The laser cutter can be used to cut mainly 2D designs into acrylic, wood, card and other materails. We have a Universal Laser Systems machine.

Access#

  • Email Ofer/Pavel (the Instrumentation Core) requesting laser cutter training. They will provide you with a time.
  • Make an account here: ppms.us/hms-ric
  • After the training, email Ofer/Pavel your Harvard ID number so you can be given card access to the room.

Making a design file#

  • You can use many softwares for making a vector drawing (AutoCAD or Inventor) that can be used to direct the laser cutter. For example: Inventor -> .dxf file export -> illustrator to check design is good.
  • However, it is perhaps most simply done in Adobe Illustrator. Make a vector drawing of the design you wish to cut in a sensibly scaled space, e.g. inches or millimeters.
  • To make interlocking tabs for 3d builds, you can take tab designs from here: makercase.com.
  • Note the ‘kerf’. You need to adjust for our 200-micron laser beam. Kerf should be beam diameter divided by two (i.e. 100).
  • Colors are used to set different defaults of the laser cutter’s laser power and speed:
    • Color mode needs to be RGB
    • By convention, Red - full on RGB red (R, full, G is0 and B is 0) - full power, cut through.
    • Black - etch in a raster, can be used for text.
  • Lines need to be 1/1000 of an inch or less, otherwise the machine will attempt to raster rather than perform a clean cut.
  • Multiple lines = multiple cuts, so make sure your lines in your vector drawing do not overlap otherwise they will be widened because the laser will run over the same position multiple times.
  • Open your file on the computer that is connected to the laser cutter. It should have the most up-to-date Illustrator.
  • Illustrator -> ctrl+p -> ‘print’ the file, opens in the laser cutter’s software, ready to be sent to the machine (if not just double click on the UCP shortcut in the PC desktop).

The Machine#

  • The largest 2D material size it can fit is 32’’ by 18’’, the cutter’s max size. Often, the biggest commercial is 2 feet by one foot.
  • Check plastic thickness with calipers. Remove any top surface paper. Keep on paper at the bottom, which protects from dirty honeycomb.
  • Turn the machine on by hitting the switch on the bottom right side. Turn on the airflow to the beam head by turning the tap at the back of the machine by 90 degrees.
  • The software that controls and sends designs to the machine is Universal Laser Systems control panel UCP.
  • A design printed from Illustrator will appear as the design you see in UCP. You can drag it around the cutting surface, but you are best served by having it near the origin (the leftmost corner) as this is where the laser power will be strongest.
  • Within UCP you can set colour meanings. Colour modes run in the order shown on panel. You can load saved settings (already good saved settings for most materials) by selecting ‘load’.
  • Position design to have a 0.2, 0.2 origin (top left corner), rather than 0,0 to buffer yourself from potentially hitting the edge of the arena, off of your plastic.
  • Auto Z should be enabled - for planar cutting.
  • You may need to calibrate the Z position of the cutting plane. For thick plastic, shift focus to be in the middle.
  • Cutting is not uniform. The closer to 0,0, the stronger the laser will be. Up the power if doing large designs.
  • Power and speed are inversely linked. decreasing speed by 2 would also increase power by ~2.
  • If you see small flames that disappear in a few seconds, this is fine. A fire that sustains itself for 10s of seconds can be extinguished using the pressurized air nozzle on a yellow cord, to the right of the room (as you face the laser cutter).
  • If lines are not cutting through fully, try running a second time after adjusting speed and/or z-axis, for example, increase speed from 3% to 3.5%, and move z from 0.15 to 0.02 (or 0).

Shop rules

  • One user at a time
  • Only laser cutter use
  • No power tools, soldering, or self-service borrowing (exceptions can be made on case-by-case basis)
  • Put on a new pair of gloves for use in the shop

After laser cutter use

  • Completely clean up your work area
  • Remove small scraps from the laser cutter honeycomb. Wipe down the XY gantry with a wet paper towel if there is excessive dust from rastering
  • Any plastic that is being thrown out should be broken down into small pieces (do this to avoid puncturing the trash bag)

Shop clean-up

  • Put away all tools and hardware
  • Sweep/vacuum the butcher block tops and floor
  • If the trash is more than half full, please tie the bag and take it to the disposal bin in the hallway. Replace the bag
  • Use a hydrogen peroxide wipe to wipe down door handle (inside and out). Remove gloves, wash your hands, and exit by using your elbow to open the door.

Scheduling:

  • You must sign up for a slot before using the laser cutter: ppms.us/hms-ric
  • Please leave when your scheduled time is done
  • A 30-minute buffer is added between users to avoid overlaps
  • Shop Hours: 8–6 M–F

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