Laser Cutting Quick Start Guide
Prepare your 2D file
You need a file to laser cut before you can start. Export your designs from Solidworks or Fusion as a DXF file, then import them into Adobe Illustrator.
If you want to work directly in Illustrator that’s fine too.
When you’re importing DXF files into Illustrator remember to set the scale correctly.
Find suitable material
Avoid using fresh, new sheets of material wherever possible. Look through the offcuts to find material that will work for your design.
Spread your design over several pieces if you need to, and remember you can use the camera to align your work to oddly shaped material.
Engrave or cut?
Set all the parts of your design that you want to cut to one colour – black, red, green, they’re all acceptable options – and all the parts of your design that you want to engrave to another colour.
You can engrave bitmaps or raster images, but only vector lines can be cut. If you’ve got a image that you want to cut then you’ll need to convert it using Image Trace.
Set up the laser cutter
There are a a few laser cutters to choose from – varying in the types of material they can cut to the maximum size of the material.
You can either scan the QR code on the laser cutter itself, or you can choose the machine you need from the list.
Print to the laser software
Select Print from the File menu in Illustrator. Set the printer as “Epilog Engraver”. Turn off auto-rotate, and then select the top left position square. Finally, select Print once more to send the job to Epilog Dashboard.
Run the job on the laser
Once the job has been sent to the laser cutter you can start cutting. Make sure the extraction is turned on and your material is in place!
All three laser cutters have the same interface, so once you know how to use one you can use them all.
Log your cutting
While you are waiting for the laser cutting to finish, scan the QR code on the top of the laser and fill in the short form.
The information we get from this helps keep the material available for you to use free of charge, so please make sure that you complete it every time.
Clean up
After the cutting is complete make sure the laser cutter is left clean and tidy. Remove the material you have been using and return any usable offcuts to the material rack. If you have been cutting small parts that have fallen through the grating make sure these are cleaned out. Ask a technician if you need help gaining access to underneath the grids.