Equipment/HPC LS3060 Laser Cutter

Please don't use the laser cutter unless you have been trained.

We have a HPC LS3060 "plus" laser engraver and cutter.

Using

You must not use the laser cutter without being trained. The laser cutter is unlikely to hurt you, but you can easily hurt it without training. Training is given most Tuesdays at about 8pm, feel free to ask for help on the Mailing List. There's a Training Roster available - watch the mailing list for announcements.

Make sure you're familiar with the operating instructions
Please log your use to help with the upkeep of the lasercutter. This can be done easily at http://bit.ly/LaserLogbookForm and the records can be viewed at http://bit.ly/LaserLogbook.

Status

Working.

Coolbot temperature graph

Remember to check the logbook

We're currently trying to reverse engineer the software.

Information about additional useful bits of software installed on the machine can be found on the software page.

Specification

Laser:	40W - water cooled CO₂ laser.
Working area:	320 x 600mm honeycomb bed Cutting area possibly about 300 x 550mm. Max attained: 310 x 550 mm (not to be relied upon) At extreme of the y-axis (> ~400mm) cutting power can be reduced and require recutting
Features:	Air-assist (removes debris from cutting region), red-dot pointer (to show beam location)
Water cooling:	Simple tube cooling circuit connected with (9mm OD, 6mm ID) latex tube. Uses supplied submersible pond pump (2.8m head, 2800L/H flow).

Manuals

Safety information

Please don't affect the cooling system without consultation - overheating or rapid cooling can damage the laser.
Never leave the laser cutter unattended - Your material may ignite, and an unchecked fire in the laser cutter could be both dangerous and costly. We've also seen mirrors go out of alignment and cut into the cables.
In case of fire - Use the CO₂ extinguisher by the laser cutter first. Do not use the powder extinguisher unless you feel that you can't control the fire. Put it in the logbook: tiny flames while cutting are normal; anything more must be reported.
Never cut PVC or chlorinated plastic - You should always know what material you are cutting, and chlorinated plastics should be avoided because they release chlorine gas when cut.
Do not try to cut metal in the laser cutter - If you wish to mark the metal, please use "Thermark Laser Engraving Spray / Paste", or use anodised aluminium.

Parameters for different materials

If you found some sweet settings please share them here.

Tried but DIY parameters

Laser rubber has been used (mainly for stamps) it works well but you'll need to experiment for engraving/cutting

Cutting

Acrylic - Perspex

Thickness (mm)	Speed (mm/sec)	Power (%)	Corner power (%)
3	6	100
4	3.5	100	21
5	3	100
10	1 (not enough?)	100

PLY

Thickness (mm)	Speed (mm/sec)	Power (%)
1.5	8	100
3	5	100
5	2	100
6	1	100

MDF

Thickness (mm)	Speed (mm/sec)	Power (%)	Corner power (%)	Examples / Notes
3	5	100	20
4	4	100

Misc

Material	Thickness (mm)	Speed (mm/sec)	Power (%)	Corner power (%)	Examples / Notes
Acrylic - Palglas	3	6	100	21	Cubauble
Corrugated Cardboard	3	12	100
Hardboard	3	3	100
Paper		60	15
Card		35	40
Mountboard		12	100
Engraving Laminate		15	80
Funky Foam		25	25
Curian		1	100		Four passes required
Laser Rubber		6	100	25
Suede	1	25	100	25
Suede/Leather (line engraving)	>1	150	10	10
Leather	3	4	100	100 (needs more testing)
LD45 Plastazote	12	25	100	20
Unknown clear thermoplastic	4	10	10 - 15	10	These box lids melt easily but can be cut with multiple passes at low power.

Engraving

Material	Speed (mm/sec)	Power (%)	Corner power (%)	Examples
Acrylic - Perspex	200	21
Birch PLY	200	17
MDF	200	25
Corrugated Cardboard	200	20
Hardboard	200	20
Paper	200	15
Card	300	20
Mountboard	200	20
Engraving Laminate	200	21
Curian	3	100
Laser Rubber	200	70
Anodized aluminium (dyed black)	450	90	?	LHS logo on black phone
Anodized aluminium (Macbook Pro) (Vector - in "cut" mode)	100	100	80	Russ's Macbook Pro
Suede	250	15	80
LD45 Plastazote	200	10	10	At 10% engraves 2-3mm deep. Laser doesn't seem to come on at all at 5% or engrave at speeds >200 mm/s so may not be possible to engrave less deeply than this.

Consumables

Plastic Online
HPC sheet products - Laser ply, perspex, engraving laminate - where we purchased the cutter.
The Plastics Shop - mattp purchased the plastic for the first batch of Hackspace key rings from here.
Hamar Acrylic Cuts to size, and is ~10mins walk from the space. Order by phone and it should be cut and ready to collect on arrival.
- Price guide 320x600x4mm (laser bed size) clear acrylic = £8.
Acrylic-Online - Elliot has bought some Palglas from here. They cut to size - delivery £8.00. Price guide (incl. VAT):
- 320x600x4mm (laser bed size) clear acrylic (Palglas) = £5.12
Hobart Laserables - wide range of materials: MDF, Birch, Acrylic (clear and coloured), Rubber, Laminates, Anodised metal. Prices seem competitive. Nigle has ordered from here. Shipping is £12.
Fred Aldous – online craft supplies, free delivery on orders > £30. Polypropylene sheets amongst other things. Alex P has ordered from here.
4D ModelShop is not too far from the space, and is open Saturdays. They offer laser cutting too, and hence seem to have a lot of suitable materials.

Running cost

The tube is £250 for 1000 hours
The lens+mirrors are £150 for 250 hours
The power is (say) 1.2kW at £.2/kWh.
So 250/1000 + 150/250 + 1.2*.2 = £1.09/hour
The space also used a large chunk of funds to get the cutter, this needs to be recouped.

Therefore a recommended donation of £5 for each hour of use would be greatly appreciated.

Laser cutter money held in the the foundation bank account:

Date	Amount
2011-04-02 Usage Fees	+ £210
2011-05-28 Usage Fees	+ £248.44
2011-06-08 Optics set	- £188.25
2011-06-20 Cash from tin	+ £30.00
2011-06-20 Water + tubing change	- £30.00
2011-06-28 Usage Fees	+ £25.04
2011-07-12 Usage Fees	+ £88.46
2011-07-27 Usage Fees	+ £70.58
2011-12-17 Usage Fees	+ £135.66
2012-01-21 Usage Fees	+ £48.72
2012-03-24 Usage Fees	+ £142.12
2012-05-21 Usage Fees (Cleaner)	+ £5
2012-06-02	£69.75
Running total	£780.77

Cleaning Schedule

Optics cleaning every 25 hours (or as required)
Extraction fan cleaning every 25 hours
Electronics section dust removal every 25 hours
Laserbed cleaning every 50 hours (soaked in a peroxide based cleaning solution)

Changing machine options

This is now passworded due to abuse, trustees and maintenance users know the code

advanced use only! Please make sure current settings are backed up first (sorry I don't know how to do this).

Click File->Machine Options. This will show you a dialog like this:

Make your changes.

Useful that I've found is the Machine options -> worktable page. This allows adjustment of scaling for x and y axis. Decrease the numbers to increase the distance moved. I got good scaling with 0.00635 for both.

Then click 'save' and OK the password dialog. The settings won't become live until you download them to the cutter.

Click 'download' as if you were putting a new design on the cutter, but then click 'download cfg'. The machine should beep. I had problems with this and then cutting a pattern, the machine always told me 'soft stop'. I 'fixed' it by powering off the machine before downloading the new settings.

More information

How the cooling system works
Some useful laser info from Adafruit - the settings section in particular gave a good idea of what we can expect.
More information about the controller card used by the cutter
- http://www.leetro.com/english/sale/20.html
- http://www.leetro.com/english/sale/23.html
- Latest version of the software
- Firmware for MPC6515 controller and software (hit the download page for latest version)
For making boxes, you can use this script - recommended settings of "--bolt_length 13 --nut_multiplier 1.8" YMMV
http://rahulbotics.com/personal-projects/boxmaker/?boxmaker/ is also _very_ good for making boxes.
QCAD - open source .dxf exporting 2D CAD program
Using Google SketchUp for Laser Cutter designs.
A support forum with various guides