SPIRIT GXlaser cutter

PLASTICS FIRE ANGRY FIREMEN ETERNALDAMNATION

A CO2 based laser cutter that can be used to cut and en-grave some standard model materials. The laser is fairly simple to use but has some hazards that need special attention. It is therefore required to attend and pass a laser-cutting course prior to using this machine.

2. DESIGN

Design your project digitally considering that a laser cutter can graphically engrave a ma-terial or cut through it in a 90 degree angle. The laser cutter can only work on �at surfaces and you should also consider the fact that edges will get burned on materials thicker than 1mm.

Not all designs can be laser cut so if you are unsure how to proceed to produce your model, please ask for assist-ance before trying to laser cut anything.

The maximum laser cutting area for raster and cut opera-tions is 860x610mm, but 5mm should be reserved around all of the edges for security. This means the �nal maximum dimensions should be 850 x 600 mm.

3. EXPORT

The laser cutter works as a printer and the printing solu-tion installed on the machine is Adobe Illustrator. This means that you should extract 2D cut patterns from your pre-ferred 3D modelling applica-tion and import them into Illustrator for laser cutting.

Adobe Illustrator can open AI, PDF, EPS, DWG and a host of other vector based �les. Raster �les can be imported but can only be used for engraving, not cutting operations.

Your document size should always be 860x610mm, even if you cut pattern is smaller than this. If your document size is smaller than this, it will be cen-tered on the laser cutter coor-dinates, making positioning extremely di�cult.

4. NESTING

Nesting is arranging your cut patterns on your document to make as little cut-o� as possi-ble. This can either be done with software like RhinoNEST or manually in Illustrator.

It takes very little e�ort to save a lot of material: Fit as much on each plate as you can, reduce the gaps between each piece and rotate them to �t more closely.

Even though your document size is 860 x 610mm, you can see how much you actually need by using the rulers in Illustrator (CTRL+R) and load a sheet of material accordingly. Use as small a piece of material as you can, and preferably use the cut-o� from the leftover shelf.

5. FIX LINES

The laser cutter uses pro�les to �gure out what to cut and what to engrave. Our laser cutter is set up to cut RED lines with the RGB values of 255-0-0 and a line thickness of 0.1 pt. A GREEN line with and RGB value of 0-255-0 can be used for hairlines, and a BLUE line with RGB value of 0-0-255 can be used for fold lines. Thicker lines or di�erent colors will be rasterized and engraved to-gether with rasterized graph-ics.

Duplicate lines will be cut twice, meaning engravings will cut instead of engrave and cut lines will burn the model. Delete all of your duplicate lines. Dotted lines will print as raster graphics. Clipping masks and Compound Paths are not respected.

Plastics in general give out poisonous gasses when heated. Some will give out chloride gas, which again gen-erates hydrochloric acid (saltsyre). Some other plastics give out cyanide gas when heated. PVC is probably the worst of the lot, but almost all plastics can be either harmful, leathal, �ammable or just cor-rode the machine.

THEREFORE PLASTICS ARE STRICTLY ACRYLIC ONLY!

An unfocused beam will hit a much wider surface area, gen-erating a lot of heat at the sur-face of the material. On most materials this will cause a �re on the surface of the material.

Simlarly, a wrong pro�le that an unsutiable combination of speed and power settings can cause a �re.

THEREFORE ALWAYS DOUBLE-CHECK YOUR PROFILE AND YOUR FOCUS.

SMART CHOICEThe material choice a�ects the time it takes to cut it. For instance, 6mm MDF takes 8 times as long to cut as 1mm cardboard, and also requires you to sand the edges to 45 degrees to make corners.

It is a huge saving in your time to use the thinnest possible material, preferably card-board, to make your model. Thick materials should only be used as a last resort.

If the ventilation system is turned o�, the smoke and gasses will accumulate in the machine and be released when the lid is opened. This will guaranteed trigger the �re alarm and possibly also sub-ject you to poisonous gasses.

THEREFORE ALWAYS HAVE THE VENTIALTION SYSTEM ON WHEN USING THE MACHINE.

Nobody wants to clean out other peoples junk so clean out your left-overs, sooty MDF pieces and test-bits, either take them with you or put them in the trash.

6. WORKSHOP

At this stage you should trans-fer your �les to the computer connected to the laser cutter at the workshop. Either a USB stick or network/online trans-fer can be used.

Login using your own login credentials.

7. CHECK

Di�erent Adobe Illustrator ver-sions can alter graphics when opening �les in a previous ver-sion. Please re-check your �le when you open it on the work-shop computer to ensure none of your graphics have been altered.

Double check your line thick-ness and your color RGB values.

8. LASER ON

Next you should check that there are no materials in the laser cutter and if empty, turn on the laser cutter from the power switch from the right hand side of the machine.

The machine will run a self calibration start-up routine to determine the origo on the co-ordinate system and the cover should therefore be closed when starting the machine.

9. MATERIAL

Now you can load a suitable material into the laser cutter. The X-axis (”horisontal”) zero is 50mm from the left edge of the machine, as de�ned by the work area of 860x610mm for engraving. Place your material according to your cut pattern.

Acceptable materials and maximum thicknesses:

Wood 10 mmMDF 16 mmPlywood 9 mmAcrylic PMMA 20 mmCardboard 3 mm

10. FOCUS

In order to cut the material or to engrave it precisely, the laser beam will need to be focused. This is done attaching a autofocus-sensor to the laser cradle and pushing the auto-focus button on the laser cutter. If the table is too close to attach the autofocus sensor, it can be lowered with the lower table button on the ma-chine prior to focusing.

11. PRINT

To cut your design, select the File > Print option from the menu, or type CTRL+P. Check that the printer selected is the Spirit GX. Due to a bug in the printer driver, you must always re-select the Media Size: turn o� Auto-Rotate if it is on, select portrait-orientation, select any type of paper from the drop down menu for paper size, and then re-select “De�ned by Driver”-option. This needs to be done for every �le you print.

12. PROFILE 13. VENTILATE

Before starting a cut operation on the machine, you should turn on the laser ventilation system to ensure fumes and smoke are extracted.

This is not the same as the workshop ventilation system.

14. CUT

Select your cutting job on the machine display. You should recognize it by the displayed �le name and speed/power settings. Push start to begin cutting.

15. OBSERVE

Laser cutting is a controlled use of intense heat to cut through a given material. This means that it is entirely possi-ble to start a �re in the laser cutter. This means that you will need to observe the laser cut-ting operation at all times.

If there is a �re, you should im-mediately open the lid and blow out the �ame if it is small enough or to use the �re extin-guisher by the machine if more of your material starts burning.

While observing, you shoul not look directly at the laser burning point, as the light is intensive enough to damage your eyes.

16. CLEAN

When you are done, clean out all of the pieces in the ma-chine, log out of the computer, and turn o� both the laser and the ventilation system, if no one else is going to use the laser.

Next select Setup in the lower left corner of the printer dialog and Preferences in the follow-ing dialog.

In the Option menu pane, select the pro�le for the mate-rial and the thickness you are working on. If the material is not present in the list, select Load and navigate to the C:/Laser pro�les. There you will �nd additional pro�les.

If your desired pro�le is present on the list, double click to select it. It should move to the top of the list.

In the Pen menu pane, you can adjust the speed and power of you cutting pro�le. Due to the nature of CO2 Lasers, they become weaker when they are used. This means that a correct pro�le might not use su�cient power/speed settings to cut through your material. In this case you can reduce the speed of the cutting to cut all the way through your material.

Finally, click ok twice and print.

! METALSMetallic surfaces and other

hyperre�ective surfaces re�ect the laser beam back up potentially directing it to the lid, the laser cradle or even re�ecting it out of the ma-

chine. This can easily destroy the machine, cause a �re or

injury to people.

THEREFORE METALS AND OTHER REFLECTIVE SURFACES

ARE STRICTLY FORBIDDEN.

!LINES ! ! !Cutting: 0.1 pt RED LINE (RGB: 255-0-0)

Hairline: 0.1 pt GREEN LINE (RGB: 0-255-0)

Fold: 0.1 pt BLUE LINE (RGB: 0-0-255)

Engraving: >0.1 pt BLACK LINE (RGB: 0-0-0)

Engraving: Tonality (raster or vector)

1. BOOKING

Before using the laser, you need to book time online at:

architecture.divvy.com

You can book time up to 2 weeks in advance and until 1 hour prior to cutting, using the credentials you received after your obligatory laser course.

Each student has an alloted quota in a given time period, as well as a maximum amount of hours allowed during a se-mester. These quotas are dif-ferent depending on your course.

1st and 2nd grade students do NOT have access to use the laser. Unauthorized or un-booked use of the laser cutter will result in reduction of quota and/or withdrawal of rights to use the machine.

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