Laser Cutting and Etching
Machines
Software
Operations
Hack Manhattan Has a Lazer!!
K40 lazer
Note: Although the lazer has been re-assembled and run, it's not quite open-seasons for general usage yet.
What the procedure will be for checkouts, training, etc has still to be decided.
"Verified" Members
Only the members listed below should be using the laser.
If you wish to gain access to the laser, contact someone on the list and request a walk-through from them.
When you get your walk-through, add yourself to the list and put down the name/handle of who gave it to you.
| Member | Instructor | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Update | "Thanks for getting it to work" |
| Next | Roguejedi | |
| Roguejedi | Shway | |
| Shway | Clyde | |
| Clyde | Konstantin | |
| Ash | Konstantin | |
| Robin | Konstantin | |
| UPdate | Konstantin | |
| Stephen Lynch | Konstantin | |
| Max | Stephen |
| Member | Instructor | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| James | James | "Thanks for getting it to work" |
| Konstantin | James | |
| Guan | Konstantin | |
| Krissy | Konstantin | |
| John OB | Konstantin | |
| Masahiro | Konstantin | |
| Mark Carroll | Konstantin | |
| Charlie | Konstantin | |
| Stephen Lynch | Konstantin | |
| Max | Stephen |
The lazor is not a workbench, vise, or shelf
The linear bearing surface of the ways is actually quite fragile and easily damaged by denting or abrasion.
Check before lazing whether your material is safe to laze. Do not laze metal objects. The reflections will damage the lazor. Do not laze any material that contains chlorine (e.g. PVC, Vinyl)
Do not have the lazer turned on when the controller is off! It will behave unpredictably and may fire without warning if the controller board is turned off.
Installation
- Inkscape
- Turnkey Laser Exporter
- Pronterface
Design Preparation Guide
1) Align design inside of blue guide-lines of template (white box if you are using the new template).
2) Select all design features (the ones inside of the blue lines).
3) Select Extensions->export->turnkey laser exporter.
4) Do not export design with auto-home.
5) Make sure y axis origin is set to bottom left.
General Laze Starting Checklist
- Make sure laser power switch is off.
- Insert workpiece. Bottom left corner of workpiece should be aligned with back right corner of laser cutter.
- Plug in the ghetto 220V plug into outlet.
- Turn on laser related accessories power strip.
- Turn on ATX power supply to enable exhaust fan.
- Verify that water is flowing by pinching water supply tube.
SAFETY GOGGLES ON! The window on the lazor is perspex and may or may not block laser light. The laser light is not visible and can cause eye damage if you do not wear goggles.
Printing from SD with aligned design
Note that raster designs will not print reliably using the SD card
1) Load gcode onto SD card.
2) Insert SD card into controller and make sure it is on.
3) ONLY WHEN CONTROLLER IS ON, TURN ON LASER POWER.
4) Navigate on the menu to Prepare-> Autohome, and select.
5) Select your g-code and choose print.
Printing Through USB with aligned design
1) Launch pronterface.
2) Connect USB cable to computer instead of wall wart.
3) Wait for menu to appear, then choose connect assuming that the correct port is populated. Use default baud rate of 115200
3) ONLY WHEN CONTROLLER IS ON, TURN ON LASER POWER.
4) Use the pronterface menu to home x and y
note: your design will not be visible. as proterface thinks it's talking to a printer.
5) Select your g-code and choose print.
Shutdown Checklist
1) TURN OFF LASER POWER IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE laze IS DONE!
2) Remove the workpiece.
3) Unplug 220V outlet cord.
4) Turn off ATX power Supply
5) Turn off Laser accessory Power Tailpower strip.
Hints
Installing turnkey lazor plugin on OS X
- Install inkscape
- Clone the github repo Turnkey lazor plugin
- Copy turnkeylaser.inx and turnkeylaser.py from the repo into the extensions folder of inkscape (need to right click on inkscape and choose "show package contents". Contents/Resources/Share/Inkscape/extensions)
- Install pillow (updated version of PIL) e.g. from terminal 'pip install pillow'
- Start inkscape, turnkey laser exporter will be under Extensions->Export
Tooling
Materials and settings
For thin cardstock (Astrobrights premium cardstock 80lb (216g/m²) from Staples) P20, Feed=2000, ppm=40 works well
Resources
This is needed to make the G-code for the laser: Turnkey lazor plugin
This is a template that will help with aligning workpieces in the laser bed: File:Default Inkscape setup for Hack Manhattan.svg
Old template: File:HM_K40_Template.svg
This is a file that will help you determine what settings should be used for a given material: File needs to be uploaed
This program directly sends the gcode to the ramps board and avoids having glitches during rasters: pronterface
Tips on working in Inkscape: Inkscape Tips( The only part that is applicable is Section 2.1 )
If pronterface in os x gives an "[ERROR] Failed to set power settings" error try using the March 2014 build instead of the Feb 2015
Material Settings
Please use 75 as the max power setting
| Material | Layer name | Purpose | Comments | Member |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PAPER | ||||
| 6-ply Railroad Board | ##[feed=####,ppm=##] | Cut | settings to be determined | Charlie |
| 6-ply Railroad Board | 10[feed=300] | Engrave | Burns a brown line - Use it to test your layout | |
| 3mm Cardboard | 75[feed=2000,ppm=40] | Cut | Fast cutting of cardboard cutouts | Konstantin |
| 3mm Cardboard | 12[feed=3000,ppm=30] | Engrave | Fast Raster of cardboard text and labels | Konstantin |
| WOOD | ||||
| 3mm Brown wood & glue crap we have | 75[feed=400,ppm=40] | Cut | It is slow enough to cut that crap | Konstantin |
| 3mm Basswood | ##[feed=###,ppm=##] | Cut | settings to be determined | Charlie |
| 3mm Basswood | ##[feed=###,ppm=##] | Engrave | settings to be determined | Charlie |
| LEATHER | ||||
| 1.4mm Leather | 30[feed=800,ppm=40] | Cut | citybadger | |
| 1.4mm Leather | 10[feed=800,ppm=40] | Deep stitching groove or deep engrave | A wide enough groove to be useful would require multiple adjacent passes | citybadger |
| 1.4mm Leather | 5[feed=800,ppm=40] | Lighly engrave | citybadger | |
| FABRIC | ||||
| PLASTIC | ||||
| 3mm Clear Acrylic | 10[feed=2500,ppm=30] | Cut | citybadger | |
| 3mm Tinted Acrylic | #[feed=###,ppm=####] | Cut | settings to be determined | Charlie |
| 3mm Colored Acrylic | #[feed=###,ppm=####] | Cut | settings to be determined | Charlie |
| Any Thickness Acrylic | #[feed=###] | Engrave | 30[feed=100] on a 50w laser per lasercuttinglabs.com | Charlie |
