Laser Cutter

The laser cutter is meant to cut or engrave many kinds of materials with a CO2 laser running at 60W. Applications for the laser cutter include prototyping parts, producing PCBs, etc.

Responsible and Keys

The person responsible for the use of the laser cutter is: Anthony Antoun

The keys for the laser cutter are with: Anthony Antoun

Instructions to use the laser cutter

Please note that you are not allowed to use the machine without an introduction to its use and safety procedures. This is really important because of safety issues: the laser cutter is a very critical device and every lack of attention when using it might result in very hazardous situations for you, the machine and the lab. There is a strong risk of fire, even when working with the least dangerous materials.

Design considerations to take into account for laser cutting

While designing pieces to be laser cut, certain allowances should be given to the pieces so as get pieces of particular dimensions. For example the laser beam has a particular diameter, therefore nothing smaller than the beam diameter can be cut. The general specifications of the cutter can be found at LS 6090 Laser Cutter product page. In addition, some tests have been conducted and the following observations were made:

• While cutting acrylic sheets of 3mm, and extra 0.3mm should be given to each dimension. Therefore, if a 10mm square has to be cut, each side should be increased to 0.15 + 10 + 0.15.
• While cutting 3mm MDF sheets, an extra 0.35mm should be given to each dimension. Therefore, for a 10mm square, each side should be increased to 0.175 + 10 + 0.175.

Further, the intensity of the laser is not uniform on the cutting bed. The cuts have lesser errors in the Upper Left and Lower Right regions of the bed.