Inkscape Lasercutting

Lasercutting

Laser cutting is an awesome technology for cutting thin sheets of paper, wood, or acrylic into highly precise shapes. If you are wanting to cut metal you will need to talk to the hard materials department to use their plasma cutter.

Important Safety Information

Do not look at the laser when the machine is operating. It will damage your eyes.
Do not cut any materials other paper, cardboard, or acrylic without consulting a teacher. Some other materials when they can cut with a laser can release dangerous gasses or explode.
If you are unsure of anything check with your teacher.

Creating Silhouettes

Colour code your Drawings

When you are drawing up your laser cutter project it can be useful to colour code the different aspects of your drawing. Make sure that there are no stray lines that overlap that will cut your project into small pieces.

In this example:

Black - Cutting

Blue - Burn

Green - Burn fill

Transfer the files to a USB

Copy the .svg file from your computer to the USB.

Import the file to Lightburn

File > Import or drag and drop the file into Lightburn

Laser Settings

These are general setting for use with the laser cutter. They are likely to change over time as the laser bulb degrades so only use these as a rule of thumb. The first number represents the speed and the second is the power level. for example 100/30 is: speed of 100 and 30% power.

Cardboard

Wood

Acrylic

Deep burn - 100/30

Laser cutter checklist

Check size of job

Make sure that your material is the right size for your project. In the bottom left hand corner of Lightburn it shows the location of your curser so if all of your project is in the top right this will be the size of your project in mm.

Check the material is 11mm from the laser

You need to set the material so it is al the focal length of the laser. For the lasercutter in X block this is 11mm. You can adjust the height of the laser by loosening the top knob shown in the top right of the above picture.

Extractor fan is turned on

There is a switch on the lasercutter below the key to turn it on. Make sure this is turned on.

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