Fibre Laser Engraving 101

How It Works 

• Fibre laser light is created by banks of diodes

• Light is channeled and amplified through a fibre optic cable (made of glass fibres)

• Amplified light is focused through the lens and onto the material to engrave it. We have 15cm and 30cm lenses. The size of the lens determines the maximum size of the engraving.

• Focus can be adjusted by turning the wheel at the top

• Unlike a CO2 laser, there are no consumables and no maintenance needed on these machines.

• This laser is 60W

• Laser beam is 1 micron wide

• Prints at 7,000mm / sec

• Has a lifespan of 100,000 to 200,000 hours.

• Is air cooled

• Never look at the laser - look through the webcam instead.

• Make sure the guard is in place.

Fibre Laser Fees

• Drop-In Rate: $15/30 minutes

• Member Rate: $10/30 minutes

Materials

The laser can engrave metals with a coating on them, however it may take longer. (ie. water bottles with colored stainless steel)

Marking in Black and White

Metals:

• Hot Rolled & Cold Rolled Steel

• Stainless Steel

• Brass

• Aluminum

• Anodized Aluminum

• Iron

• Gold

• Silver

• Titanium & other metals

• Plastics

• Copper

Plastics:

• ABS

• Acrylic

• Nylon

• PVC

Other: 

• Ceramics

• Marble

• Stone

• Glass (use a spoil board.  Since glass is clear the laser will go through the glass and into the base of the laser)

Marking in Colour

• Stainless steel

• Titanium

NO WOOD.  It will catch fire, and the smoke will damage the lens.

Safety Considerations 

• Power button / Emergency stop

• Before running make sure the fan is on (switch near the front entrance)

• NEVER LEAVE THE LASER CUTTER when it is on.

• Clean up! Users are responsible for cleaning up after themselves

• The laser is highly reflective, and engraves highly reflective material. Don’t look at it.  The webcam is always on so you can see what is going on.  If you must look at it, wear the special laser glasses. 

• Always put up the protective barrier before firing

• If you do many passes on your material, the metal can get hot, so be careful not to burn yourself when picking it up.

• Fire extinguisher

• If you're ever unsure of anything, ask staff

How It Breaks 

• Scratching the lens

• Be careful when  changing the lens.  If dust gets inside, it can get damaged.

Support Systems

• Exhaust switch by large laser cutter must be ON

  • pulls out smoke and fumes

Machine Set Up

Spoil Board

Choose a scrap piece of material to use as a spoil board and place under your material. Spoil board should be made of metal, and not wood.

This is especially important to use a spoil board when engraving glass. Since it is clear, the laser can engrave into the surface below it.

Lenses

We have two lenses, a 15cm and 30cm lens. The smaller lens has better detail, so it’s better for small things, and has a higher finish. 

The bigger the lens, the bigger the design, but it can warp more because it’s coming from the same distance.

When switching the lenses, hold your hand underneath for support and do not drop it.  Swap it quickly and put the unused lens in the box to prevent any dust from getting into the lens.

Setting the Focus

On the side of the laser, flick the switch for the lens that you are using.  Turn the wheel to focus it, lining up the two dots so they overlap.  You can be out of focus by no more than 4mm, and still get okay results. 

The focus should be set once your spoil board and material are in place.

Software 

All files will need to be set-up in Inkscape prior to importing them to the laser software.

The software we use to run the laser is called EZ CAD. We have slightly different softwares for the 15cm and 30 cm lenses. Before opening the software, turn the laser on using the key.  If it’s not on, you can’t access the program.

There are two different ways we can engrave, PNG or Vector. 

PNG Engraving

PNG has a faster and simpler file set-up, but can take longer to run as an engraving. For best results, use files that are in black and white. We can engrave objects that are in grey scale, but it takes much longer to do.

Set-up in Inkscape

Files will first need to be set-up using Inkscape, or another vector based software. 

• Open your graphic in Inkscape

• Make a white box that’s bigger than the graphic, with 100% opacity.

• Make the image so it’s on top of box

• Combine (Ctrl+K) the image and the bounding box

• In Document Setting, ensure the document has an opaque white background

• Resize the canvas to match the dimensions of the image

• Export to PNG

  • Export the page at 1200 dpi to ensure no loss of resolution in EZ CAD

  • Make sure object is selected and set to Selection Mode for export

Set-up in EZ CAD

• Import the bitmap file.

  • When the file imports, the job size will always be bigger due to the DPI. Resize the graphic to the correct size after importing into the software.

• Set  Object Size

  • Select unit type (mm or inches)

  • On left hand side of window, under bitmap file, set the job size.

  • Make sure Fixed DPI box is checked

  • Check the grid box, and set to centered

    • If the lock is checked, it will scale proportionally.

• Set the Mark parameters

The Pen No and Color work like layers, and the Color selected will correspond to the layer settings listed below. Generally, we use the default settings each time, so the Use Default param box should be checked. 

The various settings perform the following functions:

• Current pen: the layer that you are editing

• Mark Loop: the number of passes the laser makes

• Speed: in inches/sec or mm/sec, depending on the unit selected. Maximum speed is 7000mm/sec. We set the default to 59 inches/sec

• Power %: Maximum power is 100%

• Frequency: The number of pulses of light produced per second

• Q Pulse Width (ns): Time duration of each laser pulse

• Laser On TC (us): Delay in starting the laser to begin a line

• Laser Off TC (us): Delay in turning off the laser after finishing a line

• End EC (us): How long the software waits for the hardware to catch up

• Polygon TC (us): How long the software waits at vector connection points. 

If you are experimenting with different settings, you should only change the mark loop, speed, power, frequency, and Q pulse width. The timing settings should remain as default.

Vector Engraving

Vector engraving can take longer to set-up files, and may have more glitches, but is much faster when running the engraving. It also gives you deeper and more detailed engravings. You can also place a fill onto your vector outlines by using hatch marks.

Set-up in Inkscape

• Open your vector file in Inkscape, making sure your object only has a stroke set, and no fill. 

• No bounding box is necessary when working with vectors.

• Change the display mode to outline, to see what is really in the file.

• Make sure graphic is combined into one object (Ctrl + K)

• Export file from Inkscape, as a DXF R14 file.

Set-up in EZCAD

• Import the vector file into EZCAD.

• When the file imports, it will either import perfectly, or explode into something that doesn’t look as it should. Line can import only and not translate the bezier curves, or the file may import in pieces.

• Select all parts of the vector, check auto correct curve, and hit apply. You will always need to auto correct the curve, even if everything is combined, as it may have not imported correctly into the vector software.

• If there are still issues with the vector,, try exporting a new file type from Inkscape, either a DXF R12 or SVG.

• Under Object Property, make sure the X, Y, and Z positions are set to 0.

• To apply the engraving settings, select the vector, and then click the color box to add it to the corresponding layer.

• If you want a darker engraving, check the mark loop and change it to 50. If you’re not sure on how many passes, do it increments of 10.  However, you can’t see the results properly until you pick it up and clean it off.

• If you want your vector filled, select the vector, and press the Hatch option.

• You can have up to 3 different hatches going in different directions. This will make everything go deeper, and will be faster than the PNG method. You can set the type and angle of the hatching. The finer the line, the longer it will take to fully raster. Start with a distance of 0.005 and a Mark Loop of 10. 

• If you want the hatching to be deeper, set the mark loop in increments of 10 and check the depth. 

• If your hatching is too detailed, you can change the line distance under the Hatch window on the left.

Aligning your material & Running the Laser

Place your material under the lens, making sure there is a spoilboard underneath, and that the laser is in focus.

Along the bottom of the window, you’ll see the controls that will help to align your design and also run the laser. 

If using a vector file, make sure the Show Contour box is checked off.

Hit the Light button, and the laser will project onto your material.

If engraving a PNG, only a box outlining the object’s size will be projected. If engraving a vector, the vector shape will be projected.

Before running the job, make sure Mark Select is checked off, and Continue mode is unchecked. If Continue mode is checked, the laser will run continuously, and will not turn off. The only way to stop it is to press the foot switch and close the program.

Once you’re happy with the alignment, and the safety barriers are in place, select your object and hit the Mark button, and the laser will run the engraving.

If you want to have different parts of your object engrave with different results, put each object on a different layer and then run the laser.  Select the object on the layer you want to run first, then mark.  Select the next object on the other layer, and then mark. That way if you want different results on different parts of the material, you won’t need to move your object.  

You can also establish a jig of sorts in case you need to move the item but don’t want to deal with having to realigning the item again.

Cleaning Your Material

• Material can be cleaned with rubbing alcohol. 

• The alcohol will evaporate.

• To avoid rust forming on your project, spray it with a clear coat of polyurethane to seal it.

Cost 

• Members: $10 per half hour of booking time

• Non-Members: $15 per half hour of booking time

• Fees are paid when booking is made. Monthly member minutes do not count towards use of this machine.

Laser can be booked at https://www.makerlabs.com/tool-booking