Wolverine Time of Cut Checklist
- Fire Extinguisher: Lift the fire extinguisher and set it back down. This verifies that your muscle-memory knows where it is.
- Clear Path of Laser Head to Home: Make sure there is nothing obstructing the path of the laser head toward the right rear of the working surface if the head isn’t already there.
- It will move there as soon as you turn on the laser.
- Power On: Press the silver power button on the laser, and wait for it to boot and auto-home.
- Check Dashboard on Wall: The chiller, laser exhaust fan, and air compressor should all turn on when the laser turns on. You should hear the chiller beep and the noise of the exhaust fan. (If this does not happen, see “Steps for manual override” at the end of this list.)
- Exhaust Gate 1: Ensure the exhaust blast gate is open on the back of the laser cutter. Slide the door all the way open (toward you).
- Exhaust Gate 2:If the other laser is not in use, close the blast gate at the back of the other laser to increase the exhaust flow.
- Place Material: Place material (square to edge of honeycomb or gantry).You can also run the head left / right and watch the red dot to see if it moves parallel to the edge of the material. Adjust alignment as needed.
- Center Head: With the D-pad, jog the head over to center of material.
- Check Mirrors 1: Look for fogging or damage to each of the three mirrors. This may require a light to see the mirror in the focus turret. While looking in there, look for specks or fogging of the lens.
- Check Mirrors 2: Check the mirrors for debris, and clean if necessary. ‘’’ONLY’’’ use lense cleaner and microfiber lens cloths to clean mirrors. Paper towels will ruin them. If you are unsure, ask someone for help.
- Enter Z-Mode: Press "Z" to enter the mode to raise or lower the bed.
- Adjust Focus: Set the focus with one of the acrylic manual focus gauges.
- Exit Z-Mode: Press "Z" again to exit Z mode. (ESC will not exit this mode)
- Check Air Valve: Make sure the yellow manual air valve on the wall is open (parallel to the pipe).
- Verify Layer Options: Make sure "Blow" is enabled in the Cut or Engrave options dialog in LaserCut for each layer in your design. (Next to power and speed.) For cutting, use "Always blow". For engraving, use "Blow".
- Download Design: Download your design from LaserCut software to the laser cutter.
- Align laser head with software start point: With the D-pad, jog the head to start of your cut. Remember that the blue dot in laser cut tells you where the laser assumes you have placed it.
- Test while being prepared to e-stop: Keep one hand over the emergency-stop while using the "Test" button to check boundaries. Be prepared to e-stop if the laser head will hit any weights you've added or edge of the material that might be higher than the focus point.
- Close Hood: Close the hood, if it's open. The laser will not fire if the hood is open.
- Start Laser: Press "Start".
- ‘’’DO NOT WALK AWAY’’’. See the writeup of Thinkhaus's laser fire for why.
- Note runtime and pay: When the laser cutter finishes, observe the elapsed time on LCD and put money into box.
- Clean laser bed: Remove all material, scrap, and cutouts from the laser bed. Please leave it clear for the next person.
- Switch off laser: Press the silver power button to turn off the laser cutter. The chiller should automatically turn off. The exhaust fan should also turn off if the other laser cutter is not in use.
- Check Air Compressor: Since the air compressor is shared across the whole space, it will not be turned off automatically. Check to make sure that nobody in the space is using anything that requires compressed air. If not, then turn the air compressor off with its physical power button.
Steps for Manaul Override
In the unlikely event that there is a problem with this automation system, there are manual overrides in place to turn everything on.
- The air compressor can be turned on with its physical power button.
- The exhaust fan can be turned on via a black and orange box with a white button on the wall next to Cyclops labeled “Laser Exhaust”.
- The chiller can be turned on with the small black button on the white “Sonoff” module that is on the top front of the chiller.
