Laser cutting

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CUT

MARK

ENGRAVE

Available machines in the Schumpeter Laboratory for Innovation

available
machines

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Trotec
Speedy 100

600 x 300 [mm]
95 [mm]
60 [W] CO2

Trotec
Speedy 360 flexx

Work area: 800 mm x 500 mm
maximum engraving height: 200 mm
CO2 & fibre laser

Trotec
SP500

Work area: 1200 mm x 700 mm
maximum engraving height: 85 mm
CO2 laser

Available
machines
Trotec
Speedy 100		Trotec
SP 500
work area600 x 300 [mm]1200 x 700 [mm]
laser typecarbon dioxide laser (CO2) carbon dioxide laser (CO2)
laser power60 [W]120 [W]

The combination of CO2 & fiber lasers allows to cut, mark and engrave a wide range of non-metallic and metallic materials.
More details about the possible materials and how laser technology works you can find here.

Data Preparation

To use the full functionality of a laser machine and get an optimal result you need a vector graphic design. There are many different softwares available to create vector graphics. In order to manufacture your design on our machines please save or export it in one of the following data formats:

File formatup to versionCUTMARKENGRAVE
.ai (Adobe Illustrator)CS5 (and older)•••
.dxf2004 (and older)•••
.svgall•••
.jpgall•

Operation Modes - Color coding

There are three main modes of operation the laser cutter can perform:

CUTMARKENGRAVE
RED - LineBLUE - LineBLACK and GRAY-SCALE - Area
RGB (255,0,0)RGB (0,0,255)RGB (0,0,0)
to
RGB (255,255,255)
Line width: 0,01 [mm] or thinnerLine width: 0,01 [mm] or thinnerLine width: 0,5 [mm] and thicker + areas

The laser cutter cuts through the material along the red lines. Organic and inflammable materials may get burned edges.

The laser cutter marks the material along the blue lines. Marking can also be described as trying to cut with lower power-setting and without acutally cutting through the material.

The laser cutter engraves the entire black / gray area. The engraving processes works line by line, similar to an inkjet printer. This mode also allows to process pictures (.JPEG) since it adjusts the laser strength based on the color of the picture.

Example

Digital prepared vector graphic:
including a red cutting outline, blue marking lines, black and grey objects and texts as well as a .JPEG image.

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Result:
Processing this file with our - Trotec Speedy 360 flexx - with the CO2 laser source on 4mm thick plywood will result in a part like this.

The machine starts with the egraving. It will engrave the black & grey areas, the texts and the image. The image is automatically converted into greyscales and processed the same way as the areas & texts. This means that the laser cutter adjusts the strength of the laser depending on the darkness of the area. After it finished engraving everything the machine processes the blue marking lines. The final step is cutting the material along the red cutting line.

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You can also use a picture with different colours. The lasercutter will interpret the darkness of the colour and scale the power of the laser accordingly. This will result in an engraving of the picture onto the material.

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Tips and tricks

  • Join lines together where applicable. This increases the quality of the laser cut and reduces the necessary cutting time.
  • Remove unnecessary spaces between the parts. This results in less waste material and lowers the material costs for you.
  • Remove all double lines (lines on top of other lines). The laser cutter will cut both lines which will result in ugly cutting edges most of the time.
  • You can use green lines (width ≤ 0,01mm) as a positioning line. This line is visible in the laser cutting software but will not be processed by the laser beam. This is usefull if you want to engrave something on a pre-existing object.
  • Transform text into paths, to make the file independent from the font.

Material

With our Laser cutters you can CUT, MARK and ENGRAVE a wide range of materials. Which materials are possible to work with and where the limits are you can find in the following tables.

Material Size

Make sure:

  • your material can be processed with a laser.
  • your plate or material fits into one of our laser cutters.
  • your digital design fits on your material.
  • the material is big enough. We recommend that a platte should be at least 3mm bigger in each direction than your cutting pattern.
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Material on Stock

We have a small variety of material you can get directly in the Lab.
MaterialThicknessDimensions
MDF3 mm600 x 300 mm
MDF4 mm600 x 300 mm
Plywood (poplar)4 mm600 x 300 mm

Bring your own material

You can also bring your own material. Please check the following points:

  • your material can be processed with a laser.
  • your material is NOT on the "NOT useable" list
  • your plate or material fits into one of our laser cutters.

If you can't find your material in the material lists, feel free to bring it. Our staff will help you to find out if the material is able to be processed with a laser.

Create a laser cutting job

After the files have been successfully prepared they have to be sent to the laser cutter software. This software will then control the machine and process the file.

  • Open the file and check it

    Open the file on the PC which is connected to the laser cutter and check if everything (line formats, fonts, ...) has been imported correctly.

  • Send the job to the laser cutter software

    You can send the job to the laser cutter software by "printing" it. Make sure that everything you want to process is visible in the print preview.

  • Name the job

    Use a telling name in the job identification window. We normally use the current time (8:45 > 0845) as a job name.

Laser cutting software

Since the laser cutting job has now been created you will now be able to use the laser cutting software "TROTEC JobControl" to define how the lasercutter should process the job.

  • Position the job

    The next step is to ensure that your job is positioned on the material. For this the laser cutter is equiped with a laser pointer that shows the current position of the machine head. This position is indicated by a crosshair in the software. To position the job simply drag the job into the work area and use the laser pointer and the corsshair to position the job. Leave at least 3 mm of space to the edge of the material.

    Don't forget to check if your material is big enough for your laser cutting job by positioning the laser pointer in the opposite corner.

  • Define the material

    Warning: If you are unsure about anything concerning the material ask our staff. Selection of the wrong material or it's thickness can lead to a fire or damage the machine!

    We have a predefined material database for each laser cutter from which you can select your material and it's thickness.

    Note: If the material you wish to use isn't listed ask one of our staff to set and test the correct parameters for this material.

  • Set the focus point

    Warning: If you are unsure about anything concerning the focus point ask our staff. If the focus point isn't set correctly it can lead to a colision between the laser cutter head and the material which can damage the machine!

    The laser is focused into a single point by a lense in the machine head. This focus point has to be on the surface of the material.

    Use the auto focus function or the focus tool in order to set the focus correctly.

  • Start the job and remain with the machine until the job has finished

    After you have made sure that the job is correctly positioned, the right material is selected and that the focus point is on the surface of the material you can start the laser cutter. You do this by pressing the "Play" button in the bottom right corner of the laser cutter software.

    While the machine is in operation do not leave the machine unattended. The machine has a pause function which pauses the operation without canceling the job.