Fundamental in Laser Engraving and Cutting Instructor Workshop

9:00am - Overview, Lasers, Application, Industry use 10:00am – Laser Operation, Functions 10:30am – Project 1 11:30am – Project 2 12:00pm – Lunch 12:45pm – Project 2 (continued) 1:30pm – Project 3 2:30pm – Project 3b 3:30pm – Depart Agenda

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Laser Engraving and Cutting Laser cutting and engraving is a technology that works by directing a high- powered laser onto a material, that produces a high-resolution image or smooth cut periphery in a 2D plane. C02 and Fiber Laser Systems YAG Laser Systems

YAG Laser Applications Manufacturing - engraving, etching,cutting,semiconductors etc. Automotive – Japan is developing laser ignitors that use YAG chips in place of spark plugs in an automobile engine. Fluid Dynamics – Flow visulation in fluid dynamics Military – Laser designators, rangefinders, Chinese ZM-87 blinding weapon (22 known to have been produced due to prohibition of such weapons). Medical - eye, prostate surgery Laser Induced Spectroscopy (LIBS) – Used in the analysis of elements of the periodic table. Cavity Ring down Spectroscopy(CRDS) – Used to measure light concentration of some light absorbing substance. Dentistry –Soft tissue surgery in the oral cavity.

Two types of Lasers, Infinite Possibilities. C02 Laser Systems Ytterbium Fiber Laser

C0 2 Lasers by Epilog Laser: C02 Air-Cooled laser tube, watts Engraving Materials: Wood, acrylic, plastic, glass, leather, Corian, fabric, coated metals, anodized aluminum, ceramics, Mylar, pressboard, and more… Cutting Materials:Wood, acrylic, plastic, delrin, cloth, leather, melamine, paper, rubber, veneer, cork, and more…

C02 Lasers The carbon dioxide laser (CO 2 laser) was one of the earliest gas lasers to be developed (invented by Kumar Patel of Bell Labs in 1964 [1] ), and is still one of the most useful. Carbon dioxide lasers are the highest- power continuous wave lasers that are currently available. They are also quite efficient: the ratio of output power to pump power can be as large as 20%. The CO 2 laser produces a beam of infrared light with the principal wavelength bands centering on 9.4 and 10.6 micrometers. gas lasersKumar PatelBell Labs [1]Carbon dioxidecontinuous wave laserspump infrared light wavelengthmicrometers

Materials – Woods…

…Acrylics, Plastics and more…

C02 Laser in Surgery

C0 2 Lasers by Epilog Laser: Ytterbium Fiber Laser, Air Cooled, 1062 nm, 10 to 50 watts Marking and Engraving Materials: Most metals and plastics, including: stainless steel, aluminum, black/white ABS, carbon fiber, polycarbonate, anodized aluminum, white PEEK, silicon wafers, colored delrin, magnesium, and more…

Fiber Laser How it works

Metal Marking and Engraving Etching: is often used for industrial purposes to produce a high contrast mark in the metal – marking tools or parts with serial numbers, logos and bar codes. The etching process actually removes small amounts of material from the metal piece. Polished: or “mirrored” as it sometimes called, is a laser effect where the laser beam heats the surface of a material and as it cools, the material takes on a different finish. Most common on matte-finish metal, this technique creates marks that can look almost holographic. No material is actually removed Annealed: The laser is used to heat metal to near melting points, which induces a color change to the top layer of material. Annealing often gives a dark iridescent look, with a faint rainbow of greens, blues and pinks that can sometimes be seen in the text or graphic. Since no material is removed from the metal, this technique is often used for medical devices used within the human body. Annealing leaves no cuts or shallow engravings like those found in marking and etching and typically produces the darkest mark of these three methods.

Metal Marking and Engraving

Why an Epilog Laser for your school? Simple and easy to use Use as an attractor for your freshman exploratory Rapid prototype projects in plastic prior to Aluminum Create a great finished and customized look in almost any material A great motivational tool for your students CSM Robotics Team - Winners of the Rookie Inspiration Award

Laser Cutting and Engraving Vector cutting uses a thin line and the laser operates in a plotter style mode where the laser is turned on and remains on while it follows the profile of a line. Raster engraving is used for text, clipart, scanned images and virtually all graphic artwork.

Resolution This illustration shows the concept of raster lines. Each pass of the laser produces a single raster line. 600 raster lines per inch is the same as 600 DPI.

LENSES Relative spot sizes generated by different focal length lenses.

LENSES The depth of field distance increases as the focus length increases. Accurate focus is less important with longer length focus lenses, but more critical as the focus length gets shorter.

LENSES There is overlap in the uses of the different lenses. The 2.0 inch lens is a very good general purpose lens and is well suited for most applications. The optional lenses are more suited to specific applications where the work being done is of a more specialized nature.

Speed Power and Frequency Speed and Power are the two most important laser variables. They control dwell-time of the laser beam (Speed) and depth of cut (Power).

Speed Power and Frequency Frequency refers to the pulsing of the laser as it cuts in Vector Mode.

Speed Power and Frequency Epilog provides tables in their manuals for speed, power and frequency setting for most common material types.

Dithering Applying one of the dithering patterns to clipart has the potential to create a lot of interesting effects that are not easily achievable any other way.

Center-Center Engraving No matter where your image is on your page, your reference point is the center of that graphic. When you use Center- Center your graphic will engrave at the exact center of where you have set your Home position.

Rubber Stamps Stamp mode allows you to engrave and cut out rubber stamps in a way that was designed specifically for rubber stamp manufacturers.

3D Engraving This one graphic took an expert graphic artist over a week – full time – to create! 3D engraving requires two or three passes at slow speed to get the depth required for a great 3D look.

Color Mapping Color mapping is usually used in vector mode when you want to score some parts of an image and cut through other parts. Architectural model making uses this feature extensively.

CorelDraw Workspace

The Engineering Design Process Just as inquiry and experimentation guide investigations in science, the Engineering Design Process guides solutions to technology/engineering design challenges. Learning technology/engineering content and skills is greatly enhanced by a hands-on, active approach that allows students to engage in design challenges and safely work with materials to model and test solutions to a problem. Using the steps of the Engineering Design Process, students can solve technology/engineering problems and apply scientific concepts across a wide variety of topics to develop conceptual understanding. The specific steps of the Engineering Design Process are included in the Technology/Engineering strand, on page 84 of this Framework. Massachusetts Technology Engineering Standards

The Design Process

Massachusetts Educational Standards HS-ETS3-6(MA) Use informational text to illustrate how a vehicle or device can be modified to produce a change in lift, drag, friction, thrust, and weight. Examples of vehicles can include cars, boats, airplanes, and rockets. Considerations of lift require consideration of Bernoulli's principle