Tutorial: Lasercutting with the Epilog Fusion M2

Step

Action 

1a

Turn the lasercutter ON

Press the main switch on the right side of the laser cutter.
Watch out: The lasercutter will run its homing operation, during which it moves.

1b

Turn the exhaustion system ON

On the left side, next to the lasercutter, in an extra small room, is the exhaustion system. Press the left round button to turn it on.
Check that the buttons of the exhaust extraction system are showing a green light!
It is important that the extraction system works properly while the laser is running - otherwise, a focus lens damage will occur!

2

Load your material on the machine bed

Put your material where you want to cut it. Most often, use the upper left corner.
The material should be as flat as possible. If there are bends in the material, the lasercutter might be out of focus in certain areas, and the cutting power will decline.

Engraving on acrylic glass: When engraving something on acrylic glass there are some extra steps that should be followed for high quality results.
1. Remove the protective foil from the top side of the acrylic glass, if you leave it on it can melt onto the acrylic and the engraved areas will look dirty and not homogenous.
2. Carefully add masking tape to the top side of the acrylic glass (Area around and above the part that gets engraved). This is done to prevent the buildup from the acrylic fumes that will otherwise deposit onto the material and have to be polished away afterwards. The glue residue from the masking tape is a lot easier to remove than the acrylic buildup

3a

On the computer for the lasercutter control (the Mac mini right beside)

• Open your file: PDF in Adobe Acrobat, SVG in the browser
• Click on the print icon

3b

Sending the file to Epilog Dashboard

• Another window will open, and Epilog Engraver should already be listed as the "printer".
• Please note: copies of Epilog Engraver do not work.
• If you have a PDF with multiple pages, send only one page to the "printer". It is only possible to cut parts from one page of a PDF file at the same time (except for duplicating objects).
• Send the print job by clicking on print.

3c

Using "Epilog Dashboard" Software

• The Epilog Dashboard software will open automatically.
•  Your file will be at the bottom right. You might need to zoom out to reach it.
• Drag your parts into the cutting area. Position, rotate, scale, mirror, group, and duplicate your parts as you want.
• You can move the pink/purple lines to adjust which parts are cut.

3d

Adjust Settings

• On the right side, find the settings for cutting or engraving
• Engraving is for engraving and Vector is for cutting

3e

Utilize Colors for Different Settings

The software allows grouping based on colors. You can adjust your file in Inkscape accordingly.

Set Laser Speed and Power

Below the settings, you can set the laser speed and power. Refer to hci.ac/lasercutter-materials for some common cutting settings.

3f

 Activate Air Assistance

Turn on Air Assistance for safety. (See picture below "Air Assist")

4

Choose: autofocus or manual focus

Option 1 (easiest): Use the autofocus option in the lasercutter software and enter the material thickness of your material used. You need to enter the thickness for every color/tab you see on the right side in Epilog Dashboard!

Option 2: Use the focusing tool and attach it to the laser head. Select the focus in the laser cutter control panel and use the joystick (up and down direction) to change the distance of the laser head to the cutting table (stick to the left to switch the speed mode fast/slow).
When the focus height is reached (slight touch of the focus tool on the inserted material), press the center of the joystick to set the z-zero position (to save the correct focus height).
Remove the focus tool.

5

Initiate Printing

Once all settings are configured, start the "print". The print job will be forwarded to the lasercutter.

At the lasercutter, you will see the "Daten" LED light up. That means the lasercutter is receiving information from Epilog Dashboard. When the LED is off again, you should see the name of your file on the lasercutter screen, as well as the estimated duration (this is usually very accurate). You can also scroll through recent jobs in the job menu.

6

On the lasercutter, press “Start" to run the laser cutting process for your file! Make sure that the lid of the lasercutter is closed at this point!  (Don't worry, the laser will automatically turn off when the lid is open)

Your cutting job starts immediately and is now running!
You can now enjoy how the robotic laser machine brings your artwork into reality!

7

Finished?

• Turn off the lasercutter and the exhaustion system.
• Remove your material and any leftovers. Please leave it tidy!
• You can close Epilog Dashboard, but leave the Mac mini turned on! You can turn the monitor off.