General Information about Laser Cutting.
1). It does not involve Light Sabers.
2) It is a giant machine (about the size of a stove/oven) that is operated by a computer.
3) Most of the design work in created on a separate computer (Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, Corel Draw).
4) The Laser Cutter can CUT, ETCH, and RASTER ENGRAVE.
The High Tech Village North County Laser Cutter (HTHNC) is shared with all three schools. We have a Full Spectrum Professional Series Laser Cutter with a 36x24 bed (Manual). A PC with specially designed software, Retina Engrave 3D Software Manual, operates the laser.
Additionally, HTMNC has a 24x16+ Full Spectrum Professional Series Laser Cutter.
North County Village Laser Cutter Template
Download the template for Adobe Illustrator here. This is for the entire size of the bed for the HTHNC laser cutter. Designing with this template is not necessary for small size jobs. Remember to check preferences to ensure that the Units are in inches for the General and Stroke.
Tutorials on Designing work for the Laser Cutter
Video for High Tech North County Village- created by Mike Amarillas 2015 (Engineering HTHNC)
Video for setting up a cut
How to set up a file with Adobe Illustrator.
How to Vectorize an image (JPEG, PNG, GIF)
How to Prepare a photograph Image (coming soon) for Raster Engraved.
What materials can I cut? What is dangerous to cut?
List found here
Check out some projects we have done using the laser cutter:
- Creating Clock Faces: How to prepare an image to be cut, raster engraved, or etched. Hero Clock Project Instructions
- Video Game Controllers Templates
- Automatas: Understanding Gear Ratios Creating Humor with Gears and Cams.
- Topographic Mapping
Sample Projects