Laser Cutting

Laser cutters use high-power laser systems which allow for precise and fast cutting of materials. DBE has 12 laser cutters in total; 2 are technician-operated large format laser cutters, and 10 small-format laser cutters that students can operated once trained.

Laser cutting requires a General Makerspace Induction. Use of the Emblaser 2 laser cutters requires a Laser Cutting Badge.

Prepare your files for laser cutting using the information and guides below.

Equipment Specifications

Type	Quantity	Dimensions	Materials	Location
Trotec SP500	1	1245 mm x 710 mm	Strawboard (1 and 2mm), plywood (3 and 6mm)	418 Makerspace
Darkly Labs Emblaser 2	10	500mm x 300mm	Strawboard (1 and 2mm), plywood (3mm)	418 Makerspace
Trotec Speedy 400 Flexx	1	1000 x 610mm	Strawboard, plywood, acrylic, mylar, fabrics, and other materials.	202 Digital Modelling

Trotec SP500 and Speedy 400 This equipment is strictly operated only by technical staff. Students must be present at the workshop to have their work cut.

Emblaser 2 This equipment can be operated by students who have completed a laser cutting badge. Students must watch the equipment for the entire process.

Materials

Materials that can be cut and/or engraved

Both the Makerspace and Digital Modelling Workshop stock plywood and strawboard for laser cutting.

The Makerspace laser cutters cut supplied materials only:

Plywood 3mm and 6mm thick, up to 1200 x 600mm in size
Strawboard 1mm and 2mm thick, up to 900 x 600mm in size

You cannot bring in other materials to cut on the Makerspace laser cutters.

The Trotec Speedy 400 Flexx in the Digital Modelling Workshop can cut a wider range of materials, including:

Cast acrylic
Wood (thin veneers, plywood, balsa)
Fabric (natural or acrylic based)
Leather
Card and paper
Polyethylene
Acetate

And can engrave (but not cut) some others, such as:

Glass and ceramics
Solid wood

The following materials cannot be cut or engraved:

Polycarbonate
PVC (vinyl)
Anything containing chlorine
Metals
MDF
Any materials without a Safety Data Sheet (SDS/MSDS)

Material costs

Some units require you to a pay a consumables fee, which covers the costs of some or all of your materials. If your material costs are not covered by a consumables fee, you will need to pay for supplied laser cutting materials at cost price.

File Preparation

vector vs raster visualisation. — The difference between vector graphics and raster graphics are as follows. Vector graphics use mathematical equations to define shapes and lines, while raster graphics are made up of individual colored pixels arranged in a grid. Therefore, vector graphics can be Infinitely scaled without losing fidelity.

Vector files

Vector files are the only format the laser cutter will recognise for cutting and vector engraving
A vector file is made up of shapes and lines that do not lose resolution or quality when they are scaled; they use mathematical equations to define shapes and lines
You can create vector files using programs such as Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, Rhino 3D, and AutoCAD, as well as free software like Inkscape.
Vector files need to be created in a vector program - not just imported or pasted.

Line and shape properties

There are slight differences between line colours when preparing files for Trotec (large format) laser cutters and Emblaser (small format) laser cutters. Use the following settings:

Trotec (SP500 and Speedy 400 Flexx)

Cut: RGB red, hairline thickness

Vector engraving: RGB green, hairline thickness

Raster engraving: RGB black or greyscale; a solid fill engrave should be black fill, while you can use greyscale to create different tonal values or depths

Emblaser 2

Cut: RGB red, hairline thickness

Vector engraving: RGB green, hairline thickness

Solid fill raster engraving: RGB blue, hairline thickness

Tonal value/gradient: Greyscale

File size and format

Files must be saved in PDF format
Your PDF must be the size of your material sheet (e.g. 900 x 600mm for strawboard)
Save each sheet as a separate PDF file

Engraving types. — The various types of vector colours used to created different cuts on plywood.

HOW TO SET UP YOUR FILES > SOFTWARE + TEMPLATES > LINKS

AutoCAD

AUTOCAD > FILE SET UP > PDF

AUTOCAD > TEMPLATE > TROTEC SP500 > DWG

AUTOCAD > TEMPLATE > EMBLASER2 > DWG

Rhino 3d

Fusion 360

Illustrator

Setting up files

Autodesk Fusion 360

Autodesk Fusion 360 combines CAD, CAM, CAE, and PCB into a single, integrated cloud software platform. It includes all the tools that you need to go from design to manufacturing, seamlessly.

Laser Cutting Setup

The golden rule in Fusion is that you make sections of your models as components. This approach involves organising different sections of a model as separate components, each containing essential data such as sketch information, bodies, and origin planes. This concept can be likened to layers in software applications like AutoCAD or Photoshop.

Example of component-based modelling

Let's say you want to laser cut a 3mm Polar ply box with connecting finger joints. Using the inspect menu, you can select "Display Component Colors" to visually seen each component with a distinct colour ID. To prepare the design for laser cutting:

Selecting the top-level component
Creating a new sketch
Draw a rectangle using the create menu or simply hit the [R] key
Select Center Point rectangle
Define your size, switching between height and width with [Tab➡] key
Hit enter and then finish sketch
Ensure the plane is at the bottom of your model.
Select Arrange in Modify menu with all the components selected, or select them individually afterward.
Make sure all components are selected and appear in Arrange options.
Finally, select envelope on the plane to arrange the objects flat.

How to display component colors using the inspect menu.
Define your size, switching between height and width with [Tab➡] key