Milwaukee Makerspace Wiki

• Anna Kirch (champion)
• Ellen Fulton (co-champion)
• Raymond Cashaw (co-champion)

Any member can reach all of us - in the case of damage, an issue, suggestion or concern by emailing laser (at) milwaukeemakerspace (dot) org laser@milwaukeemakerspace.org In case of Fire or immediate need, please use text or phone on the trainer contact list

Remember to communicate any downtime, damage, or repairs or tinkering to the champions BEFORE doing the work. Purchases of items must be pre-approved but the champions in order to receive reimbursement.

Lay-Z or Lazee= Certified Laser User

Rules update Absolutely *NO* MDF or HDF (Medium and high density fiberboard, aka “hardboard”) may be used in the lasers Read More Read More There *are* certain types of MDF that are laserable, the *highly refined* stuff being the type. However, because most people will buy the hardboard that you get at Home Depot and Lowe's, and it has caused our lenses to char and melt from the heat it produces, we are no longer allowing any MDF. MDFs also are glued together typically using a lot of urea-formaldehyde. When vaporized, that releases toxic formaldehyde into the air.

Plastics lab lasers are open! You can use Baby Shark at any time! No special training is required for baby shark (40W) *Green Lantern is now operational* To get trained, please go to the Fiber laser quiz and registration

If you are new to lasers, Take the open book quiz where you will sign up to be contacted for training. These trainings are offered as requested and space is limited to 3 people at a time at each location. Please go to the new quiz and PLEASE keep in mind that trainers are volunteers and may not be available right away. Each training session lasts approximately 2.5-3 hours depending on how many are in the class.

If you are looking to get trained on the XTool Fiber Laser Green Lantern, you must have Laser 101 training, and watch this video: XTool Mandatory Safety Training. You will need to bring your certificate to training. Trainings will begin middle-end of January. Get registered for training by taking the open-book quiz at Fiber laser quiz and registration Note: You must have 2 months of experience on the ULS lasers prior to getting trained on the fiber laser.

Please do not set a deadline or expectation on a project on any tools you are not yet trained on at the makerspace and expect trainers to help you adhere to those deadlines. Some tools, such as the lasers, require training and practice. You are going to want to practice on non-important projects first. Test out your materials and your power settings. Trainers are not responsible for your deadlines. Everyone here is a volunteer and can be burnt out easily.

ULS lasers use a print driver so that you can make cuts from almost any software: CorelDraw, Inkscape, MS Word, .PDF files, etc. All these machines have a limit of cutting 1/4“ thick material.

The machines located in the Lenox Laser Lab are named Left Shark, Katy Perry, Right Shark.
There are two new machines in the East Room named Baby Shark and Green Lantern.
Green Lantern is a brand new Fiber+Diode Laser and requires separate training after you have had lasers 101.

Read more about the Laser Cutter Venting System at Lenox.

• Anna Kirch
• Ellen Fulton
• Raymond Cashaw
• Casey Van Groll

We now have trainers for the ULS Rotary Device at Lenox! (Norwich Rotary Tool coming soon!)

• See Ellen or Anna Kirch for training

• Help Wanted*

Boss Laser You can request Boss Training by taking the open book Boss quiz at Boss quiz

Boss Laser uses “Lightburn” and has a limit of 1/4” material without extra burning and passes. It has a large bed, and while the wattage is higher, the focal length decreases to power of the machine. This means that in the lower right hand corner of the bed, your power is about 70W, not 100W.

The Boss does NOT have auto-focus. Please do not ever use the auto-focus feature in lightburn or on the machine.

NOTE: If you have been trained by anybody else on this machine (besides Carl Stevens and Sarah Davitt), you have not been fully trained.

• Carl Stevens
• Anna Kirch
• Harvey Matyas Trainer

• Focus the laser with a AAA battery or the supplied focusing blocks.
• There are 4 lenses that can be used with this laser
  • 1.5“ for highest detail engraving
  • 2.0” for high detailed engraving and light cutting
  • 2.5“ for somewhat detailed engraving and deep-ish cuts
  • 4.0” Deep cuts and limited detail engraving.

• Never use 100% power on this machine. If you are not cutting through 1/4“ material in one pass at 85% power and 10% speed:
  • Try cleaning the mirrors and lens
  • Check the alignment of the mirror with the alignment tool if you have been trained how.
  • Check your focus
  • text/call Anna or Raymond or email laser@milwaukeemakerspace.org

• If the laser is not working properly, text/call Anna or Raymond immediately or email laser@milwaukeemakerspace.org. This goes for all lasers.

• Never leave the 15' area surrounding the Boss Laser while the laser is firing. You may use the design computer on the big desk while it is firing, but that is as far as you should go. Keep an eye on your work.

• Tony
• Dan J.
• looking for other trainers and maintainers, contact Anna or Ellen to step up and get involved!

• When: Third Thursday of every month in the Lenox meeting room at 6:30 PM
• What: Learn basics and some advanced features of our design programs, Corel and Inkscape. Some Blender courses may be taught in the future.
• What about the Cocktails and Charcuterie: Bring yourself a fun drink (boba tea, starbucks, whatever you want) and a snack (there may be a charcuterie board provided) to enjoy while you learn.
• Different themes every month.
• Two laptops available to use to play along in CorelDraw

• WHAT NOT TO LASER
• WHAT YOU CAN LASER CUT
• WHAT YOU CAN ETCH/RASTER
• Known Material Library (Norwich)

• Never, ever ever leave the laser lab or the Boss/general use area of norwich while the laser is running! This will usually result in your suspension from the lab. We have cameras and will find out.

• Cleaning ONLY use the 99% alcohol spray to clean the lens and mirror. NOTHING ELSE MAY BE USED. You must clean the lens, mirror, cone and rails before and after every use. You must also vacuum the lab and vacuum out the machine. Please clean up all your crumbs and junk so we don't get ants.

• If something is wrong with the machine, if you notice the machines are smoking, if they are doing anything they shouldn't be doing, STOP THE MACHINE IMMEDIATELY and email laser@milwaukeemakerspace.org or text Anna or Raymond.

• If your project is going to take more than 1 1/2 hours or you need more than one cutter, please reserve the laser cutter on the members-only email list as far as you can in advance. Give grace to any overlap and work it out with other users - we are a shared resource. You may not use all 3 lasers at one time. If you are using 2 lasers, please ensure that you will be able to be off of one laser within 10-15 minutes of somebody needing it.

• If you have scrap to put in the hack rack, please cut it down to get rid of unusable parts.

• DO NOT MESS WITH THE ADVANCED SETTINGS ON THE LENOX PRINT DRIVERS. DO NOT ADJUST THE ORIGIN ON THE MACHINES THEMSELVES.

• Inspect and the optics after you're done. This is being excellent to the next member by cleaning up after yourself, and it will give us a signal on the cameras that any lens related problems are not the result of your inaction.

• If something is wrong with the lasers please notify a champion immediately! You can notify an area champion and the maintenance team by emailing laser@milwaukeemakerspace.org or lasers@milwaukeemakerspace.org or texting the area champions directly. We will usually ask that you tag out the machines. We will *never* be angry at you for telling us when something is wrong. We *will* be grumpy if you don't and you leave the machine broken. Then we have to look at cameras and you'll be getting an email.

• Check your optics before you start! If the optics are dirty, you will get a bad cut, but more importantly, dirty optics can crack the lens, and decrease the lifespan of the laser tube.

• Do not disable safety interlocks without explicit per-instance approval from a laser co-champion.

• Any print jobs left completely unattended will be immediately stopped. IF YOU FIND THE LAB UNATTENDED WITH THE LASER RUNNING, take a hot minute, to wait (or holler) for a person to return. If they do not return in 3-5 minutes, you are fully authorized to stop the job by turning off the power. Stopping the job will ruin the material and cause the work to be repeated. Please also email laser@milwaukeemakerspace.org if you find the lab unattended with the time and date. Lay-z's who are found to have left the lab unattended will get suspended from the lab based on the severity.

• Children: Children are allowed in the laser lab to work on projects *with* their parents. They may also sit in a chair and read or watch something on a tablet. Children are *not* allowed to utilize the computers to watch youtube or crawl around in the lab, under desks and machines, etc. Large toys, strollers, pack n plays, etc are *not* allowed in the lab. Keep in mind that allowing your kids to stare at the laser can ruin their eyes, and there might also be fumes in the lab that are not good.

• Pets: Dogs are allowed in the laser lab but must be on a leash at all time. Dogs may not like the sounds that come from our exhaust and air assist system so you might not want to bring them when lasering. Dogs must also not take up a large amount of room and must be able to sit or lie quietly while you work. Dogs should not be going under machines or playing in the lab.

• Donation Guidelines $1 per cut/$5 per Hour. If you are selling your items, 5%-to 10% of the asking price of your item, whether or not you actual sell the item. Lasers are expensive to maintain and maintainers are not your unpaid employees.

* BOSS Specific Rules

• You Must be trained on the lenox lasers before you are trained on the BOSS. This is because the Boss laser is a complicated machine that breaks more easily

• If you adjust settings on Lightburn, please be a doll and put them back to normal. Lightburn can be customized in many ways, but most of our users do not know how to use advanced settings. Don't be responsible for ruining somebody else's piece.

• NEVER EVER EVER USE AUTO FOCUS. It's broken. It will crash the bed.

• Please clean the lens and cone after every use.
• Do not leave the 20x20x20 area of the Boss area while the laser is running.

• Use the Honeycomb hooks to hold slightly curvy wood to the laserbed
• Lift material that doesn't have a back covering with non reflective materials ( scrap material, or wood) to reduce the chance of the honeycomb bed printing on the back side of your piece. a 1/2 cm or more is helpful.
• MOAR POWAH isn't always better. Some materials burn/char and fuse back together. Test your materials to find the sweetspot for your project.
• Use the transfer tape to help align your piece for repeated passes aligning lasering on the reverse, and use up scraps without frustration or playing with the x-y access settings.
• Midland plastics in New Berlin is a great place to buy acrylic in person. If you want to order online, there are a plethora of places that sell acrylic in all colors.
• X-tool has been making some really fun laserable material. Rubber stamp sheets, laserable leatherette, silicone watch bands, and various other materials.

How to connect your own laptop/ PC to the Makerspace network and print to the lasers from your own technology and licenses

• Test your materials!
• Do not mess with the deep settings, it will ruin someones day.
• Break up BIG jobs/ complex vectors or rasters to reduce the chance that it could choke on the file.

• The Hairline setting for Inkscape is .001 INCHES - this may make the line invisible when working in the program, but it will appear when you export it to print.
• To print inkscape files, export to PDF and print from adobe reader.

• DO NOT MESS WITH THE SETTINGS ON THE MACHINE
• If you know how to do the advanced settings on lightburn, make sure you put the settings back after use. You will otherwise ruin somebody's day.
• Lightburn is more of a production software than a design software
• more TBD

• When using imported purchased files into CorelDraw, and it “throws zeros” on the laser display, there may be artifacts from the previous creators. You can select all and make global changes and if that doesn't resolve the issue, under the view menu, choose “wireframe” and make the changes there.
• Make sure your colors are exactly the colors the lasers use and only those colors.

• Don't watch the laser when doing glass. It flashes and will hurt your eyes.
• Use basic images. High detail images don't come out as clear.
• Utilize Ellen's instructions for setting up the device, rather than the book. There are steps left out in the book.

• 1/11 Anna
  • Greg Waldo
  • Paige Zeitlow
• 2/1 Anna
  • Madison Sternig
  • Rue Gupta
• 2/3 Raymond
  • Ed Mastrangeli
• 3/1 Anna and Casey
  • Jackie Valadez
  • Alec Dolter
• 3/10 Casey
  • Krista Doelder
  • Maxwell Rackmill
  • Alan Leon
• 3/10 Raymond
  • Lars Larsen
  • Don Haynes
  • Jason Moore
• 3/14 Casey
  • John Michels
  • Monica Troxell
• 3/16 Anna
  • Tom Cullen
  • Emma Sutherland
  • Eric Jarve
• 3/30 Casey
  • Elle Russo
  • Tom Sievert
  • Jolie Parchmont
• 5/1 Casey
  • Teddy Monacelli
  • Jordan Weber
  • Jake Nortowski
• 5/18 Casey
  • Gaurav Songara
• 6/9 Casey
  • Nathaniel Bellin
• 6/10 Casey
  • Jess Larson
  • Keli Rice
• 6/19 Anna
  • Bari Ari

Laser Lab Archive History of Lasercutters and exhaust technology in the history of the Milwaukee Makerspace pre 2022.