What is Computer controlled cutting?

Computer controlled cutting is a computer controlled router related to the hand held router used for cutting various hard materials such as wood, composites, aluminium, steel, plastics and more.

Laser cutter

A laser cutter is a piece of technology which uses a laser to cut or engrave material based on computer controlled parameters. The powerful and highly accurate laser focuses on a small area of the material. The laser cutter can actually cut through different materials such as plastics, wood, rubbers, foam, fabrics, acrylic and more. When using the laser cutter you have total control over the power and speed of the laser. There are also several techniques which can be done using the laser cutter such as:

• Laser marking: this involves the melting of a surface layer of a material to leave a mark behind.
• Laser engraving: this is similar to laser marking, with the difference being that the aim here is to create a deep engraved mark.
• Laser cutting: This is a process where material is cut, and this can be for small and fine materials or materials with a much greater level up resistance.
• Laser drilling: This involves the creation of popped holes or dents into a material, which is achieved by pulsing a laser beam on a particular area repeatedly.
• Laser welding: This is the process of welding materials together, wether this is one piece or multiple pieces of similar or dissimilar material.

This post will show how I used fusion 360 to create a 2D sketch, when laser cut creates a 3D model.

Step 1: Open Fusion 360 and select one panel to Sketch on. For this project you only need to use 2D tools which means no extruding or 3D tools.

Step 2: For this project I chose to make the head of a deer. First a create a 2D sketch of the antlers using “Fit point spline”. As shown in the image below i create two inserts which are 6mm 6mm deep. These inserts are a key part of this process as they have to be very accurate or the model when assembled will not fit together.

Step 3: Next I created the head of the dear. The two inserts are both 1mm by 6mm identical to the deer antlers. This is so the antlers will fit the head of the deer. Next I also sketched a small 3mm by 1mm at the bridge of the nose. This would create an insert for the 2nd image below which will act as the nose of the deer. The nose of the dear will be slightly longer then the width of the inserts in the deer antlers to compensate for the thickness of the material used in the laser cutter.

Step 4: Next I created a platform for the head of the deer to anchor on. It has 4 3mm by 1mm slots which fit the inserts on the back of the dear head.

Step 5: Next you need to export this file to make it compatible with a laser cutter. Use a material of 1mm which was the thickness of my inserts but you can change the thickness of the material depending on the thickness of your inserts.

Additional Computer Controlled Cutting Project

This section is a project I did earlier this year involving computer cutting processes. This project involved using a technique such as computer controlled cutting and implementing them the best way you can into a design. This project would involve constant practise and repeatability to test out which technique is best. I wanted to implement computer controlled cutting into a lamp shade. To do this I began creating designs on fusion 360 as shown below. This design would be cut out using a laser cutter. The material would be flexible enough to rap around into a circle creating the shape of a lamp shade. The design that is cutt out allows the material to bend and also creates an aesthetic aspect.

After creating this initial design I created a variety of others. All of the other designs were made to change the width of the object, height and type of pattern. This would help me figure out what is best, which bends the easiest and which design works best as a lamp shade. Additionally this gave me a chance to use the laser cutter several times. This gave me a chance to understand and improve my knowledge on computer controlled cutting.

Additionally in the images below you can see that I also experimented with different types of joints for the shade so that it would lock in when it is rapped around. I tested several different shapes of joints to see which fit best and in the image below you can see an example of a joint which was succesful.