OUGD504 - Design for Print: Lasercut Induction

Today I had a lasercut induction, as even though I have done one before I just wanted a recap and some more information on how to cut with lino. 

Materials you have to be careful with 

• Glass - Can only engrave with it, not cut as the laser gets too hot and cracks
• Lino - Some aren't safe to use. The one they sell at Vernon St is, as it has a hessian back on it whereas other lino blocks let off a poisonous gas when it is burnt.
• Acrylic - The fumes aren't good for you, so you can only book the lasercutter for a maximum of an hour

You can print on a range of things such as food, plants, bone etc

Instructions

• If lasercutter isn't on, press the green button. It takes about 10 seconds to come on
• There is a black screw on the laser which you need to turn half anti-clockwise to bring it in and out of focus
• Put a 12mm spacer between the material and screw, and adjust the screw so it sits on top of the material snugly.
• If you don't focus it, it will still do the job but will have wobbly and blurry outlines.
• Then press the buttons: Online > 2nd Icon > Enter
• Then set the bottom left corner of the material with the arrow buttons to arrange the laser and press enter
• Then use the arrows again to say where the top right corner of the material is. This lets the computer know the amonut of space it has to do the design and where to start. Press enter to store it
• The laser then jumps to the bottom left point to show that it's ready
• On the computer click on Ethos the programme
• There is no password so click ok
• Red means cut through, green means engrave and blue is kiss cut
• To select the raster option go to Properties > Engraving Properties > Enable Engraving. This will set the raster and you can select different options
• You need to select the material you're going to use as the laser will determine how deep/hot to cut
• Go to Output > Material Manager > Setup > Material > Choose the material
• To cut the design, click Output > Cut Design > Material Manager > Check materials are right > Send to cutter

The full heat of the laser is 800 degrees.

Raster

Raster is mainly used for rasterised images, hence the name,

For photos or rasterised images, you need to turn it to grayscale, as the raster option determines the design by the colour value. The darker a section is, the heavier the raster. Also change the scan line in the engraving properties to 0.1mm as this will eliminate the stripy effect. However, this also means it will take twice as long as when it is 0.2mm. 

The hand button pauses a job in the middle of it. 

Lino 

Anything that is black will be burnt out

Turn it into a raster image, and use the raster option.