A laser cutter uses a laser to cut away materials. There are many varieties of this machine, with many industrial applications. The machine we have, the Epilog Mini 24, can cut cardboard, plexiglass, wood, fabric and other materials less than 1/4 inch thick. In addition to cutting, it can also etch materials.
The laser cutter uses a similar workflow to the vinyl cutter.
Laser Cutter Workflow Overview
- Sketch project on paper
- Prepare Illustrator files
- Make certain that your paths are all closed if you are cutting a file
- Save your work as .ai
- Place your work on the laser cutter template
- Make sure paths that are to be vector cut use the proper stroke width.
Settings for Illustrator documents for the laser cutter
In order for the laser cutter to cut, you must have your document set up properly. We have provided an Illustrator template. If you are vector cutting a file, you must set the stroke width to 0.01. Files that are to be cut should have no fill, just a stroke, and that stroke must be set to the proper width.
If you are planning to raster etch a file, set the fill to black.
Only the CLT, lab manager or your instructor can cut files presently, but it is important that you understand how the laser cutter works and that you set up your documents properly. It is also a good idea to understand the basic settings for cutting and for etching different materials.
Vector Cutting settings
There are 3 things that must be set when you are vector cutting: speed, power and frequency.
Speed refers to how fast the carriage that contains the lens that focuses the laser on the material moves across the bed.
Power refers to the amount of laser power applied when the laser is firing.
Frequency the number of times the laser is firing.
Raster Etching settings
Speed the speed the carriage moves.
Power the amount of laser power.
How do you know what settings are appropriate for the material you are using? This material settings chart gives you a place to start, adjustments may need to be made. Our laser cutter is brand new, and frequently the recommended settings from Epilog need to be adjusted.
