Laser Cutting

 

Week 2 Practical

For this practical, we were taught on how to use the laser cutter and its operating procedures during the previous tutorial lesson.

Here is our improved SOP

SOP Group 3

Activity: Operation of the laser cutter

Start up of the laser cutter	Turn on Air compressor (Skip for fusion Pro) Turn on the fume extractor. Turn on the laser cutting machine Turn on the PC
Operation of corel draw	Open CorelDraw on the computer Import desired  BMP, PNG, JPEG, DXF file or SVG file into CorelDraw  Click on the cursor tool on the left panel and select desired line/shape Change the colors of line/shape to desired operation  (Red=vector / Green=engraving) Send the imported file to print (Ctrl-P) then press print.
Operation of epilog dashboard	On the Epilog Dashboard, choose Autofocus:Thickness (Pro) / On (M2) on the top of the right panel Turn on Air Assist on the bottom of the right panel Load Material Library to choose what material is being cut/ engraved Add final adjustments to the materials position and the speed/power/frequency desired. Check with the personnel in charge if unsure  (For both machines, position the object to cut at the top left corner so that the laser need not move too far to start cutting) Press the print button
Operation of 3D printer	Check the file’s name and estimated time to cut on the LED Touch screen(Pro) / LCD screen(M2). Once confirmed, press the PLAY/GO button to start cutting.
Shut down of laser cutter	Clear all material from inside the laser cutter Turn off the laser cutter Turn off the fume extractor Turn off the air compressor Shut down PC

I have also included pictures on the software interface.

And here is how you actually get your design printed

Here are the pieces my group have cut out

Reflection

We learned how to use the Fusion Pro and Fusion M2 to accomplish laser cutting in this practical. We were initially put to the test on the competency exam, and we quickly saw that our SOP was lacking in-depth, but we were able to operate the machine owing to Mr Chan and the supervisors. After that, we realized that owing to kerfing, all of the parts were not a perfect match, so we went back and tried to redraw all of the components on Fusion360. However, we had to postpone the cutting owing to some technical issues with our laptops. When we returned to FabLab the next week, the wood we used was a different size than what we had the week before. The parametric measurements are then changed to adjust all of the gaps. We were able to adjust all three drawings to their proper size in a matter of minutes. To account for kerf, we had to narrow the distance even further. Finally, using a 4mm wood thickness, we reduced the gap size from 4.5mm to 3.5mm. The components are also in perfect harmony with one another. We initially felt that adding parameters was just an extra step that was unnecessary, but after needing to make rapid adjustments to the slot width, we realized that it was highly beneficial and that it should be included in all of our future auto fusion360 designs. Rather than recreating all three components, which would take around 20 minutes, we just had to alter the settings for all of them, which took four times as long. We were quite thankful for this function and realized how important it was while we were doing it. We also saw the value of kerfs firsthand when our initial attempt failed to hold together, and all of the other groups struggled as well. We talked and decided on a gap length that will fit after looking at the efforts of other organizations. As a result, on our second try, we were able to acquire a great fit. We were able to develop a basic yet efficient IPad stand design using the components we created via laser cutting. The foundation of the stand is made by joining three square pieces to a rectangle piece, and the handphone stand is made by joining two more rectangle pieces to the structure.