Laser Cutter

Epilog Mini/Helix 50W Laser Cutter/Engraver

Member Checkout & Operating SOP

Connection: USB or Ethernet, whichever is currently working. DO NOT connect both simultaneously, it causes both to fail. Once the laser has a working connection, do not touch the cables.

1. Before You Start

You must have completed laser checkout training with F2 staff before using this machine unsupervised.

Never leave the laser running unattended. CO2 lasers can ignite material. You must be present and watching the entire job.

Know your fire safety equipment:

• Fire blanket: mounted on the wall to the right of the laser, between the computer station and the machine.
• Fire extinguisher: behind you as you face the machine, approximately 20 feet back and to the right.

The exhaust system must be running before you fire the laser (see Section 2).

Approved materials: wood, acrylic, paper/cardstock, leather, anodized aluminum, glass (engraving only). There is a material reference book that may be at the workstation, check with staff if you're unsure about a material. Never cut PVC, vinyl, polycarbonate, or ABS, they release toxic gases that damage the machine and are dangerous to breathe.

2. Powering On

1. Turn on the laser using the black rocker switch on the left side, bottom rear of the machine (as you face it).
2. The machine will home itself, the carriage will move to the upper-left corner. Wait for it to finish.
3. Turn on the exhaust fans. The exhaust is two fans plugged into a black power strip mounted on the upper-right side of the machine. These can be turned off when the laser is not firing to reduce noise, but must be on before any job runs.
4. Verify the laser appears as a printer in Windows under the name "Epilogue Mini Helix". If it doesn't show up, do not try to fix it yourself, notify staff. Do not unplug or replug any cables.

3. Preparing Your Design

CorelDRAW: Create or open your file. Set your page size to match the dimensions of the piece you're cutting/engraving. This must match the Piece Size in the print driver (Step 4) or your job will be misaligned.

Inkscape also works. The key concepts are the same.

The critical rule for cutting: Vector cut lines must be set to hairline width in CorelDRAW (or the decimal equivalent in Inkscape, ask staff for the exact value if you're unsure). If your lines have any visible thickness, the driver will treat them as raster (engraving) objects instead of vector (cut) objects. This is the single most common mistake in laser cutting.

All text should be converted to curves/outlines before printing to avoid font substitution issues. In CorelDRAW: select text, then Ctrl+Q.

Color mapping: The print driver supports assigning different speed/power/frequency settings to different colored lines, so you can have one color score and another color cut through in the same job. This is covered in the Level 2 class, not in basic checkout.

4. Print Driver Settings

General Tab

Job Type — Choose based on your design:

• Raster — Engraving only (filled/black artwork)
• Vector — Cutting/scoring only (hairline outlines)
• Combined — Both engraving and cutting in the same job. The machine will engrave first, then cut.

Resolution (DPI) — Controls engraving detail. Does not affect vector cutting.

• 300 DPI: draft/test runs
• 400-600 DPI: standard quality for most jobs
• 1200 DPI: maximum detail (slower, rarely needed)

Raster Settings (for engraving):

• Speed: 1-100%. Higher = faster/lighter. Lower = slower/deeper.
• Power: 1-100%. F2 house rule: hard cap at 90%. Do not exceed it.

Vector Settings (for cutting):

• Speed: 1-100%. Lower = slower/deeper cut.
• Power: 1-100%. Same hard cap: 90%. Do not exceed it.
• Frequency: 10-5000 Hz. This is the pulse rate of the laser beam.
• Lower frequency (100-500 Hz): better for wood — less edge charring
• Higher frequency (2500-5000 Hz): better for acrylic — flame-polished edge

Piece Size — Must match your page size in your design software exactly.

Auto Focus — Check this box to have the machine set the table height automatically. See Section 5 for when to use auto vs. manual.

F2 Standard Settings for Stock Wood (50W)

5. Focusing: Auto Focus vs. Manual Focus

The laser must be focused to the correct distance from your material. Out-of-focus = wider beam = weaker cuts, blurry engraving, more charring.

Auto Focus (default for most jobs)

1. Check the Auto Focus box in the print driver before sending your job.
2. Place your material on the bed, flush against the ruler guides in the upper-left corner.
3. When you press Go on the keypad, the machine will automatically raise the table to the correct focal height before starting the job.

Auto focus works well for flat materials of uniform thickness, which is most of what F2 runs.

Manual Focus

Use manual focus when your material is warped, uneven, or when you need to position the laser head over a specific area of your workpiece.

Procedure:

1. Make sure Auto Focus is unchecked in the print driver.
2. Place your material on the bed.
3. Press X/Y Off on the keypad, then press Go. This disengages the stepper motors so you can physically slide the laser head to the correct position by hand.
4. Move the laser head over the area of your material where you want to verify focus.
5. Attach the metal focus gauge to the laser head — it connects magnetically. The gauge is stored on the left side, top front of the machine (as you face it).
6. Use the Up/Down arrow keys on the keypad to raise or lower the table (Z-axis).
7. Raise the table until the bottom of the focus gauge just barely touches the surface of your material. Light contact, not pressing into it.
8. Remove the focus gauge and return it to its magnetic mount.
9. Press Reset.

If auto focus is consistently producing poor results (blurry engraving, incomplete cuts on material that should work), the calibration may have drifted. Notify staff — do not attempt to recalibrate it yourself.

6. Using the Red Dot Pointer

The laser beam is invisible. The Red Dot Pointer projects a visible red dot showing where the laser will fire. Before running your job, you can use it to verify that your artwork will land where you expect on the material. This is a visual reference only, it does not affect the job.

7. Running the Job

1. Place your material on the honeycomb cutting grid, positioned flush against the ruler guides (upper-left corner).
2. Focus the laser (auto or manual, see Section 5).
3. Close the lid. The laser will not fire with the lid open (safety interlock).
4. Make sure the exhaust fans are running.
5. Send the job from your design software: File, Print, Print.
6. At the laser, use the keypad to scroll to your job name on the LCD display.
7. Press Go.
8. Stay at the machine for the entire job. Watch for flaming, material shifting, or unusual sounds.

After the Cut Finishes

Before moving your material off the bed, try to press out small cut pieces with your thumbnail first — especially interior/middle pieces. If they don't pop free, the cut didn't go all the way through.

If pieces don't release: You can resend the job as a Vector-only job at double the original speed. This gives the stubborn spots a second pass without the full dwell time of the original cut, which reduces the chance of fire flare-ups. This is much safer than rerunning at the original slow speed.

8. Fire Procedures

Fires in the laser are not common but they do happen, especially when cutting thicker wood at slow speeds. Know this sequence before you run your first job.

Step 1: Open the lid. This is the single most important action. Opening the lid does two things: it kills the laser beam immediately (safety interlock), and it keeps the carriage moving so the laser head doesn't park over the fire and melt. Open the lid first, always.

Step 2: If the fire does not go out on its own: Turn off the exhaust fans using the black power strip on the upper-right side of the machine. The exhaust draws outside air through the machine — turning it off starves the fire of airflow. Yes, this lets smoke into the building. That's fine. Smoke in the building is preferable to a fire in the laser.

Step 3: If the fire is still going: Turn off the machine using the black rocker switch on the left rear. Once the machine is powered off, use the fire blanket (mounted on the wall to the right of the laser). The machine must be off before using the blanket.

Step 4: Chemical fire extinguisher: LAST RESORT ONLY. The extinguisher is behind you, about 20 feet back and to the right. Using it will cause more damage to the laser than almost any fire you'd encounter in normal operation. The only scenario where the chemical extinguisher makes sense is if the material has spread fire beyond the cutting bed, or if there's a risk of electrical/wiring fire.

Summary: Lid, Exhaust off, Machine off + Blanket, Extinguisher (wiring fires only)

9. Cleanup

1. Wait a moment after the job finishes for smoke to clear via the exhaust.
2. Remove your piece from the bed.
3. Clean up. Remove all debris, char, and scrap from the honeycomb grid.
4. If you have leftover material large enough to be useful as test scrap, place it in the scrap pile to the right of the computer station. This wood is free for anyone to use, even for production work. If your scraps are too small, use the wood waste bin.
5. Turn off the exhaust fans when you're done (staff will do a final check at end of day, but don't leave them running unnecessarily).
6. Do not turn off the laser or the computer unless staff has confirmed end-of-day shutdown. The connection is fragile.
7. If you had any problems or noted anything that seemed wrong, report your findings to staff.

10. Why We Cap Power at 90%

The CO2 laser tube is a sealed gas tube. Running it at 100% power pushes the gas discharge harder, generates more heat, and accelerates degradation of the gas mixture. Backing off to a hard 90% keeps the tube in a significantly more sustainable operating range with minimal loss in cutting performance. Consider it the difference between driving at redline vs. 500 RPM below it.

The cost to refill (exchange) the CO2 tube on this machine is approximately $3,200. F2 provides this equipment for member use at no additional charge. Respecting the power cap helps keep it that way.