Group assignment 2
Lasercutter is used to cut cardboard, acrylic, foam board and MDF. Library of parameter for every material is made by trial and error until best parameters are found and saved in this library.
Speed, power, and repeating run are adjusted based on experiment for each material. According to our experiment best operating condition for cardboard are shown below.
This picture illustrates the effect of laser power and speed on MDF material.
Joint clearance is also chosen based on experiments. For 1.2 mm thickness carboard we chose 0.95 mm holes thickness. A cardboard that contains different joint clearance is used for testing.
The kerf occurs when laser burns away a portion of the material. The amount of material removed is varying based on material thickness (higher kerf for thicker materials), power and speed of the laser.
Calibration must be done before using lasercutter. In Z direction 8 mm is used as a height above the cardboard to get the maximum laser focus. In laser control panel file button was used to load the design from the computer to the machine. Then origin was set, and frame button was used to know if our origin was set probably. After that, start button was pressed to begin cutting. Live preview is shown on the screen.
Laser machine is covered by a glass to observe the machine while operating to avoid causing fire since materials are flammable and fire blanket is used incase of emergency after pressing red button quickly. Vacuum is used to remove smoke that is caused by vaporizing the material using the laser.
