Fibre Laser Marker

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RED equipment: Do not use without specific training.


Training

You must not use the fibre laser marker without being trained. The fibre laser marker is unlikely to hurt you, but you can easily hurt it without training. For more information about laser cutter training ask on Slack in the lasercutter channel

Costs

  • Training - Free
  • Usage - £5/hour, £1/10minutes
  • Consumables - Bring your own and/or use what is in the off cuts bin or purchase from the HS stock via iZettle, but always ensure (rather than assume) it's laser safe.

How to

Tech specs

Spec Value
Laser power: 60W Fibre laser source
Maximum cutting area: 300 x 300mm
Body dimensions: TBC
Repeatability: ± TBC
Power source: AC 110 – 220V ± 10%, 50 – 60Hz
Total power: <1,000 W
Operating temperature: 0 – 45 °C
Humidity: 5 – 95%
Minimum character size: TBC
Corresponding data format: TBC
Control Software: Ezcad / Lightburn
Cooling system: air-cooled
Control system: EZCad 2 controller + Lightburn
Weight: 25kg
Kerf: TBC

Laser Cutter instructions

Laser Cutter Instructions

Rules

1) Never leave the laser cutter running unattended*
You should always be next to the Laser Cutter and paying attention to it while the laser is active, I cannot state how important it is to monitor the laser cutter whilst it is in use, it knows when you're not watching and will burst into flames the second you turn your back. If you have to leave the laser cutter unattended, use the pause button. In case of fire: use the fire blanket first if that doesn't work use the CO2 extinguisher by the laser cutter and/or raise the fire alarm.
2) If the Laser Cutter breaks or behaves abnormally, put it Out of Order and post on Slack
If the laser cutter starts behaving weirdly, doesn't cut correctly with the correct settings, makes interesting worrying noises, any of the ancillary machines (cooler/extractor/air assist) are not working properly or if there has been a fire, place it out of order and post to Slack detailing what went wrong. If you don't use slack, get someone else to post for you.
3) Do not use if you haven't had training

A trained member can do a job for another person as long as the trained member is the one using the laser cutter.

4) You must be a member of Norwich Hackspace to use the laser cutter
The Laser Cutter is a machine owned and operated by Norwich Hackspace, therefore you must be a member to use it. If you were a trained member and your membership payments have lapsed, access will automatically be revoked until you become a member again. Having a trained member cut a job for a non-member is perfectly fine.
5) Always pay for your usage
The Laser Cutter costs £5/hour to use. You only have to pay for the time that the laser is active for, not any setup or preparation time. All money goes towards maintenance and buying consumables like mirrors, lenses and new laser tubes. If there is not enough money to cover the cost of consumables when something needs replacing due to people using the Laser Cutter without paying, they simply won't be bought, rendering the Laser Cutter out of order until we find another way of raising money to cover the costs.
6) Only cut approved materials of an acceptable thickness, never cut materials on the banned list or materials that are too thick.*
If you would like to cut a material that is not on the Approved List, contact one of the maintainers, we will do some research and testing (or instruct you to do the testing) to see if the materials is safe to laser cut, if it is, it will be added to the Approved List. Acceptable thicknesses are shown on the cutting parameters page.
7) Do not disable any of the ancillary components such as the air assist, extractor or cooler
These all have their purpose in protecting the Laser Cutter and making it work correctly, please do not disable any of these for any reason whatsoever.
8) Don't place cutting waste in the scrap bins
The scrap bins are only for usable bits of material you don't want any more. A usable bit of material is anything 10cm2 or larger without any cuts or engraving on it. Please snap any unusable bits off to make it as small as possible. Cutting waste is fully recyclable and can be placed in any bin in the hackspace, PLEASE DO NOT PUT IT IN THE SCRAPS BIN!

Violation of these rules will result in either a verbal warning, a written warning, being made to redo the training, a temporary ban or in the most extreme cases a permanent ban issues by the maintainers. We will try and be as fair as possible and we really don't want to punish people and prevent them from using the machine, we'd much rather educate about the correct way to use it. However, this is not an excuse for rules ignorance.

*Violation of rules 1 or 3 (or excessive violation of rule 6) will result in an immediate ban without warning.

All bans will be made public and be able to be appealed against.

Software

  • Lightburn - The greatest lasercutter software ever
  • Halftone vector generator - Takes a picture and converts it into a representation of the image using ploygons. Its a cool way to get around the lack of greyscale functionality

Where to get supplies/consumables/materials

To be updated

List of allowed and banned materials

Allowed

Plain woods should not be processed using the Fibre laser, potential use of woods are painted or stained woods where the laser will remove the paint layer.

If you try to cut unpainted wood you risk starting an internal fire in the piece so don't do it

Woods

  • Laser-grade plywood
    • Birch ply (max 9mm)
    • Poplar ply (max 9mm)
  • Balsa wood
  • Paper (cutting only)
  • Card/Cardboard (cutting only) tips on lasercutting card
  • MDF - small amounts of MDF or engraving on MDF products is ok'ish

This list will be updated for now do not attempt any plastic

Plastics

  • Thin Polypropylene sheet (<1mm)
  • Acrylic (max 10mm)
  • Foamcore (non-PVC variety)
  • Correx (Genuine non PVC)
  • Depron foam (Fire risk, must be closely monitored)
  • EVA Foam (if real)
  • Delrin (max 8mm)

Textiles

  • Cloth/felt/hemp/cotton (Not plastic-impregnated fabric)
  • Polar Fleece

Metals

These can be cut if they are less than 1mm or engraved

  • Brass
  • Aluminium
  • Copper
  • Gold
  • Silver

For engraving only

  • Stone (Engrave only)
  • Ceramic tile (Engrave only)
  • Glass (Engrave only)
  • Anodized Aluminium (Engrave only)

Explicitly banned

You should only be cutting materials on the Allowed list.

If you want to cut a material which is not on this list, contact one of the maintainers and get them to OK it first.

  • Food (laser contamination, fire risk, emissions)
  • Body parts - Dark skin and tattoo's are affected by the fibre laser
  • Plastics containing PVC (laser contamination, emissions)
  • Plastics containing ABS (laser contamination, fire risk, cyanide emission)
  • Fibreglass (laser contamination, fire risk, emissions)
  • Polycarbonate (laser contamination, fire risk)
  • Polystyrene (laser contamination, fire risk, emissions)
  • Polypropylene (laser contamination, fire risk, emissions)
  • HDPE (high-density polyethylene or polyethylene) (laser contamination, fire risk, emissions)
  • Carbon fibre (laser contamination, fire risk, emissions)
  • Shuttering ply (laser contamination, fire risk, emissions)
  • Latex (laser contamination, fire risk, emissions)

Cutting Parameters

Configuring the fibre laser is a bit more involved than the CO2 we have some other parameters to consider including frequency

Some good tips here

Black engraving on anodised aluminium

Power - 50%

Speed - 1500 mm/s

Requency - 200 kHz

Pulse Duration - 8 ns

Filling lines distance - 0.001 mm bidirectional for a rich black, 0.002 - 0.005 mm bidirectional for grey tones

Trainers and maintainers

If you have questions or problems with the laser cutter, please speak to one of these people:

  • Ben - Plexer
  • Tim P
  • Nicholas W
  • Peter H

Technical Specs

Tips&Tricks

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