Equipment/Laser Cutter/Training

Equipment / Laser Cutter / Training

Laser Cutter Training

This page documents the process for being trained on the Laser Cutter, and the members who have completed the training.

Training on the Laser Cutter is run by the Laser Cutter Owners, and takes place in three main steps:

1. Group Training (~1 hr) where 1-4 members are taken through the equipment and how to use it

2. Individual Training Task (~30 mins) where an individual member is set a task to

3. Project Oversight (first 2-3 projects)

Completing 1 and 2 means you are officially trained, whilst 3 provides for continued learning and sharing of expertise (equivalent to "P" plates!)

We will be doing some trial runs of the training with people who have been frequently in the space to refine the process, before opening up a way for training to happen more widely.

Also documented here is the training cheatsheet that is used by the Laser Cutter Owners as a prompt to ensure the training is executed in a consistent and complete fashion; it does not constitute and is not a substitue for the training.

The Laser Cutter Owners are a group of people responsible for maintaining and training on the laser cutter, and hence have been trained to train, and trained to perform the weekly and monthly maintenance on the laser cutter.

Trained Users

The following members of Makespace are trained and qualified to use the Laser Cutter (note, they are not qualified to train others however):

• Steve Upton (Simon Ford, 23/01/2013)
• Martin de Selincourt (Simon Ford, 23/01/2013)
• Oliver Jackson (Simon Ford, 23/01/2013)

Training Cheatsheet

The training structure and prompt sheet to ensure trainers go through all important points.

Group Training

Intro for 1-4 people

Introduction the main component parts

• Laser
• Cutting Mechanics
• Materials
• Filter
• Water Cooler System
• PC

Checks

• Check in use, looks ok
• Check water bath, temperature

Turn filter on

• Tick = ok
• Warning = tell someone
• Cross = don't use it

Turn Laser on

• Turn key and light comes on
• Leave for 5 mins to warm up

PC on

• Software is Laser cut 5.3, what is for
• Bed dimensions
• Make M + S + cut keyring to talk through in MDF
• Import/file types
• Colours used to denote layers which are cut the same way
• Yellow dots are starting points for the laser
• Blue dot is the start point for the laser
• immediate mode
• Shapes can be 'united' to reduce movement of the laser head
• Cut and engrave strengths can be seen from the test pieces
• Go through commands to make the keyring
• Save the file with a meaningful name
• delete all jobs, Click 'Download' to send the job to the laser memory - ensure 'immediate' is ticked to ensure that you can adjust the positioning of the work on the bed.
• Ensure your item is selected and click Download Current

Laser Operation

• Intro control panel
• Ensure your job is selected, use left and right arrows to change selection
• Use the side of the bed tray most appropriate to support your work
• Align your work to avoid cut pieces rising up and colliding with the laser head - tombstoning
• Press Esc to enter laser operation mode
• Use arrow keys to position laser head over the workpiece
• Use up and down buttons to move bed so that the top surface of the work piece is 41mm from the white tab on the laser - ENSURE that the bed does not force the focus tool against the laser head
• Remove focus tool
• Align red laser dot with top right of workpiece
• Press test button and laser will draw bounding rectangle
• Reposition workpiece if required
• Press start to commence cutting

REWRITE In case of problem

• In the first instance press pause. This stops movement and the laser (no power going in).
• The lid can then be opened safely if needed.
• If the problem is cleared the lid can be closed and pressing pause again continues the job

- As a last resort hit the emergency stop but this should only

be used in case of a collision or issue where damage is being caused

• Make someone confident what steps they can take (e.g. opening lid)

END REWRITE

Switch Off

• Switch off laser
• Switch off filtration
• Clean any residue from the bed or bottom tray

2. Individual Training Task

individual taks (other 3 may/may not watch, personal)

make a focus tool

• square in acrylic (3/5/10mm)
• name's shallow cut
• "focus tool" in engrave
• keychain hole

Steps

• Let some build it answering questions with little prompting (minimal attention needed)
• Talk through it, question/check things etc
• Proceed to lasering (watch carefully)
• ask to stop job/restart, question escalation

Assuming all ok, added to trained list

3. Project Oversight

For next 2-3 projects, find another more experienced trained user to support (second pair of eyes)