Alright, week 2 of this ‘faab’ journey is done. My main goal for the week was pretty straightforward: get comfortable with the laser cutter we have here and try cutting out a simple design I’d prepared.
So, Monday morning, I went straight to the machine. First hurdle? Just figuring out the startup sequence. It’s not exactly user-friendly. Lots of buttons, a specific order, and the manual felt like it was written for someone who already knew the machine inside out. Spent a good hour just tracing wires and understanding the safety interlocks. Felt more like detective work than anything else.
Then came the software part. Ugh. The recommended design software wasn’t clicking with me. It felt clunky. I tried importing the simple box design I’d made, just some basic lines, and it kept messing up the dimensions. Everything looked slightly skewed. I fiddled with import settings for what felt like forever. Honestly thought about just drawing it directly in the cutter’s own software, but that looked even more basic.
Getting Down to Cutting (or Trying To)
Managed to get the file looking mostly right by Tuesday afternoon. Okay, time to actually cut something. Grabbed some scrap cardboard – definitely wasn’t going to waste good material on the first try.
Loading the material was easy enough. Setting the origin point on the laser, however, was fiddly. The aiming laser dot seemed to be slightly off from where the actual cut happened later. Had to do a few tiny test fires just to see where it was really pointing.
First real cut attempt: total mess. The power setting was way too high for cardboard. It didn’t cut cleanly; it mostly just scorched and burned through aggressively. Smoke everywhere, smelled awful. Had to air out the room. Lesson learned: start low with power settings.
- Checked the focus again. Maybe that was off?
- Lowered the power setting significantly.
- Reduced the cutting speed too, just in case.
Second attempt on a fresh piece of cardboard. Much better! It actually cut through this time. The lines weren’t perfectly clean, a bit jagged maybe, but it was recognizable as my design. Felt like a small victory after all the fiddling.
Reflections on Week 2
Spent the rest of the week doing variations on that simple box. Tried different speeds, different power levels, trying to dial it in for cardboard. Got a few more successful cuts, some less successful. It’s a slow process. You change one thing, and it affects others.
So, looking back at week 2? I didn’t produce anything fancy. Just a few cardboard shapes. But I did get the laser cutter working and started to understand its quirks. It felt like more time was spent troubleshooting and calibrating than actually making, which seems to be common with these machines when you’re starting out. It’s not plug-and-play, that’s for sure. But, hey, progress is progress. At least I know what not to do now, mostly. Ready to try some actual wood or acrylic next week, hopefully with less smoke.
