Laser Cutting 101

Laser Cutting

Here you will find all of the resources and information needed to begin your training on one of the most versatile tools in our shop - our laser cutter. We have a Full Spectrum Pro LF Series 48" x 36" laser cutter with a 120w CO2 laser tube here at our Chula Vista campus. Although this site was designed with out machine in mind, we have several other Full Spectrum machines located at our Point Loma and North County campuses for which these resources will work with. *Note - If you are using our Universal Laser Cutter located at the Tree House in Point Loma, the majority of this material will be applicable, but there are some subtle differences. If you are using this machine, please see our Point Loma Resources Section.

Overview

This site has been developed to teach you everything you need to know to start cutting your first project. To get started simply click on the "Step 1: Introduction" button above and work your way through each of the pages. However, if you are someone who likes to plan ahead, below you will find an outline of each of the steps along with a description of that page. Even if you are familiar with laser cutting, please do not skip steps, as each machine operates a little bit differently and ours is no exception.

Introduction

This page will introduce you to the basics of laser cutting and familiarize you with some of the terminology that you will need to know along the way.

Knowing Your Machine

This page will introduce you to our specific laser cutter and teach you about the various parts of the machine that you will be using.

Designing Your Project

Although our machine can recognize files from various programs, the primary design software we will be using is Adobe Illustrator. This page will introduce you to the basics of using Illustrator to create documents that our machine can recognize.

Retina Engrave 3D

Retina Engrave 3D is the print driver that our laser cutter uses to process files for cutting. This page will walk you through the steps of importing your files and preparing them for cutting.

Preparing to Cut

The last step along the way is preparing your materials, and setting up the machine accordingly. This page will walk you through the final steps of safely cutting your first project.