Hello! Welcome to Laser Cutting Practical✂, this activity was a lot of fun and I had learnt so much more behind the laser cutting process.
I would first like to present the IMPROVED SOP that my team and I had executed for the production of our parametric construction kit after completing the individual competency activity.
The highlighted RED parts are the changes my team and I had made to our existing SOP.
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE
NAME OF ACTIVITY: LASER CUTTING✂
Purpose | To obtain a bowl made by slotting different shapes which will be cut by a laser cutter. |
Scope | Ensure safety and follow the instructions based on this procedure. |
Responsibilities | LEADER: Kalyani -make sure the team is on the right track and does not side track to something else -supervise the team when in need of help.
LASER CUTTER OPERATOR: Madelaine -operates the laser cutter properly.
DESIGNER: Jolyn -designs the objects the team wants to cut using the laser cutter.
TIMEKEEPER: Cui Han -keep track of the time and make sure the team does not go over the time limit given. |
Definitions | NA |
Safety |
After cutting is done, wait for 1 minute before lifting the cover,due to the machine being hot and there will be gases present, hence this 1 minute is to give it some time to exhaust the gases. Ensure to wear thermal gloves when removing the product from the machine.
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Materials | 5mm Wood |
Equipments | Air compressor Fume extractor Laser cutter Computer(coreldraw, epilogue) |
Operating procedures | START-UP
Switch on the PC at the workstation.
Switch on the air compressor at the back of the laser cutting machine.
Switch on the fume extractor.
Switch on the laser cutter by turning the key from ‘I’ to ‘O’ and wait until initialization is done and the panel shows “CO2 Fusion”.
Once the initialisation is done, proceed to the workstation to operate Coreldraw.
OPERATION
Observe that the 2 green LEDs on the safety interlock panel light up.
At the workstation, turn on the Coreldraw software and insert your drive.
Export the drawing from Fusion360 to CorelDraw by converting it into DXF format. To export it, select ‘File’, then click ‘Export’, proceed to select the file you wish to export.
Once your design is shown on the Coreldraw software, select your line colour, fill and line weight for your design.
Select the area you wish to cut, and click the bottom right icon, adjust the colour so that RED is 255, while GREEN & BLUE is 0. If you wish to engrave, adjust GREEN as 255 while RED & BLUE is 0.
Once you have completed your design on the Coreldraw software, click on the file to then print your design using the laser cutting machine.
After you have clicked the print icon, your design will then be transferred to another software called EPILOGUE drawboard.
Import your selected material by loading into the material library. For our construction kit, we selected “Wood 5mm”. Notify the person-in-charge before printing the product.
Manually turn ON ‘Auto Focus’ by setting it to thickness.
Ensure the process type is set to vector and is set to 18%/80%/20% .
Name the design “Kaya 7” .
Place the wood on the top left side of the laser cutter. Align it along the border of the metal mesh. Close the cover gently once your material has been properly laid.
Using the software at the workstation, move your design to the desired position on your material.
Check with the person-in-charge about the jog feature.
Once the checks are done. Process to click on Print>(M2), check the file name and then click on GO/Play on the laser cutter screen to proceed to laser cut our product.
If the laser does not cut through the wood after multiple attempts, check that the lens of the equipment is clean as it affects the quality of the cutting.
After cutting the wood, do allow some time, about 30 seconds to a minute to allow the fume extractor to extract fumes from the cut wood before opening the cover.
To check if the parts are properly cut, wiggle the pieces in the cutter before completely removing it from the cutter.
SHUT DOWN
Once you are done using the laser cutting machine, switch off the laser cutting machine by turning the key back from ‘O’ to ‘I’.
Wait for the screen panel to go black and when you no longer hear a rumbling noise, the machine is completely off.
Proceed to switch the fume extractor off followed by the air compressor.
Finally ensure the cover of the laser cutting machine is open before leaving.
Perform housekeeping by cleaning up the table as well as keeping the remaining wood at the specific workstation.
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Next I will be explaining SOME of the changes made:
- “ turning the key from ‘I’ to ‘O’ “→ Before the practical, I assumed that the laser cutting ON and OFF button is just a switch to flip. However it turns out to be a key which is required to be turn to ON and OFF it.
- “ To export it, select ‘File’, then click ‘Export’, proceed to select the file you wish to export. “ → During the practical, we assumed that to import our DXF file from Fusion360 into Coreldraw is to click on ‘File’ and then ‘Open’. However, we were then later taught to click on ‘Export’ instead of ‘Open’.
- “ colour so that RED is 255, while GREEN & BLUE is 0. If you wish to engrave, adjust GREEN as 255 while RED & BLUE is 0. “ → To change the colour of the line of your design, we assume that we can just click on the chosen colour. However that did not work, hence, we had to manually type in the colour composition instead.
- “ For our construction kit, we selected “Wood 5mm”. “ → Our given material was ply wood with a thickness of 5mm. In our existing SOP, we did not specify what kind of material to import.
- “ Manually turn ON ‘Auto Focus’ by setting it to thickness. “ → In the existing SOP, we did state that ‘Auto Focus’ needs to be manually turn ON, but we then learnt to turn it on, you are to select the option thickness.
“ Ensure the process type is set to vector and is set to 18%/80%/20%.” → Before sending your design to the laser cutting machine to cut, you are require to adjust the settings of your design beforehand. For different materials, they require different settings. Here is an image of the settings we use:
Finally, I will be presenting you the pieces we have cut:
Individual Competency Assessment:
Parametric Construction Kit:
During this practical, the one thing my team and I had struggled with the most is importing our design onto the Coreldraw. There were some technical issues regarding the transferring of files and it took quite a bit of time to fix it. But once it was settled, the rest of the process went smoothly.
We learnt to make adjustments as we progress and learnt from our mentors during the individual competency assessment and applied what we have learnt when constructing our parametric design. Thankfully our second attempt was a success after making adjustments to our design from our first failed attempt and manage to produce many pieces. Overall. I am really proud of the product my team and I had designed and have also grown much more comfortable with using the laser cutting machine.
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