[Swansea Hackspace] Laser cutter kerf

[Andrew Back]

On 01/03/18 11:00, Andy Rush wrote:
> I've made a few laser cut pieces recently, and as far as I can tell, the
> beam's kerf is near 0.3mm at its thinnest, 0.6 at the widest. All the
> dimensions are 0.6-1.2mm off what they should be on paper. I've had a
> quick google around, and most places suggest that a laser cutter kerf
> should be within 0.18-0.22mm at the thinnest part of the cut. Are there
> steps that we can take to improve how accurately the laser cutter cuts,
> beyond trying to to account for the kerf within the original design by
> padding out all dimensions in the original file?

I'd check how level the bed is and look for any warping in sheet stock.
Sounds like it could be height variance causing the beam to become
defocussed. Second to which check that the nozzle height is consistent
across the bed and there's not an issue with the frame alignment.

On our laser cutter the bed is removable and a common cause of problems
is small bits of material getting lodged under it, causing it become tilted.

Regards,

Andrew