Laser/How to Lazzzor

How to Lazzzor or "Why your mother doesn't use scissors anymore."

this is a very very early draft for a yet-to-come howto lazzor page. the main source of information was the lazzzor workshop held on 2011-01-27. feel free to add/edit information, suggestions or similar. you can do so in english or german. also: it doesn't need to be perfect, but the information supplied should be correct or if not, labeled accordingly

so, you want to use the mighty fine lazzzor yesyes? then you will have to complete several trials to step up to the throne of being a lazzzor king or queen.

basically, you have 2 options:

• cutting: for this you need a vector graphic,
• engraving: for this you need a rasterized image

you can also do both! if you put a rasterized object inside a vector graphic. alternatively you can create a separate file for each job.

prepare your image

get your favorite vector/raster drawing program and draw some stuff you want to have cut or engraved. depending on what you want to do, your image file is qualified for print if the following things apply.

cutting / vector format:

• deactivate filling on all objects
• set the stroke width on all objects to 0
• export your image in *.eps format [.. other recommended formats] we strongly encourage you NOT to use dxf formats. they are prone to errors when imported into corel draw.
• during exporting/saving, look for an option which says "Make a bounding box around full page" or similar and DEactivate it.

engraving / raster format:

• convert your image file to grayscale
• play around with the Level option to get the highest contrast possible
• you can set the DPI for your graphic up to 1200 (max. setting the lazzzor supports)
• no background color (means: transparent background)

software recommendations: ...

the printer dialog

main tab

• Power: how much power to put into each lazzzor shot. for cutting, you want to use as little power as possible
• Speed: how fast the lazzzor moves.
  
• Frequency: how many times a lazzzor shot happens. this depends greatly on the material used.

• raster: for engraving
  
• vector: for cutting
  
• combined: for doing both! engraving always comes first.

• rasterisation
  • basic: makes it look good, most of the time youll want to use this.
  • 3D: good for making stuff like holes for screws.
  • stamp: yeah, thats for stamps, there are also 2 additional parameters for this one.

• misc
  • Autofocus: important for making nice cuts, you also can do that manually (todo)
  • Frequency automatic: not tested yet! but it obviously states what it does, yes?
  • Vector Sorting: algorithem which should calculate a good way to cut stuff. you probably should use a good image instead of relying on this, but most of the time it shouldn't cause any problems.

user settings here you can load saved settings created by other users.

warning! this doesnt mean they are automagically the best choice, in some cases quite the opposite is the case and you might end up damaging your material or the lazzzor. still, in combination with the cheat sheet included in the manual, you can figure out if there are some reasonable settings too.

colormapping depending on the colors you gave your vectors, you can set individual power, speed and frequency settings for each color! might come in handy, most of the time it doesnt though.

the materials

if you want to cut or engrave something, bring your own material, though you can also use any leftovers or stuff which does not have a label on it. (of course labels which say "free for all" are ok, too). feel free to donate a little extra if you use some materials. (price, costs, material category?)

allowed: cutting / engraving:

• anything made out of wood
• acrylic
• polypropylene
• polystyrol (low power&speed!)
• fabric (hm what about polyester?)
• ...
• very very thin metals (foil or curcuit board made out of Messing) (--> indepth howto at example page?)

engraving:

• glass
• ...

forbidden: anything which got Chlor or Stickstoff in it. bad stuff will happen if it combusts. some examples:

• PVC
• PC
• Polyurethan

other potential dangerous stuffs:

• BoPET Foil: as used in rescure blankets. has the ability to reflect big part of the IR spectrum. omg.
• ...

should some materials be forbidden which are already used? --> http://entropie.digital.udk-berlin.de/wiki/Laser_Cutter#FORBIDDEN_MATERIALS

to the lazzzor!

you have sent your job to the lazzzor and chosen your material of choice, now off you go my friend, you are a big boy/girl now, but still, there are some buttons you have to get familiar with first. (pwetty pictures!)

2 important buttons:

• "Go" aka Green Button aka "yea go that."
• "Stop" aka Red Button aka "no way, dont do that."

how to set your 0-point.

its a good idea to set your home-point everytime before a different job. this point is the starting position and represents the upper left corner in your image / workspace area.

1. press "Pointer" (or what was it?) to make it visible/invisible 2. press "X/Y", the display will say "X/Y - Off" 3. you can now move the lazzzor freely along its x and y axis 4. press "Set-Home" to set your position as your home-point.

IMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANT before you start a job ALWAYS TURN ON THE BELÜFTUNG (picture) IMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANT

and before you start your job read..

when to cancel/pause your job!

if you ...

• .. hear noises you are not used to hear
• .. see smoke gathering in the cutting area
• .. see something burning constantly. (one or two spurts of flame are okay when cutting acryl (i think it was acryl?))

now now, go on, push teh button!..

how to start, pause and stop your job!

most of the buttons concerning jobs are obviously labeled, though, a explaination shall commence.

1. (todo) 2.

taking care of the lazzor:

• if you think your settings are pretty much okay but it still wont cut through then there is a possibility that the lazzzor needs some cleaning.

possible misc ideas:

• die klappe besser abdichten mit nem gummi oder so.. auch praktisch beim zumachen damits nicht zukrachen bzw zerbrechen kann
• tatsächliche schadstoffe in der luft messen, was für ein gerät braucht man da? interessant wärs schon

some practical examples: (seperate page?)

these (usefull?) things are what people actually made and hopefully documented it for others to use. (hint hint)

some theoretical/experimental examples: (seperate page?)

this section explores different possibilities of parameters and their outcome. this is a good place to get you an idea on how to fine tune your parameters.

Material:

• the material
  • diffrent parameters 1
  • diffrent parameters 2
  • diffrent parameters 3

• soap
  • engraving a soap ended in the soap swelling. or so ive heard.