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 list of members who have completed that training.

Summary

Training takes place in three main steps:

• Group Training of 1-4 members, going through the equipment and how to use it (~1hr)
• Individual Training Task, where an individual member is set a task to complete to prove and improve understanding (~30min each)
• Project Oversight, where more experienced users oversee the projects being undertaken when cutting (first 2-3 projects)

Training on the Laser Cutter is run by the Laser Cutter Owners. 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.

Training Sessions

NOTE: 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.

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. Please note, this is used by the Laser Cutter Owners as a prompt to ensure training is executed in a consistent and complete fashion is included on this page; this does not constitute and is not a substitue for the training itself.

Group Training

The group training introduction structure, suitable for 1-4 members at a time in a 1 hr session.

Introduction of main components

• Laser
• Cutting Mechanics
• Water Cooler System
• Filter
• PC
• Materials (what it can cut, supply)

Checks for everyone to do

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

Powering Up

• Turning on filter (Tick = ok, Warning = tell the owners, Cross = don't use it and tell the owners)
• Turning on Laser and warmup, what to do if doesn't power up
• Turning on PC and starting software

LaserCut Project walkthrough (using M+S+text keyring example)

• Package function, drawing, import file types
• Bed dimensions
• Paths, yellow dots, 'united' shapes
• Blue dot, Immediate mode
• Layers and colours
• Through cut, surface cut and engraving, speeds and strengths
• Various steps to build keyring design (shapes, text, uniting, layers, alignment, scaling, layers)
• Job ordering
• Saving
• Download as immediate, delete, download current

Laser Operation

• Lid
• Control panel, escape
• Moving head XY, indicator laser, datum
• Moving Z
• Focus
• Start position and test
• Start, pause and emergency stop function
• Do job, pause/open lid, restart

Laser Hazards

• Process and progression for normal operation failure (fire) - pause, open, move, CO2
• Process for abnormal operation failure (mechanical/jam) - emergency stop, open, move, CO2
• Ensure confident of process

Power Down

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

2. Individual Training Task

The individual task to get familiar, prompt questions and check understanding:

Task

• Make a personalised focus tool
• Square acrylic fo appropriate size
• Member's name, "Focus Tool", keychain hole
• Should use full cut, surface cut, engrave
• Should demonstrate all steps, size, appropriate ordering, positioning

Steps

• Set individual to work, don't prompt but do answer questions (or pose if needed)
• Talk through design once done, question/check things etc
• Proceed to lasering (watch carefully all steps)
• Ask to stop job/restart, question escalation process

Assuming all ok, added to trained list!

3. Project Oversight

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