AADRL Prototyping Lab

Laser Cutter Manual

AADRL Prototyping Lab AA School of Architecture 36 Bedford Square London WC1B 3ES Tel: +44(0)20 7887 4116 www.aaschool.ac.uk/aadrl

CONDITIONS OF USE

The DRL Prototyping Lab is operated under the responsibility of AA Digital Prototyping. Its conditions of use are subject to the same rules and restrictions as those in operation at the Digital Prototyping Lab as AA Digital Prototyping manages the responsibilities of the AA School in relation to the management of equipment and in relation to health and safety regulations. For inquiries related to the above, contact Jeroen van Ameijde (AA Head of Digital Prototyping) at dpl@aaschool.ac.uk or 020 7887 4116. For enquiries about policies of use and distribution of machine time, contact the DRL Directors (Theo Spyropoulos/Yusuke Obuchi). For technical support contact one of the lab student assistants.

1. ONLY USERS WHO ARE REGISTERED AND HAVE COMPLETED THE RELATED TRAINING MAY USE THE LAB EQUIPMENT. 2. USERS MUST STAY INSIDE THE LAB SPACE AT ALL TIMES WHEN MACHINES ARE IN OPERATION. 3. Users must sign in and sign out at the provided sheet for each use of lab equipment. 4. Users are responsible for the safe and responsible operation of lab equipment. 5. Only approved materials may be used with lab equipment. 6. Users must report all problems with the lab equipment and/or space to lab assistants. 7. Users are responsible for maintaining a clean working environment. 8. Materials and research components are not to be stored inside the lab space. 9. Failure to abide by these rules will result in restriction of lab access.

AADRL PROTOTYPING LAB

LASER CUTTER MANUAL

on the left oor of your

HEALTH + SAFETY WARNINGS

DO NOT OPERATE MACHINE UNATTENDED

USE EXTREME CAUTION WHEN CUTTING FLAMMABLE MATERIALS SUCH AS WOOD OR ACRYLIC. A PROPERLY MAINTAINED FIRE EXTINGUISHER SHOULD BE KEPT NEAR THE MACHINE AT ALL TIMES. EPILOG RECOMMENDS A CO2 FIRE EXTINGUISHER. PERIODICALLY REMOVE THE VECTOR CUTTING GRID AND REMOVE DEBRIS FROM THE TABLE PAN. PERIODICALLY REMOVE THE EXHAUST TUBE ADAPTER FROM THE BACK OF THE MACHINE AND REMOVE ANY DEBRIS FROM THE EXHAUST PORT.

FIRE HAZARD

DANGER

Improper use of laser cutting machines poses serious risks of fire, operator health, and damage to equipment. When operating laser cutting machines, the operator is responsible for the safety of all people and equipment affected by use of the equipment. Only persons with proper training, authorization, and up-to-date knowledge of safe operating procedures are permitted to use the laser cutting machines. If you are in doubt about the safe and proper operation of the laser cutting machine, you MUST ask for assistance from authorized lab staff before operating the machine. Only materials that have been designated as safe to use by the AA Digital Prototyping Lab are allowed to be cut on the laser cutting machines. Failure to operate the laser cutting machines in a safe and responsible way may result in serious consequences such as being held liable for damages and/or being banned from using the AADRL Prototyping Lab.

REFER TO THE USERS MANUAL FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING FIRE SAFETY

AADRL PROTOTYPING LAB

LASER CUTTER MANUAL

BEFORE USING THE LASER CUTTER

PREPARING FILES FOR LASER CUTTING

1. Start a new file with units set to mm. 2. Draw a rectangle for the laser cutter bed on a BLACK layer such as Default. (914mm x 609mm). 3. Offset the bed rectangle inwards by 4mm (anything inside of this offset can be cut by the laser cutter). 4. Measure the material to be cut and draw a new rectangle aligned to the top left corner of the bed rectangle. 5. Draw / Place lines to be cut within material and laser cutter bed zones, and organize by layers with different PRIMARY colors for cutting and scoring. Standard Layer Color Settings:
The laser cutter driver can map specific laser settings to RGB color values.

BLACK (0,0,0) GREEN (0,255,0) RED (255,0,0) BLUE (0,0,255)

Should be used for lines that do NOT get cut, such as guides. Should be used for cutting or scoring. Should be used for cutting or scoring. Should be used for cutting or scoring.

AADRL PROTOTYPING LAB

LASER CUTTER MANUAL

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** 1.

INITIAL EQUIPMENT SETUP

USING THE LASER CUTTER - 1

EACH of the following four (4) stages MUST be enabled PRIOR to laser cutting **

Turn ON Computer Workstation.

login: student pass: student

2. 3. 4.

Turn ON Laser Cutting Machine. Turn ON Extraction Unit.

power switch located at left-hand side. power switch located at left-wall power outlet. power switch located at left-wall power outlet.

Turn ON Air Assist Compressor.

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LASER CUTTER MANUAL 5

the carriage to its park position, even though there is not a job being run. Sample Job:1 Run Auto-Focus? Go

MATERIAL PREP. + MACHINE FOCUSMachines Focus Switch inside the Cabinet Focusing at the
1 Lower the machine bed prior to placing material using the FOCUS <UP-DOWN> switch located on the interior left-side of the laser cutter. Make sure that the bed and material is lower than the laser cutter head.

USING THE LASER CUTTER - 2

914mm
60 9m m

Section 8: Using the Epilog Dashboard

There is one last method of focusing the large front door is open and you manually focus it is hard to do beca keypad is out of reach on the top of t There is a switch at the left front engraving cavity that allows you to m table up and down to manually foc the door open.

Place material against the upper left-hand corner and close lid.
Epilog LEGEND 36EXT Laser Cutter Maximum Cutting Area: 914 mm x 609 mm (36 in. x 24 in.) AA Digital Prototyping Lab Approved Materials List 2010 - Perspex-branded Acrylic Sheet (max 5 mm) - Polypropylene Sheet - Plywood (max 1.5 mm) - MDF (max 6 mm) - Chipboard - Matboard * All other materials must be approved by lab staff prior to cutting.

Hint: Remove the box, or print Selected Only when you print to the laser. The box is used only to define the available engraving area and you do not want to print it with the text. After your artwork is ready, the next step is to set up the laser before printing. 1. Place the work piece in the machine and activate the Red Dot Pointer. We want to set a new Home position by moving the carriage by hand so the Red Dot Pointer is at the center of where you want to engrave. To move the carriage by hand and set a new Home position, use the following instructions referring to the laser keypad shown below.

2 Press the FOCUS button on the laser cutter console panel to enter the material focus mode. 3 Press the GO button on the laser cutter console panel to activate auto-focus.

a) Press the X/Y Off key on the keyboard of the laser system. b) Press the GO key on the keyboard. c) Move the carriage by hand so that the Red Dot Pointer is at the center of the available engraving area. d) Once the red dot is where you want it, press the SET HOME key. e) Press the RESET key. AADRL PROTOTYPING LAB LASER CUTTER MANUAL 6

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The machine is now ready.

PRINTING FROM RHINO 3D

USING THE LASER CUTTER - 3

PRINT the file using Command: PRINT ; File Menu > Print ; or CTRL+P. Destination: Set Destination to EPILOG LEGEND EXT. Set Size to CUSTOM. Set Orientation to LANDSCAPE. Set Printer Output to VECTOR. Set Output Color to DISPLAY COLOR. View and Output Scale: Set View to WINDOW. Set Scale to 1:1. Move Window to cover entire drawing.
* this may require first setting the page size in the Printer Properties (see p.8).

Linetypes and Linewidths: Scale Line Width by 1.0. Set Default Line Width to 0.03mm (0.001 in.)

AADRL PROTOTYPING LAB

LASER CUTTER MANUAL

SETTING THE EPILOG DRIVER - 1

USING THE LASER CUTTER - 4

Set the Laser Cutter Settings by selecting the PROPERTIES button under Destination. Options: Turn on Auto-focus. Job Type: Select Vector. Piece Size: Set Width to 914mm or 36 in. Set Height to 609mm or 24 in. Vector Setting: This is a global power/speed setting that applies to all lines being printed. Color Mapping (p.9) allows the user to override these values and specify cut, engrave, and/or noprint by color.

AADRL PROTOTYPING LAB

LASER CUTTER MANUAL

SETTING THE EPILOG DRIVER - 2

USING THE LASER CUTTER - 5

Select the COLOR MAPPING tab in the Epilog print driver. Turn on Color Mapping. Color Mapping: R:, G:, B:, set the target color. Speed sets the carriage speed.
* See p.11 for recommended settings. * See p.11 for recommended settings. * See p.11 for recommended settings.

Power sets the laser intensity. Freq. sets the laser pulse resolution. Raster activates raster mode.
* Should be turned off for vector cutting.

Vector activates vector mode. Air Assist enables air assist.

* Should always be turned on.

* Should be turned on for vector cutting.

Buttons: Applies current settings as new color. Applies current settings to selected color. Deletes selected color from cut list. Moves selected color upward in cut list. Moves selected color downward in cut list.

Example Settings:
Vector Engrave Vector Cut

RED (255,0,0)

S: 60 / P: 30 / F: 1000

Raster: OFF Raster: OFF Raster: OFF

Vector: ON Vector: ON

Air Assist:ON Air Assist:ON

GREEN (0,255,0) S: 30 / P: 60 / F: 1000

Guides (no-cut)

BLACK (0,0,0)

S: 50 / P: 50 / F: 2500

Vector: OFF Air Assist:ON

AADRL PROTOTYPING LAB

LASER CUTTER MANUAL

Hint: Remove the box, or print Selected Only when you print to the laser. The box is used only to define the available engraving area and you do not want to print it with the text.

After your artwork is ready, the next step is to set up the laser before printing. 1.

Place the work piece in STARTING Home the CUTmoving the carriage byDot Pointer. Red THE machine and activate the Red hand so the We want to set a new position by Dot Pointer is at the center of where you want to engrave. To move the carriage by hand and set a new Home position, use the following instructions referring to the laser keypad shown below.

USING THE LASER CUTTER - 6

Select OK in the Epilog Driver Dialog and PRINT in the Rhino Print Dialog to send the file to the laser cutter. 1 The sent filename will appear on the Epilog Console Panel. 2 Select GO to begin laser cutting. 3 If there are problems with the print or if the operator needs to leave the room, the job may be paused by pressing the STOP button, and resumed by pressing the GO button. 4 In case of fire or other emergency, press the EMERGENCY STOP button on the front of the laser cutter. AFTER CUTTING HAS FINISHED - Remove all materials and scraps from the laser cutter. - Turn off the laser cutter. - Turn off the exhaust. - Turn off the air assist. - Log-out of the computer workstation.

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a) Press the X/Y Off key on the keyboard of the laser system. b) Press the GO key on the keyboard. c) Move the carriage by hand so that the Red Dot Pointer is at the center of the available engraving area. d) Once the red dot is where you want it, press the SET HOME key. e) Press the RESET key. The machine is now ready. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. From CorelDraw select File | Print to prepare the job for printing. Select Preferences to establish the laser parameters. Click on the Center-Center selection and then set all other laser parameters as you normally would. Make sure to set the page size in the Dashboard driver to match the page size in Corel. Print the job to the laser.

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LASER CUTTER MANUAL

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EPILOG VECTOR CUTTING

MATERIAL
914mm
60 9m m

RECOMMENDED SETTINGS

SPEED 30 10 15 6 20 15

POWER 60 100 100 100 20 20

FREQUENCY 1000 1000 5000 5000 5000 1000

MDF / Plywood 3mm (1/8) 6mm (1/4) Acrylic 3mm (1/8) 6mm (1/4) Polypropylene Cardboard 2mm

Epilog LEGEND 36EXT Laser Cutter Maximum Cutting Area: 914 mm x 609 mm (36 in. x 24 in.) AA Digital Prototyping Lab Approved Materials List 2010 - Perspex-branded Acrylic Sheet (max 5 mm) - Polypropylene Sheet - Plywood (max 1.5 mm) - MDF (max 6 mm) - Chipboard - Matboard * All other materials must be approved by lab staff prior to cutting.

* Settings are general recommendations and should always be tested prior to cutting.

AADRL PROTOTYPING LAB

LASER CUTTER MANUAL

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