It has been a long process to bring back laser cutting to the Tog 4 space. We have an open-source laser cutter called a Lasersaur. A 100W co2 laser with a bed size of 1220mm by 610mm.
To start off with the laser itself needed a complete service. That involved a deep cleaning by removing all the bits or leftover wood, hovering it all out. Next is a srub of all the rails, lenses and parts, residue from cutting plywood sticks to everything.
The final steps were to refill the chiller with boiled water and to carry out an alignment of the lens. Check out this video of our first test fire.
You can check out other photos of the laser cutter service in our gallery.
Next up was the modification to our space. Our new unit has no inbuilt ventilation. Our walls are made up of blocks with an outer metal cladding. We used a core drill to make a hole in the wall to allow ventilation.
A fan was also installed to help with airflow and wired to auto turn on with the laser cutter.
You can see more photos of the vent installation in our gallery.
The first big job given to our laser cutter in the new space is making badges for our friends at Dublin Maker. Check out the video below. If you are interest in laser cutting keep an eye out for our upcoming CAD nights.