The Fabrications Lab is located in Room 106 on the main level of George Pearl Hall (building 195), in the Northeast corner of the building. The use of the Lab is intended for students, faculty and staff.

HOURS

Monday / Wednesday / Friday - 8:00am - 3:30pm
Tuesday / Thursday - 10:00am - 3:30pm

Templates
  • Laser Cutter Template and Support Documentation files for AutoCAD (2000, 2004, 2007) and Illustrator (CS, CS2, CS3) can be found here.
Equipment
  • 60 watt Universal Laser Systems C02 Laser cutter with a 32”x18” cutting bed
  • Full line of Proxxon model making benchtop tools, including a bandsaw, scroll saw, disc sander, mini table saw, drill press, hand held rotary tools, and more.
  • Full size bandsaw, table saw and miter saw for use with special projects under close supervision of the lab coordinator.
Software
  • For use of the laser cutter, the UNM SA+P supplies students with the latest Adobe Suite and Autodesk programs available in the school’s computer lab.
  • The laser cutter will accept Adobe Illustrator and AutoCad files
Procedures and Policies
  • All students must attend a safety orientation before being given access to the Lab tools.
  • The Laser cutter will be available during operating hours on a first come first served basis.
  • There will be a charge for Laser Cuts starting Spring semester 2009. The fees for cuts will be posted on the FAB LAB bulletin board outside the door.
  • There will be a limit on the allowed cutting time of 30 mins.
Materials
  • Chipboard up to 1/8” thick
  • Museumboard up to 1/8” thick
  • Basswood and Plywood up to 1/8” thick
  • Limited Acrylics up to 1/8” thick (Absolutely no PVC material, such as Lexan, or other Polycarbonates)
  • Cardboard up to 3/8” thick, no more than double ply
Important
  • If cutting acrylic, the material must have some type of label stating that it is in fact acrylic. If the material does not have this, it will not be cut or engraved.
Staff

James Armand
David Salamon
Owen Kramme
Evan Remington

For more information or questions contact Evan at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 277.5022.

Basic Vector Cutting/Scoring
  • Open “Illustrator_TemplateCS(2,3).ai” (there are 3 versions for CS, CS2, and CS3)
  • The template is sized to the bed of the laser cutter (32” x 18”)
  • Go to FILE > PLACE your work into the template.
  • Make sure all lines are inside bounding box and are as close as possible to maximize the material.
  • Ungroup everything go to OBJECT > UNGROUP and repeat at least 3 times.
  • Release any clipping masks go to OBJECT > CLIPPING MASK > RELEASE CLIPPING MASK repeat a few times
  • Select and place all cut lines in the cutting layer and assign them a “MAGENTA CUT” style from the graphic styles menu. There is also a CYAN Perimeter cut as well. This is for cuts that make up a perimeter around other cuts or scores, and is meant to be the last cut performed.

WINDOW > GRAPHIC STYLES
There are 2 score line layers and graphic styles – “Red Score” which is the lighter score and “Green Score” which is the darker score. Place the score lines in the layer you wish, and assign the correct graphic style that corresponds.

Raster Fills/Engraving
  • Follow the same instructions as above.
  • When setting graphic styles, black will be the deepest, 50% gray will be half and white would be no engraving
  • You can use the preset raster fills, or just a grayscale.
  • Your file may be rejected if there is too much raster fills to be engraved for this is a very time intensive way to score with the Laser Cutter
AUTOCAD

Initial Setup

  • Open “LASER_PLOT_TEMPLATE(year).dwg” The year (2000, 2004, 2007) should correspond to whichever version of AutoCad you are using.
  • The template is sized to the bed of the laser cutter (32” x 18”)
  • Copy and paste your work into the template.
  • In PAPER SPACE, zoom extends to view your work.
  • Using the VIEWPORTS toolbar, scale your work so that it fits inside the bounding box.
  • Arrange the pieces to be cut so that you use the least amount of material.

Drawing Prep

  • Set all the line weights to 0.00 mm.
  • Erase all overlapping lines. Overlapping lines can cause your file to be cut incorrectly.
  • Procedure: type EXPLODE > select all > type OVERKILL (make sure the “ignore” options are unchecked) > select all

Any text in the file that is to be cut needs to be one of the following fonts: ISCOP, ISOCT, MONOTXT, PROXY, SIMPLEX, TXT. Any fonts that have a logo are vector and will work; any others will not be engraved or cut.

Layers

The template already has the necessary layers and corresponding line styles set up but you must assign your to the appropriate layer.

  • RED-Lighter Score - produces a lighter appearing score
  • GREEN-Deeper Score - produces a darker appearing score
  • MAGENTA -General Cuts - for most cuts, or interior cuts
  • CYAN-Perimeter Cuts - for cuts that make up a perimeter, this will protect the interior cuts and scores