Laser Cutting

Welcome to my laser cutting tasks journey.....

Before the practical activity, my group and I created an SOP for laser cutting by referring to some videos and guidelines provided for us. However, I found out there are some important steps not included in our SOP during the competency test, hence I have to make some improvements on the previous SOP. 

Improved SOP

Start-Up Procedure

1    1. Turn on the air compressor located behind the laser cutting machine. This step is only applicable if you are using the Epilog Fusion M2 machine. If you are using the Epilog Fusion Pro machine, you may skip this step as the air compressor is built into the machine.

      2. Turn on the fume extractor by pressing the green button at the left side of the machine. The button may be placed on the side facing the wall, exercise caution when reaching for the button.

        3. Turn on the laser cutting machine by switching the On/Off switch located at the lower right side of the machine to the On position.

      4. Wait for machine to finish initialising. The machine should say “CO2 Fusion” once the initialisation process is finished.

      5. If the material being cut is not yet in the machine, open the hood all the way and place the material on the platform. Gently close the machine’s hood, taking care not to get any loose items or hair caught between the hood and the machine in the process.

      6. Before starting work on the workstation, ensure that both interlock LED’s are on (both L and R) after closing the hood. Do not assume that the LED’s are not working, and ensure both are on before proceeding.

Using CorelDraw and the Laser Cutter

7. Using CorelDraw, import the DXG or SVG file that you want to cut out.

      8. Select the lines you want to edit by highlighting them and then clicking on the bottom right interface panel with the colour and line weight.

      9. Set the line weight and colour using the following guide:

a.      For lines that will be cut, use RED for the line colour, set the line weight to hairline.

b.      For lines that will be engraved, use GREEN for the line colour and fill in with GREEN.

c.      For lines to be scored (outlined but not cut), use GREEN for the line colour set the line weight to the hairline.

     10. Press Control + P to send print, select Print on the popup window.

     11. Use the following to navigate the Epilog Dashboard to start the laser cutter.

a.      Epilog Fusion Pro machines:

                                                    i.     Choose autofocus and select Thickness.

                                                   ii.     The right side of the user interface should show the respective actions that the machine will make based on the drawings from earlier. Objects with line weight set to hairline will be considered a VECTOR and will be cut, those with thickness will be labelled with ENGRAVE.

b.      Epilog Fusion M2 machines:

                                                    i.     Click on autofocus and toggle it on, as well as Air Assist on the lower part of the right side of the UI

                                                   ii.     The right side of the user interface should show the respective actions that the machine will make based on the drawings from earlier. Objects with line weight set to hairline will be considered a VECTOR and will be cut, those with thickness will be labelled with ENGRAVE.

                              iii. For the vector cutting interface, set the speed as 20%, power as 80% and frequency as 20%.

                              iv. For the engrave cutting interface, set the speed as 20% and power as 80%.

12. Click on the file icon to Import Material Setting to choose the material to be cut and/or engraved. Do this for all the objects to be cut or engraved. Make sure you are on the correct tab before selecting the material settings            

13. Specify the thickness of the material being cut. Use vernier calliper to measure the thickness of wood material and then key in the measurement value.

14. To position the head of the laser cutter:

a.      For Fusion Pro machines, there is a built-in camera inside the machine to help position the head where the material is.

b.      For Fusion M2 machines, use the rulers at the top and the left side to position the head using the mouse tool.

15. Once finished, click on Print on the bottom of the user interface and check on the machines to start cutting.

a.      For Fusion M2 machines, the file name and estimated cutting time should appear on the LCD. Once confirmed, press the GO button.

b.      For Fusion Pro machines, the file name and estimated cutting times should appear on the touch screen. Once confirmed, press Play to start cutting.

16. When the cutting has finished, wait for one minute for the material to cool down before opening the hood of the machine to obtain the materials.

Shutdown Procedure

     17. After taking out the material, close the hood of the machine gently and then make sure both left and right icons of interlock LED lights are on.

     18. Turn off the laser cutting machine by switching the On/Off switch located at the lower right side of the machine to the Off position.

     19. Turn off the fume extractor by pressing the green button on the left side of laser cutter.

     20. Turn off the air compressor behind the laser cutter. This step is only for the Epilog Fusion M2 machine. If it is for the Epilog Fusion Pro, this step may be skipped as the compressor is built-in into the machine.

     21. Exit Corel Draw app.

*Sentence with green highlighted is the improved step. 

By following the SOP above, I had successfully cut my laser cutting product in the individual competency test.

My Laser Cutting Product

After the competency test, my group and I proceed to the construction kit laser cutting task. Below are some pictures of our progress.

CorelDraw Layout

Operation of Laser Cutting

 

                                                                     Cutting Pieces

Final Product

Hero Shot

Reflection

In this practical, I have learned the basic knowledge of how to operate a laser cutting machine. I think this is the necessary skill I should obtain for my future capstone project. In addition, I realised that how much important hands-on skill is during the competency test. I had prepared for this competency test by watching videos, going through all the slides properly and writing SOP before this activity. However, I still felt unfamiliar with the CorelDraw app and laser cutting machine. Hence, it will be better for me if I can access or practise how to use the CorelDraw app before the test.