Laser Cutter Training

1. Laser Cutter Training

2. The Laser Cutter

3. The Laser Cutter
●Jinan King Rabbit Technology Development
Co., Ltd. RL-150-1290
●1290 = 1200x900mm = 47.2 x 35.4 inches
cutting bed
●150w CO2 Laser
●Meant for high-power cutting, does engraves
as well
●~4-5x as powerful as most hobbyist laser
cutters

4. How the Laser Works
Mirrors
Laser Head
Laser Tube

5. Material
Vapor Infrared
Laser Beam
(invisible!)
Compressed
Air LineLaser
Head
Mirror
How the Laser Works

6. Cutting vs Engraving
●Cutting is simplest, just a continuous beam
of laser cutting:

7. Materials You Can Cut
●Acrylic
●Wood/Plywood
●Paper
●Fabric
●Leather
●Nylon
●Felt

8. Cutting Plastics vs Biologicals
●Cut multiple passes on plastics to avoid
melting
●Cut one pass on biologicals (mostly woods)
to not re-burn already burnt material

9. Cutting vs Engraving
●Engraving is a scan function. It cuts lightly,
very fast, in many tiny passes:
●Doesn't need to penetrate entirely.

10. Materials You Can Engrave
●Glass
●Granite
●Ferric Metals
●Non-ferric with a coating (CerMark)

11. CerMark
● $65/bottle spray* that lets
you engrave non-ferric
metals
*http://www.laserbits.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=356_487

12. Things with lots of
these make bad gases
Things NEVER to Use in the Laser

13. Things NEVER to Use in the Laser
●Lexan
●Vinyl
●PVC
●Teflon
●Hint: anything that turns yellow when cut:
●If unknown/not on chart, ask before using

14. Joint Methods

15. Joint Methods

16. Joint Methods

17. Joint Methods

18. Joint Methods

19. Joint Methods

20. Datum:
Resets the
Laser Head
Positions
Laser:
Fires Test
laser beam
(*pew*)
Stop:
Halts and
Cancels Cut
Lighting:
Turns on/off
internal
lighting
E-Stop:
FUUUUUU
UUUUUU-
Key:
Turns on/off laser
cutter
Table Up/Down:
Moves work table up/down
to bring items in and out of
focus (like moving
closer/further from a
camera)
Jog Arrows:
Moves focal head around
table
Esc:
Press this all the time to
get the laser to do what
you're telling it to
Start/Pause:
Starts/Pauses the loaded Cut
Test:
Has head trace the
outline of the cut loaded
The Control Panel

21. Focusing the Beam
● Start with table high
● Fire test laser dot
● Move table down
● Fire another test dot
(should be smaller)
● Continue to fire till dot
gets bigger
● Move the table back up a
bit again, now you're in
the middle

22. Lens Cleaning

23. Lens Cleaning
Cleaning agents:
●Alcohol for wood/paper/particulate
●Acetone for plastics based materials
Process
●Mix Alcohol/Acetone 1:1 and soak the lens
●Open tube, get out lens
●Wipe lens lightly with Q-tips (don't rub!)
●Dry lens by wiping with kimwipes (don't rub!)
●Re-assemble tube, align markings

24. Operation
Laser Cutter
●Main Body
oOpen Compressor Valve
oTurn on Ventillation
oTurn on Laser Cutter
oCheck Refrigerator
oCheck Ventilation unit
●Computer
oStart LaserCut 5.3

25. Design Software
●LaserCut 5.3 (simple, today's training)
●CorelDraw (has laser drivers)
●AutoCad (has laser drivers)
●Inkscape (free)
●Solidworks (on classroom computers)
●Adobe Illustrator
Export to PLT or DXF

26. Select tool:
Use to select, move, change properties
Time:
Show predicted cut time
Simulate:
check to make sure it will do what you plan
Resize:
Resize the selected object
Layers:
Hide/show layers
Drawing tools:
draw stuff!
LaserCut 5.3
File:
Import/export files, save job
settings
“The MSPaint of Laser Cutting”

27. Layers:
Change order, operation
(cut/engrave), cut speed, cut
power, and repetitions
Download:
Download job to laser cutter
Layer Colors:
Change selected object to one of these
layer colors
LaserCut 5.3
“The MSPaint of Laser Cutting”

28. Jobs in laser (none here)
2.) Download current:
Download current job to laser cutter1.) Delete Current Jobs
LaserCut 5.3

29. Training at the laser
Lets go try it all out!