Quickstartguide:Laser Cutter

General basics

To make your life easier:

• In Illustrator make sure your artboard is the same size as your material.
  • 'Document setup' -> 'Edit artboards'

• Use vectors for cutting and engraving.

• Work in RGB colorspace
  • 'File' -> 'Document Color Mode'

Read before use

• A laser cutter is a dangerous device that can cause serious fires if not used responsibly. Always consult with an instructor before putting material in if you're unsure about its suitability.
• Because of this potential fire hazard, do not abandon the machine. Satisfying your nicotine addiction is not worth torching the Printmaking Studio.
• In case you see fire or excessive smoke occurring in the machine, hit the big red button immediately.
• This seems fairly obvious (and it's also nigh impossible to do with this machine) but never look directly into the laser as it will ruin your eye sight.
• Because we don't want to sit around with gas masks on, engraving or cutting PVC is forbidden.
• Same story goes for MDF - forbidden.
• A total no-brainer, but just to state the obvious: if your material does not properly fit in the laser cutter, then either cut it to size or find something else.

Basic operations (cutting and engraving)

On the machine

• Open the lid and put your material in the upper left corner of the work field.
  • ATTENTION: Make sure your material is as flat as possible, and if it can fly away (like paper) that it is taped down or weighed down.

• Close the lid and use the 'Z'-button (click both arrows at the same time) to autofocus the laser.

• The machine will now attempt to autofocus on the material. If it has done so, you should hear a beep.

On the computer

• Unlike the previous lasercutter, this one does not necessarily require specific thickness of line or specific colors, because the operating system for the lasercutter can assign different colors to vector elements depending on the intended operation.
  • For ease of use however, it is advisable to use RGB red (255, 0, 0) for cutting and black (0, 0, 0) for engraving, and other colors (such as blue or green) for different degrees of engraving (if needed).
• Save your Illustrator (.ai) file and get it on the lasercutter's computer.
• Open up the operating system for the lasercutter. It's the Chrome shortcut named [S3-9228] Trotec Ruby on the desktop.
• If the website asks you for a username and password, use the following.
  • Username: wdka.publicationstation@hr.nl
  • Password: ask a staff member to fill this in
• Drag and drop the file into the queue.

• In the queue double-click your file.

Design tab

• The system now opens up your .ai-file. It might start protesting about an unrecognised color space. Click on 'OK' to move on.

• In this screen you can select what lines need which color (and therefore what function should later on be associated with it). If you've used the colors suggested above, it should assign the right color to the right vector elements automatically.
  • If not you'll have to redefine 'em. To do so select the elements you want to cut, and click on the red swatch. Select the elements you want engraved and select the black swatch, and so forth.
  • ATTENTION! If anything goes awry later on, or the machine outright refuses to work with you, this is often the place where things went south. Usually because vector elements do not have the right color and are therefore not linked to a specific operation (ie. cutting or engraving)
• If you're happy with your design (size-wise) and all elements have their correct color, you can click on CREATE JOB in the upper right corner and move on to the next phase.

Preparation tab

• In this screen you see the entire work field of the laser cutter, with your design superimposed.

• Decide where your design needs to be cut on the material and drag it there (if needed).
  • The system shows a [+] on the screen to indicate where the laser is relative to the work field. You can use this to precisely outline where your design needs to go on your material.
  • To move the laser, you can use the arrows on the machine itself.
• Now select the material you're going to work with, on the right.
  • There's a number of presets in the list, but maybe not specifically your material. If your material is not there, ask an instructor what to choose instead.

• Once selected, you can see what colors are assigned to what action and with which properties.
• If you double-click on the material you can adjust the settings (if need be) and you can assign extra colors to different actions (ie. deeper engraving or lighter engraving).

• A few pointers as to the variables that can be adjusted:
  • Power, from 0% to 100%, and indicates the strength of the laser.
  • Speed, from 0% to 100%, and indicates the speed with which the machine will cut or engrave.
  • The faster the machine goes, the less heavy the impact is on the material (and, obviously, the other way around).
• Click on SAVE if you're set.
• Once you're satisfied with the result, click 'PUSH TO LASER' in the upper right corner. If the system prompts that the settings were changed, click on NO (otherwise your previously specified settings will be wiped).

Back to the machine

• Click on the 'play'-button that blinks green.
• The lasercutter will now sound like a Boeing 747 taking off: as annoying as it is, this is normal.
• Cut and/or engrave.
• Once done, the machine will beep and you can open the lid to take out your stuff.
  • ATTENTION! Please click the power button to silence the machine once you're done so the Printmaking Studio becomes an oasis of tranquility again. Or even better, turn the key.

Advanced operations

Print & Cut

This lasercutter is outfitted with a camera, so it's capable of using registration marks to precisely cut out material. For example, if you've first printed your design with the UV flatbed printer (a.k.a. The Mimaki) you can (subsequently) cut it out with the lasercutter. To do so follow these steps BEFORE printing on your material:

• Add three dots (full RGB black) with a 6-8 mm diameter around your design.
• Add your cutline in full RGB red (255, 0, 0).
• Print on your material using a printer or (if on non-paper material) UV flatbed printer.
• Drag your .ai file into the queue.
• Double-click the file.
• Specify colors if need be. In this case red for the cutting.
• Follow the usual steps for basic operation of the lasercutter (autofocus the machine, click on 'Create job', specify your material in the operating system).
• Before clicking PUSH TO LASER select the symbol with the T and three dots from the toolbar.
• A black bar will appear on the left side of the work field, this indicates the lasercutter's blind zone (in other words the part of the field the camera cannot reach. Move your artwork accordingly, especially the black dots.
• At the Material screen, assign black to Print&Cut so the machine understands that it has to look for that color as its registration marks.
• Click PUSH TO LASER. The machine will now look for the black dots you placed.
• Sometimes it finds the dots rightaway but sometimes you'll have to guide the laser towards the first mark.
• On the machine's screen you'll see whatever the laser sees through its camera. Move the laser with the arrows until the dot comes in proper view and the screen shows a green outline around it. Click on ACCEPT and the lasercutter will jump to the point where it expects the next dot.
• Once the lasercutter has found all dots it'll start.

Basic troubleshooting

The button PUSH TO LASER is greyed out and says TABLE EMPTY

Usually this means one of two things:

1. In the Design tab the vector elements do not have a color the laser cutter recognizes. Fix this by going back to the Design tab and selecting all the elements and click on the correct swatches next to the layers.
2. The actions in your Material (engraving, or cutting, for example) are not active and/or don't have a color assigned. In the Preparation tab, under Material name, make sure that each action has a color assigned to it and its box is checked. So for example: if red lines in your design need to be cut, make sure that the box with the action 'Cut' is checked and there's a red swatch next to it.