Laser Cutter
A laser cutter uses a laser to burn through material with a very narrow beam or it can be used to etch the surface of a material. Depending on the material and the characteristics of the laser, a wide variety of effects can be achieved. Working from a graphics program, such as Inkscape, Illustrator, or Corel Draw, the print command brings up the laser cutter as a printer. Almost all graphics are interpreted by the laser cutter as instruction to etch the material, or rastering. The laser cuts when vector graphics have lines that have been set to a thickness of hairline or 0.001". The speed of the laser scan across the material, the power of the laser, and the frequency of the pulses of the laser must be set to match the material and whether the laser cutter is etching or cutting.
Go to Epilog's site for a gallery of the amazing things you can do with the laser cutter.
Here are the kinds of materials we can cut and engrave with our laser cutter. We will often use corrugated cardboard for test runs, and we will also use 1/8" MDF, an engineered wood product (medium density fiberboard), for our prototyping work.
Trinity's new laser cutter is a 60-Watt Epilog Mini. It can handle material up to 12" x 24" in size and we also purchased a rotary attachment that allows engraving on cylindrical objects. The laser cutter sits on a large fume extractor to control sawdust and fumes from the laser cutter.
Safety
- Students may not use the laser cutter unsupervised.
- The laser cutter must be attended to at all times while in operation.
- Fire prevention measures must always be in place: air assist turned on, and fire extinguisher in place. Even approved materials may catch fire if the settings are not programmed correctly.
- Some materials cannot be put in the laser cutter: PVC plastic (releases chlorine gas), polycarbonate plastic (melts instead of cutting/etching), and reflective metals (bounces the laser back through the optical system).
