Setting up a file for laser cutting

[Daniel Smith]

Hey folks,

I've recently moved into the area, and I'm planning on coming down to the space when I have time after Easter to do some laser cutting. Can you give me any information on how you set up your files for printing (how to distinguish between cut/engrave line/engrave area)? I figure I may as well take the time to figure that out beforehand while I make my images etc.

I've done some cutting before back at uni, and the process there was to export a vector image from inkscape into rhino, and then use different colours in rhino for different cut types.

As a side note, if anyone knows a good place to buy 3mm acrylic locally, give me a heads up. Otherwise, I'll probably buy some on ebay.

[kris]

Hi Daniel,

The laser is driven by RDworks, which is terrible and awful but if you save your file in that format it might work better.

https://rdworkslab.com/index.php

most people, use CorelDraw, Illustrator or inkscape, then save as dxf.

Dxf can be imported by rdworks.

DXF does not support (in this environment) colors or layers so you have to re-colour your shapes in rdworks and tell it which ones you want engraved etc.

we sell 3mm acrylic in various colours at the space, already pre cut to fit in the laser cutter and cheaper than bunnings (we charge $15 a 600*400 sheet).

there is also a big bucket of scrap material you can use for free.

kris

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Robots & Dinosaurs" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sydney-hackspa...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to sydney-h...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/sydney-hackspace.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Michael White]

The files i bring into RDworks out of autocad in dxf have all of the color/layer information intact. Just have to tell it what power/speed for each colour or layer. I've never had to recolour anything.

[kris]

awesome, that didn't work for me in inkscape (using either dxf generator).

[Daniel Smith]

I'll be using inkscape I think so I might have to set colours up in RDworks. I also don't know what power/speed is best for cutting/engraving anyway so it will probably be easiest to do in the mackerspace with one of you guys who knows a bit more.

[kris]

that's the way i would do it.

In terms of power and speed, it always needs dialing in as the temperature and humidity makes a difference. James on this list has some really nice test pattern files. I just use a bit of scrap and ask somone who has just used the cutter before me (you only need to run it for a few seconds to see if your job is going to work).

For inkscape:

inkscape has it's own dxf export format which i use and has been fine.

You can also install the big blue saw dxf export extension to fix problems you might have (http://www.bigbluesaw.com/saw/big-blue-saw-blog/general-updates/big-blue-saws-dxf-export-for-inkscape.html)

I had trouble with this extension on inkscape 0.91 and 92 on ubuntu 64bit.

Here is my workflow (as used by many others at the space)

Make your design and save it in inkscape's native svg format.

now select all items and cut them, delete all layers and paste the items back. This ensures everything is on layer 0

now select everything and go Object, Ungroup (or ctrl+shift+G), do this repeatedly until the status bar at the bottom reports no objects to ungroup

select everything and go Path, Object to Path (or ctrl+shift+C), do this repeatably until the "no objects to convert to path"

Optional: Save the file as inkscape svg with the filename [originalfilename]_RC so if you just need to make a tiny tweak or move the parts about to fit the scrap you can edit the release candidate rather than going through all those steps again on your original drawing.

now file save as: dxf (either the Autocad or the bigbluesaw), i untick both robo master and lwpolyline, but your mileage may vary. Make sure the units match what you've been working in.

On of the issues I've come accross with the new laser cutter software (which might just be me) is poor detail in small designs or when using the boxmaker. My fix for that was to scale my drawing up by 1000 in inkscape and when i open the dxf in rdworks scale it back down by 1000. this seemed to smooth out the edges.

Kris

[Daniel Smith]

Thanks Kris, that's really helpful. What colours of acrylic do you have available? I'm thinking of using a green or translucent fluoro green

[Kris]

I think I saw both last week, but it's first come first serve

---

From: Daniel Smith <drsmi...@gmail.com>
Sent: 10 April 2017 4:02:49 PM AEST
To: Robots & Dinosaurs <sydney-h...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [RnD] Setting up a file for laser cutting

Thanks Kris, that's really helpful. What colours of acrylic do you have available? I'm thinking of using a green or translucent fluoro green

--
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.