Tips on Laser cutting dual side 'engraved'?

[wi...@mcelderry.com]

Hi All,

I'm intending to laser cut a series of tiles with both top and bottom
side engraved with a vector cut shape, then cut the tile out (custom
shape).

I've got a few questions:

- Are there any tips or 'things to be aware of' to get a better
alignment between the top and bottom graphics?
(doesn't have to be perfect, but better is good, happy to have the
obvious stated to check I've got it...)

- The makerspace wiki suggest LaserCutouts.eu is a local supplier of
laser ply. Is that still the suggested provider?
(just wanting decent wood, convenience is worth a little more
money at the moment...)

- Is anyone available in the next few weeks (other than this Tuesday)
to instruct me in laser cutter usage?
(Iain showed me once a long time ago, so essentially I'm starting
from scratch, though I have re-read the 'Using the laser cutter' page,
and think my design is ready to load in to LaserCut5.3)

Thanks,

Will.

[Glen Beestone]

Not sure if others will agree with me but my tip for getting images absolutely centred would be to cover the tile with masking tape which will burn away very easily ( it will also create crisper edges to your engraving) You can mark the masking tape with a Centre Point by drawing diagonals from corner to corner

you can then switch the laser starting point in the set up, from a top right 0,0 homing position, to a Centre Point homing position.
Starting with the red dot centred will ensure your Image is in the middle of the tile every time.

The only thing you need to be careful of with this is the horizontal and vertical alignment

You can always draw a horizontal line on your tile and ensure that when manually moving the X carriage, that the laserdot tracks with that line before starting.


G

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[Alistair MacDonald]

I did some experiments with engraving on both sides a long time ago. I engraved one side, then cut a rectangle on the the outside. I then took the middle out, turned it over, and set the laser going again on the other side. The offcut acted as a guide so it was exactly in place.

The experiment I did was symmetrical but if it is not I would just cut a rectangle round the entire thing. Because the outer cut contains everything the laser origen was the same.

The trouble I had was getting Inkscape to line everything up where I wanted. With hindsight I should have done both sides as different layers on the same drawing and just mirrored one before exporting. Don't mirror in the laser software after uniting lines though as it cuts each line part in reverse and covers three times the distance.

In the end I just cut the plastic and used stickers that I cut on the paper cutter.

If it is for game parts Iain has some nice examples.

I hope that helps,

  Alistair

[David Pye]

I agree with Alistair - I think the best way of doing things is to fix the piece of material to the bed with tape, magnets etc, and just flip the centre tile over and leave the outer in place as a guide.

If you do that, I'm not sure what the centre point 'homing' position adds.  

I've tended to use the lasercutouts.eu people - give them a ring first though to make sure they have some sheets in.  They seemed slightly surprised when I turned up to buy a sheet without ringing first - they make most of their $ selling trinkets, rather than materials.  

David

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[Glen Beestone]

The centre origin tip is good for engraving onto precut objects.

If you are also cutting out the tiles then I agree flipping them as you go and keeping the outer material stuck down on the bed as a register makes more sense.

G

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[Iain Yarnall]

Yep, if symmetrical, taping the sheet down is good. That's what I did for the saboteur coasters. You can use a bit of doubled over tape to lift the piece out without moving the rest of the sheet.

Centre origin if etching on something precut or not symmetrical but you have to get the position and angle right by eye. Also, best to do a test with the laser button on some spare material to compare the cutting laser with the red dot. Etching doesn't generally need to be that accurate though, depending on what it is.

Cheers,

Iain.

[wi...@mcelderry.com]

Thanks all for the tips!

I wouldn't have thought of either approach to align the work piece - I
wasn't sure if there was an alignment plate that I could push the work
piece against and then I'd need to be sure of the materials size and
shape...

The 'cut out the work piece and make a frame for alignment as the same
time' approach sounds like there's literally very little room for error
(as long as the frame is not going to move - do I need to buy tape and
magnets or are there some in the space?)

I may combine the approaches to see if the finish is better with the
masking tape or if it's more effort than I can be bothered with...


Thanks for the tip on calling lasercutouts - I'll drop them a line first
and confirm they have spare stock.


Now, all I need is some kind laser supervisor with a few (<30?) spare
minutes next week (I'll not be getting the laser ply until Friday at the
earliest now).

I guess the laser supervisor's time may be harder to come by - I'll post
a thread or two with a better subject shortly to attract the attention
of the right people.

Thanks,

W.

On 12.03.2018 06:54, David Pye wrote:
> I agree with Alistair - I think the best way of doing things is to fix
> the piece of material to the bed with tape, magnets etc, and just flip
> the centre tile over and leave the outer in place as a guide.
>
> If you do that, I'm not sure what the centre point 'homing' position
> adds.
>

> I've tended to use the lasercutouts.eu [2] people - give them a ring

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[David Pye]

Hi Will,

There's plenty of scrap material you could play with so don't let material availability delay you...

David

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[Jon Davies]

!!!HEALTH WARNING!!!

The red dot aligner is not aligned with the centre of the cut.  Do not, whatever you do, take the red dot as sacrosanct centre of the cut.

...the mirror alignment is never perfect (thought we do try :)) and the cutting point tends to move about slightly, as well as changing shape slightly.  We may be able to spend an hour following the detailed guide that was once shared by Glen(?), and that will certainly improve the consistency of the cutting point; however, the red dot aligner should still not be considered the point of contact.

Hope that helps :)

--

Cheers,

Jon.

[Glen Beestone]

Also remember that even when the red dot is aligned, because it comes in at an angle, it is only an indication of where the laser will hit IF the laser aperture hieght is set correctly using the focus guide tool.


Aligning the red dot is actually fairly straightforward.
place a piece of sacrificial material under the laser head. Set the head height using the focus tool. Hit the test button to make a mark on the material. Dial the red dot into that mark.

However as John has pointed out the red dot and the laser will only track together if the mirrors are correctly aligned.

G

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[wi...@mcelderry.com]

Hey all,

Thanks again for the tips - I'll make use of offcuts for getting this
worked out then!

Jon: Thanks for highlighting the red-dot offset from cutting point. Is
the red dot is consistently offset from the cutting dot or does it move
relatively at times?

Thanks,

W.

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> Cheers,
> Jon.

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[David Pye]

The red dot wasn't even actually working last night.  I have added it to my mental to do list to trouble shoot when I get a mo....

David

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[Jon Davies]

That red dot is intermittent!

With the mirrors never being perfectly aligned, the dot does always move around by a tiny amount, but I think this is not a concern.  Just make sure you set up your project in the centre (or as near as possible) for the best compromise of alignment as a whole.

--

Cheers,

Jon.

[Sam Barlow]

In my experience, the dot is about 2-3mm out from where the laser fires (I marked up and test fired on a piece of card just out of interest!)

I also wanted to pile on and ask about the best place to get laser ply...

[Jon Davies]

bah.  ocd twanging off topic convo!

On Fri, 16 Mar 2018 at 16:12 Sam Barlow <saelb...@gmail.com> wrote:

In my experience, the dot is about 2-3mm out from where the laser fires (I marked up and test fired on a piece of card just out of interest!)

I also wanted to pile on and ask about the best place to get laser ply...

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Cheers,

Jon.

[wi...@mcelderry.com]

Hi All,

Thanks for the tips on how to achieve my design - it worked great on my
test piece (work stopped me getting the larger piece of laser ply yet)

Big thanks to Jon for being the laser supervisor & walking me through it
all!

W.

On 14.03.2018 00:09, Jon Davies wrote:

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> Cheers,
> Jon.
>

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[Jon Davies]

I learned new things too, thanks :)

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Cheers,

Jon.

[Sam Barlow]

Hi all
Not sure if you already know this but I immediately (ha) thought of this thread (didn't spot that anyone had mentioned this already, though I may be wrong)...
I recently learnt about the 'immediate' function on LaserCut 5.3. It's checked by default on the right hand pane so you can manually set the laser to cut anywhere on the bed.
If you uncheck this option then the laser will start from top right (if that's where the origin point is set) and will
cut on the bed relative to where your image is on screen. Great for double sided work, which is super handy for me!

This is a good guide which I think explains the software functions in good detail:
http://wiki.acemonstertoys.org/Laser_Cutter/LaserCut_Software