Laser tekening - Laser drawing: Difference between revisions

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==Requirements for for a lasercut vector drawing==
==Requirements for for a lasercut vector drawing==


'''For all the drawings:'''
First look at the [[Verschil Trotec en BRM | various possibilities and limitations of Trotec and the BRM laser cutters]], in order to choose the right machine for your work.


► The maximum size of the template should be 600mm wide and 300mm high.


If a drawing contains multiple layers, it may be unclear what should and should not be cut. Avoid confusion and merge all. Remove support lines and comment that should not be cut/engraved out of the drawing. Remove all, even invisible, layers, shapes and pictures used as a basis and no longer needed.
Create a vector drawing in Inkscape or Illustrator (or other vector drawing program).


► Remove double lines in the drawing. If there are two lines (on top of each other) in the drawing, the laser will cut them both. So make sure lines do not overlap. For example if you put two squares together, clear one side of one of the squares.
The Trotec laser is controled directly from Inkscape or Illustrator (CS6), via a print job. You controle the BRM from a separate program. Here you import an Illustrator file (.ai) or a DXF (.dxf). If necessary, export a DXF file from your drawing program.


► The color of the lines and planes must be RGB and the opacity (alpha value) must be set to 100%. If it is transparent, even a tiny bit, the laser skips the lines, or engraves the planes with less power.


Due to the burning away of the material cutting loss (cut width or kerf) occurs. This is different for each material. For wood and acrylic from 3mm to 5mm we hold a cut width of about 0.155mm. The laser will always cut across the center of the line.
Laser cutter dimensions:
Trotec: 300 * 600mm (horizontal)
BRM: 900 * 1200mm (horizontal)


Please note: the cutting loss is dependent on the material and the thickness of the material. For something 'snap-fit' to fit, we recommend that you first make a test on the material in question.
Make sure that the design fits the material in size, keeping a margin of at least 5mm to the edge of the material. The material can never be positioned in the machine in such a way that it exactly coincides with the design.


Make sure that pictures and images are really 'embedded' in the file, and are not linked externally. Then you save your vector drawing, but we do not get the pictures!
Put a rectangle around your design of which you know the size. When importing DXF files into different programs, scaling problems may occur. If your design has not the right size in the BRM control, you can easily scale it there by selecting everything and adjusting the size.


► Put text fonts in the drawing to a vector line (path), otherwise the texts will open on our computers in a simple Helvetica font. This will ensure that the text won't be cut in the wrong font!


If you want to cut out a letter, note that you use a font that is suitable. Most fonts with characters having an enclosed part, will fall as one part out of your material. Such as eg in e, p, or a. Fonts who do get cut properly are called Stencil fonts (also called Army fonts).
Cutting line colors: RGB colors (required for the Trotec), 1st cutting path RGB red (R255,G0,B0), 2nd cutting path RGB blue (R0,G0,B255), 3rd cutting path sea green (R51, G102, B153), if necessary more colors. Note: in Illustrator first set the Document color mode to RGB.


Beware of tiny shapes. Which can go up by the cutting loss or objects with a size of less than 5mm, will fall through the frame of the machine. Therefore, we can not guarantee that we will actually send them!
Cutting line thickness: 0.1mm


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Make sure that the inner shapes are cut loose first before the outer line of a shape is cut out. Therefore, give inner shapes an RGB-red cut line, and make the outer cut lines RGB-blue. This prevents shifting of the shapes that still need to be cut.


'''Laser Engraving'''
For the Trotec laser, indicate in the drawing the final line colors and line thickness. At the BRM you can assign line colors in the control.


If a field in the drawing is uniform in color, the laser cutter will engrave the entire area with the same power. If the field is a picture made up of gray scale, the laser cutter will vary its power based on the grayscale. Colors in a color photograph will be read by the machine as a grayscale.


So use filled areas in your drawing. Filled with black, color or grayscale.
► Cut width:
Trotec: ~ 0.1mm
BRM: ~ 0.4mm


► Note: Use full RGB black where you want to use the full power of the laser for engraving.
The cut width is different per material. Therefore, bring extra material to test laser settings and see the result.
 
► Illustrator uses a CMYK color pattern, make sure you change this to RGB. Black in CMYK is not completely black in RGB, so check the RGB color values. It may be that you do not get the same result, because the laser engraves with less power in the 'not realy' RGB black areas.
 
A vector line that should be engraved, should have to be at least 0.5mm wide, otherwise the software does not see it as a 'area'.
 
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'''Laser Cutting'''
 
Color of the vector lines: RGB red (255,0,0) or RGB blue (0,0,255). First of all the laser cuts the red paths, then the blue.
 
Thickness of the vector lines: 0.1mm. Thicker lines are not recognized by the software as cutting line.
 
► Please note that we often get drawings in which the line is not a stroke of 0.1 mm, but a fill. If we were going to send this to the laser, the laser would cut each line twice, because on both sides of the fill is a stroke!
 
----
 
'''Laser Marking'''
 
Color of the vector lines: RGB red (255,0,0) or RGB blue (0,0,255). First of all the laser cuts the red paths, then the blue.
 
Thickness of the vector lines: 0.1mm. Thicker lines are not recognized by the software as cutting line.
 
In the software of the laser cutter you can adjust the power and speed, to get the desired operation (cutting through the material or marking the surface of the material).


== Trotec specifiek ==
== Trotec specifiek ==
== BRM specifiek ==
== BRM specifiek ==

Revision as of 20:58, 23 May 2018

Waar moet de tekening aan voldoen?

Bekijk eerst de verschillende mogelijkheden en beperkingen van Trotec en de BRM lasersnijders, om zo de juiste machine voor jouw werk te kiezen.


► Maak een vectortekening in Inkscape of Illustrator (of ander vectortekenprogramma).

De Trotec laser wordt rechstreeks vanuit Inkscape of Illustrator (CS6) aan gestuurd, via een printopdracht. De BRM stuur je aan vanuit een apart programma. Hierin importeer je een Illustrator-bestand (.ai) of een DXF (.dxf). Exporteer zonodig vanuit je tekenprogramma een DXF-bestand.


► Afmetingen lasersnijder: Trotec: 300*600mm (liggend) BRM: 900*1200mm (liggend)

► Zorg ervoor dat het ontwerp qua afmeting past op het materiaal, houdt hierbij een marge van minimaal 5mm tot de rand van het materiaal. Het materiaal is nooit zo te positioneren in de machine dat het exact samen valt met het ontwerp.

► Zet om je hele ontwerp een rechthoek waarvan je de afmeting weet. Bij het importeren van DXF-bestanden in verschillende programma's kunnen er schalingsproblemen optreden. Als jouw ontwerp in de BRM aansturing niet de juiste maat heeft kun je dit daar gemakkelijk schalen door alles te selecteren en de afmeting aan te passen.


► Snijlijn kleuren: RGB kleuren (voor de Trotec vereist), 1e snijpad RGB-rood, 2e snijpad RGB-blauw, 3e snijpad RGB 51/102/153, eventueel meer kleuren. Letop: zet in Illustrator eerst de Document kleurmodus op RGB.

► Snijlijn dikte: 0.1mm

Zorg ervoor dat eerst de binnenin liggende vormen losgesneden worden, voordat de buitenste lijn van een vorm wordt uitgesneden. Geef daarom binnenin liggende vormen een RGB-rode snijlijn, en maak de buitenste snijlijnen RGB-blauw. Dit voorkomt verschuiven van de vormen waarin nog gesneden moet worden.

Voor de Trotec laser geef je in de tekening de definitieve lijnkleuren en lijndikte aan. Bij de BRM kun je in de aansturen nog lijnkleuren toekennen.


► Snijverlies: Trotec: ~0.1mm BRM: ~0.4mm

Het snijverlies is materiaal afhankelijk. Neem daarom extra materiaal mee om laserinstellingen testen en het resultaat daarvan te zien.



Requirements for for a lasercut vector drawing

First look at the various possibilities and limitations of Trotec and the BRM laser cutters, in order to choose the right machine for your work.


► Create a vector drawing in Inkscape or Illustrator (or other vector drawing program).

The Trotec laser is controled directly from Inkscape or Illustrator (CS6), via a print job. You controle the BRM from a separate program. Here you import an Illustrator file (.ai) or a DXF (.dxf). If necessary, export a DXF file from your drawing program.


► Laser cutter dimensions: Trotec: 300 * 600mm (horizontal) BRM: 900 * 1200mm (horizontal)

► Make sure that the design fits the material in size, keeping a margin of at least 5mm to the edge of the material. The material can never be positioned in the machine in such a way that it exactly coincides with the design.

► Put a rectangle around your design of which you know the size. When importing DXF files into different programs, scaling problems may occur. If your design has not the right size in the BRM control, you can easily scale it there by selecting everything and adjusting the size.


► Cutting line colors: RGB colors (required for the Trotec), 1st cutting path RGB red (R255,G0,B0), 2nd cutting path RGB blue (R0,G0,B255), 3rd cutting path sea green (R51, G102, B153), if necessary more colors. Note: in Illustrator first set the Document color mode to RGB.

► Cutting line thickness: 0.1mm

Make sure that the inner shapes are cut loose first before the outer line of a shape is cut out. Therefore, give inner shapes an RGB-red cut line, and make the outer cut lines RGB-blue. This prevents shifting of the shapes that still need to be cut.

For the Trotec laser, indicate in the drawing the final line colors and line thickness. At the BRM you can assign line colors in the control.


► Cut width: Trotec: ~ 0.1mm BRM: ~ 0.4mm

The cut width is different per material. Therefore, bring extra material to test laser settings and see the result.

Trotec specifiek

BRM specifiek