Laser Cutter

Laser Information

Model: Full Spectrum Laser Muse

Laser Tube Power: 45 Watt CO2 Laser Tube

Working Area: 20" x 12"

Web Interface: http://laser.uas.run/designer

Getting Started

DOs and DO NOTs

• DO - Ask for help your first time
• DO - Check That The Mens Bathroom Fan Is ON
• DO - Focus The Laser With The Puck To The Material You're Cutting/Engraving
• DO - Be careful with the touch screen
• DO NOT - Cut/Engrave Materials Listed Under The "Prohibited Materials" List
• DO NOT - Attempt To Lift The Lid While The Laser Is Cutting
• DO NOT - Bend the material platform
• DO NOT - Factory Reset the laser

Safety

• Five Safety Tips for Laser Cutters

Good things to know

• Full Spectrum Laser Laser 101
• Types of Lasers
  • CO2 Laser
  • Fiber Laser
  • Direct Diode Laser
• Vector vs Raster - Movement examples
  • Vector is primarily used for cutting a material but can be used for engraving outlines
    • SVG
    • Some PDFs
  • Raster is used for engraving
    • jpg/jpeg
    • Some PDFs

Starting the Laser

1. Turn on Men's Bathroom fan
   1. Lock the switch if the cover is installed
2. Flip switch on power strip behind laser
3. Wait for Laser to boot
4. Click Agree after reading the warning on the Touch Screen
5. Load the Web Interface
   1. DO NOT FACTORY RESET

Capturing Bed Image

1. Move the laser towards the middle of the build area while still being over your material
2. Place the black puck or taped stack of quarters under the laser nozzle
3. Click the capture image button
   1. Web Interface - Camera icon in the 3rd Toolbar group
   2. Touch Screen - Camera Capture button
4. Remove the puck or quarters before you start cutting

Materials

For detailed material cautions and settings, please check HERE

Material Test files

Good Materials to Use

• Wood (up to 1/4")
  • Basswood
  • Balsa
  • Birch
• Acrylic
  • Make sure it is not poly-carbonate/Lexan
• Paper
• Cork
• Glass (for etching)
• Leather (Authentic only)

Prohibited Materials

• PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride)/vinyl/pleather/artificial leather
  • PLA can contain PVC and thus is also not recommend to be laser cut
• Thick ( >1mm ) Poly-carbonate/Lexan
• ABS
• HDPE/milk bottle plastic
• Polystyrene Foam
• Polypropylene Foam
• Epoxy
• Fiberglass
• Coated Carbon Fiber
• Any foodstuff

Rotary

= Jellys Lessons learned

• Always run a perimeter before cutting
• Do move the laser "up and down" before every print to verify that the laser is aligned to the center of your material.
• Enable rotary in web UI by going to Settings and something in the second tab. The UI on the engraver doesn't alwatys work.
• Do always align your material with the buck. Also check the level of your item. You always want to cut at a consistent level. ESPECIALLY important when working on glasses that are inherently uneven.
• It doesn't matter where you place your stencil/image/shapes in the laser engraver software. The SIZE is what matters.

= How to use?

1) Remove existing bed. Insert some wood about 4 inches thick

2) Insert rotary and connect 4 pin molex like connector

3) Switch Muse to rotary mode in web ui

4) Place material to cut on rotary. Modify the 12 knobs such that your material is consistently level.

5) Cry on the inside and outside because it's really hard to do all of this manually.

6) Use the left <-> right move buttons we typically use to move the laser, to now rotate your material.

• Watch the back of your material to make sure it doesn't "lift up" (super important with lighter materials).

7) Place laser over center of material, or wherever you intent to center your cut.

8) Calibrate laser height with puck.

9) Place images/shapes in the UI. 10) VERIFY that the orientation of the material is consistent with the orientation of the rotary.

Maintenence

• How to align the mirrors - Video
• How to align the mirrors (Archived) - Video

Coming Soon

• File types and when to use them
• Using the laser cutters web interface
• Using the rotary attachment?
• Formal Training?