MakeRiga notes

MakeRiga is a Makerspace in Riga with laser cutter, various 3D printers, and other tools for making great things!

Laser Cutter notes

Hardware

Modelhw: Gweike

• Settings: Laser at 50%/100%
• Software Lasercut 5.3

Suggested settings:

Material	Speed	power	corner power
Pressed cardboard 4mm	25	80	25
Org 5mm.	10	50-80	25-50

Design with Sketchup

I like to make designs in Sketchup and then export to svg/dxf for the laser cutting plotter.

• Make Sketchyp design. Keep the final details in one plane.
• Save as SVG file. One way is to use "Export to SVG" plugin. Note, that the number 161 could be different for you.
  • Menu -> Edit -> 161 Entities -> Export to SVG file
  • Enter the output file path
  • Export Face(s) as: Paths
  • Measurements: Millimeters

• Open the SVG file in Inkscape
  • Edit as needed (move for a better fit, add/convert text to paths)
  • File -> Save as: Desktop Cutting Plotter (AutoCAD DXF R14)(*.dxf)
    • Choose "Base unit" as PX (do not choose mm!)
    • use LWPOLYLINE type of line output

• (Optional) Open with LibreCAD for verification of the DXF file. Measure some dimensions as needed to make sure.

• Open the DXF with the Laser cutter software, move to the print area, arrange as needed, and download to the Laser cutter.