoring ===== ===== Monitoring =====
-We've installed a nodeMCU on the wall which is monitoring the temperature in the vent tube and the position of the blast gate. The recent temperature is available on its web server at http://192.168.1.21, within the HMS LAN only.+We've installed a nodeMCU on the wall which is monitoring the temperature in the vent tube and the position of the blast gate. The recent temperature may be available on its web server at http://192.168.1.20, within the HMS LAN only.
  
-You can also subscribe to hmslasermonitor on [[https://telegram.org/|Telegram]] to receive notifications on the state of the cutter. If the temperature becomes suspiciously low or high, a Telegram message is sent to subscribers. A cold temperature may mean someone forgot to close the vent, and the water cooled laser tube is in danger of freezing and breaking. A hot temperature probably doesn't mean anything. Or it's on fire.+You can also subscribe to hmslasermonitor on [[https://telegram.org/|Telegram]] to receive notifications on the state of the cutter. If the temperature becomes suspiciously low or high, a Telegram message is sent to subscribers. A cold temperature may mean someone forgot to close the vent, and the water cooled laser tube is in danger of freezing and breaking. A hot temperature probably doesn't mean anything. Or it's on fire. There seems to be some EMI from the motor of the vent fan, which messes with the temperature sensor.
  
 There are various commands you can send to the bot, including one to get an update of the current vent conditions. There are various commands you can send to the bot, including one to get an update of the current vent conditions.
laser_cutter.1543514166.txt.gz · Last modified: 2018/11/29 17:56 by zwmm