Laser Cutter: Now working!

[Aidan Dunbar]

The laser cutter is now operational. 

If you want to get a laser cutter induction:

Talk to Joe (Japoteg) in person, via Slack/IRC or via email. He will arrange for someone to give you an induction, which will cost £10.

If you have already had a laser cutter induction:

Visicut works exactly as it did before the move, but you will need to make one change, as detailed below.

- Open Visicut.

- Click Edit -> Settings -> Manage Lasercutters

- Select "Leeds LAOS" from the list.

- Click the cog icon.

- In the Settings section, change the value of "hostname" from "laser.hackspace" to "laser".

- Click Save

- Click Save once more

It will now let you cut things with the laser. 

Take note: the extraction isn't quite as powerful as before so smoke will build up more than it used to. This is a work in progress, we'll try and improve the draw of the extraction system over the next few weeks.

Let the smoke dissipate before you open the lid of the laser cutter. It doesn't take long!

Experimentation with z-height, extraction, alignment and other cool things will be happening, keep an eye on the laser settings whiteboard.

Payment is still as per usual - £1 per 10 minutes of time that your card is in the RFID reader. Please place the payment in the laser tin underneath the laser cutter.

Thanks everyone!

Aidan

[Andy51055]

I'd suggest moving the whiteboard with the laser settings to the wall above the cutter. Either above the tape storage (it doesn't often need updating) or swap places with the tape storage.

[Andy51055]

I had a go on the laser cutter today. A couple of problems:

a) Visicut now requires the laser cutter's IP to work, rather than the name "laser", so to update Aidan's instructions:

- Open Visicut.

- Click Edit -> Settings -> Manage Lasercutters

- Select "Leeds LAOS" from the list.

- Click the cog icon.

- In the Settings section, change the value of "hostname" from "laser" to "192.168.1.72".

- Click Save

- Click Save once more

b) The right-hand side (from about x = 400mm) doesn't cut as the laser splits in two and marks a drop shadow copy of all lines about 2-3mm to the left of the intended line. Rather pretty but totally useless and infuriating. It doesn't gradually get worse, the double line just suddenly starts and remains the same distance apart throughout.
So only use the left-hand side of any board you're cutting.

c) Power 100, speed 6 cuts through 3mm ply up to x = 400mm and/or y = 350mm. Any faster and it starts to sporadically drop out.

[Aidan Dunbar]

Laser head was slightly mis-aligned, this caused reflections and the split-beam at far extents of travel. Have corrected it now, seems to be working 90% the same across the board as far as I can tell. Needs a proper mirror alignment, I only did it quickly this morning.

There are a few pieces of cut things next to the laser with some example speeds and feeds, your mileage may vary, please test settings before committing to a long cut.

A

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