Laser Lab Co-Champions and Training Process
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
Laser News
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
How to get trained on the laser cutters!
Lenox Laser Lab


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.
Trainers (Lenox)
**Trainers for Lenox Rotary Device**
We now have trainers for the ULS Rotary Device at Lenox! (Norwich Rotary Tool coming soon!)
Inkscape Guru:
Maker Village/Norwich Laser Lab
100w "Boss Laser" at Norwich
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.
** Trainers (for Norwich 100w)**
NOTE: If you have been trained by anybody else on this machine (besides Carl Stevens and Sarah Davitt), you have not been fully trained.
Maintainers
Tony
Dan J.
looking for other trainers and maintainers, contact
Anna or
Ellen to step up and get involved!
Corel, Cocktails and Charcuterie *NEW*
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
Rules and Etiquette For All The Labs
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Helpful tips and resources for laser work!
Applies to All Lasers
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
Applies to ULS/Lenox Lasers
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.
Applies to Inkscape use
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.
Applies to Boss Laser/Lightburn use
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
Applies to Purchased Files use
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.
Applies to Rotary Device use
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.
Certified Lay-z's 2024
1/11 Anna
2/1 Anna
Madison Sternig
Rue Gupta
2/3 Raymond
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
6/9 Casey
6/10 Casey
6/19 Anna
Laser Lab Archive
History of Lasercutters and exhaust technology in the history of the Milwaukee Makerspace pre 2022.