Laser Engraving Machine

The model of the Laser Engraving Machine located in Hackerspace.gr (Ampatiellou 11, 11144, Athens) is HQ-3020B. It is capable of cutting, engraving, and marking a number of different materials quickly and accurately when driven from CAD software such as CorelDraw and Inkscape. The bed size is 35cm x 25cm.

Maintenance

Laser cutter mirrors and lens should be cleaned every time before startup and thoroughly one per month as instructed in this guide.

Once per 6 months the cooling liquid needs to be grained and replaced by new. The liquid is a mix of distilled water and anti-algae solution. With every cooling liquid replacement is also good to perform a cleaning of the cooling system following this guide



Material Information

Materials that can and cannot be laser-cut [1]

Settings
Material Thickness (mm) Operation Power Feed (mm/s) Passes
Flexoid Oil Resistant Jointing sheet [2][3] 0.5 Cut 17 10 1
Flexoid Oil Resistant Jointing sheet [4][5] 0.8 Cut 20 10 1
TEMAFAST ECONOMY [6] 1 Cut 40 10 5
Plywood 3 Cut 30 10 2
Plywood 4 Cut 45 10 2
Plywood Non dependent Engrave 20 20 2
White glossy vinyl 0.24 Cut 7 20 1
Black matte vinyl 0.24 Cut 7 20 1
Acrylic (transparent) 4.5 Engrave 17 20 1
Acrylic (transparent) 3 Cut 40 10 1
Leather (brown) Non dependent Engrave 10 20 2
MDF 2 Cut 70 10 1
MDF 2 Raster Engrave 15 200 1
Reflective tape (PVC/red) 0.36 Cut (adhesive on) 7 10 1

How to use it:

Download:

> Inkscape [7]

> K40 Whisperer [8]



To create your file:

> Open Inkscape

File 1.jpeg











> Draw your design with lines

File (2).jpg
File (3).jpg
File (4).jpg





























> Make colors in RGB (Blue to engrave, red to cut)

File (6).jpg
File (7).jpg





















> Select correct Document Properties:

- UNITS must be all in MM

- RESIZE page to content

File (9).jpg
File (10).jpg
File (12).jpg































> Save as .svg file.

File (13).jpg
File (15).jpg
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To cut your file:



> Connect computer and machine with USB cable

Usb-min.jpg













> Switch on the machine:

Switch (2)-min.jpg













- Switch power on

- Switch light on

Switches-min.jpg













- Plug-in air - compressor

Vacuuuum-min.jpg













In K40 Whisperer:

( > Open K40 Whisperer )

File K40 (2).jpg













> Initialize laser-cutter

File K40 (1).jpg













> Open design file

File K40 (2).jpg
File K40 (3).jpg

























> Adjust starting point and speed in K40 Whisperer

File K40 (4).jpg
File K40 (5).jpg
File K40 (6).jpg





































On the machine:

> Place your material inside (it must be no bigger than A4)

Placematerial-min.jpg
Open-min.jpg

























> Adjust power on machine

Poweradjustment-min.jpg













> Make test

Test-min.jpg
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> First engrave (BLUE) and then (CUT) by clicking "Vector Engrave" and "Vector Cut" in "K40 Whisperer".

File K40 (6).jpg
Cut-min.jpg
Cut (2)-min.jpg
Result-min.jpg















































Make sure temperature does not exceed 30 °C

Temperature-min.jpg













> Switch off machine

> Clean up gently with vacuum cleaner

Vacuum.jpg
Cleanup-min.jpg

























Useful links

> boxes.py [9]

> obrary [10]



Projects

> what is cosmos / τι είναι κόσμος



This text contains information copied or inspired from http://atxhackerspace.org .