| Article Index |
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| Importing a Laser Cutter |
| Setup |
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Setup was vary simple. Everything seemed to be in order. I hammered a 4' 5/8 screw rod for ground and attached a 2mm solid copper wire to it. I also bought a 5 gallon bucket with a top from the hardware store and 5 gallons of deionized water from CVS pharmacy. I placed a couple of holes for the water in and out, and for the electrical cord. I filled the bucket with water and started the pump to get the water flowing. In the mean time, I hooked up the exhaust fan, and placed the DSP card in the computer (although the instructions sated that I need ps2 for both the mouse and the keyboard, my mouse is usb and the software seems to work). I plugged in the USB dongle, setup the software and hooked up the laser.
I tried to remove all the air bobbles from the laser tube as recommended by the manual. Since the laser tube was already mounted, I did not want to disturb it. Instead, I was squeezing the various tubes to disrupt the water flow and remove the bubbles. However, at one point, one of the tube to the water flow sensor got out, and water started going everywhere. Fortunately, non got on the laser. I placed the tube back in its place, and placed a zip tie around it (I did not have a hose small house clamp). Once there were no bubbles, I did a laser fire test into 1/4" acrylic, which seems to work flawlessly (no mirror adjustment were necessary).
For the automated focus adjustment, you need to place the aluminium cylinder provided on top of the stock right under the sensor (its the brass rectangle right next to the laser head). Then you can press the auto Z, which will cause the bed to lift up until it touches the aluminum stock.
The first few cuts I tired to make was on 1/4 clear acrylic (cutting squares). At first I has the speed set at 11 with a power of 100, and it would not cut all the way through. After experimenting a bit I found that a power of 50 will work great with a speed of 6. Now to cut something more interesting.
I choose the Flatpack Monkey by bre . However, the file was an svg file, but the Laser Cut software can not read that. I used inkscape to convert the file. At first I converted it to a dxf file, which made the Laser Cut program crush during the import. I then tried the hp printer file, and that seemed to work fine.
Since I was cutting only 1/8 inch, I tried a speed of 11 with a power of 25, but that only marked the acrylic. This is probably because its opaque and not clear.
This time a power of 50 with a speed of 6 did it.
Final result
Over all I am very satisfied with the laser. It only took 2 min to cut that monkey, where it would have taken me at least a whole day to do it on the mill. Also, not chips to clean up.
