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Laser Cutters

The laser cutting area is for engraving and cutting thin, flat sheet materials (wood, acrylic, leather, cardboard, etc.) using a focused laser beam controlled through Lightburn software. Use a laser cutter when you need clean, precise 2D cuts or surface engraving on flat stock within the machine's thickness limit; use the CNC router instead for thicker stock, 3D shaping, or materials that aren't laser-safe. [NEEDS VERIFICATION: confirm this laser-vs-CNC guidance with a shop lead.]

Machines

Monport Effi 16s

Location: [NEEDS VERIFICATION — where in the shop] Training required: Yes. Access to the shared Lightburn workstation currently uses a shared login (alt-makers-2026). [NEEDS VERIFICATION: confirm whether a separate certification/sign-off is required beyond this login, and whether this credential should live in a restricted document rather than a public wiki page.]

Overview The Effi 16s is a 150W CO2 laser engraver/cutter with a built-in water chiller and autofocus. It has a roughly 1.6m x 1m working bed and is the primary machine covered in our internal training walkthrough. It's controlled through Lightburn and uses a physical keypad on the machine for jogging, focusing, and starting jobs.

Key Specifications

Spec Value
Bed size ~1600 x 1000 mm (1.6 m x 1 m)
Laser type/power CO2, 150W (rated; peak up to ~180W)
Max material thickness 5mm MDF cuts through in a single pass at tested settings below; thicker material may need multiple passes with Z-offset between passes. [NEEDS VERIFICATION: confirm the machine's published max cut depth per material.]
Software/controller Lightburn (front-end); onboard digital control panel/keypad for jogging, focus, and start [NEEDS VERIFICATION: confirm controller brand, e.g. Ruida]

Basic Operating Steps

  1. Design or import your artwork in Lightburn (see Lightburn workflow below) and set up your cut/engrave layers.
  2. Open the lid, then power on the machine (twist/release the emergency-stop switch); the laser head will home to the back-right corner — make sure nothing is in its path first.
  3. Load your material, adjust bed height for material thickness, jog the laser over the material, and run autofocus.
  4. Frame the job to confirm it fits on your material, confirm the exhaust/air filter is running, close the lid, and press Start on the machine.
  5. Wait for the job to finish without opening the lid (opening the lid mid-job immediately stops the laser, and jobs cannot resume from where they left off).

Manuals & Resources

Material & Settings Library

There's no separate "Tool Settings" section on this page — the tool is always the laser, so every cut/engrave setting lives together with the material it's for. See Monport Effi 16S — Material & Settings Library for the full reference, split into settings proven on this machine versus ones imported from another lab's laser that still need a test cut.

Monport Mega

Location: [NEEDS VERIFICATION — where in the shop] Training required: [NEEDS VERIFICATION — yes/no, link to sign-off form]

Overview The Mega is a smaller desktop 70W CO2 laser, meant for smaller jobs or as a second machine when the Effi 16s is in use. It has a smaller bed and lower power than the Effi 16s, so it's better suited to smaller or lower-power engraving/cutting jobs rather than large sheet work. [NEEDS VERIFICATION: this comparison is inferred from published specs, not from the training transcript — confirm with a shop lead which jobs should default to the Mega vs. the Effi 16s.]

Key Specifications

Spec Value
Bed size ~700–780 x 400–440 mm [NEEDS VERIFICATION: exact bed size varies by Mega/Mega S listing — confirm on the physical unit]
Laser type/power CO2, 70W
Max material thickness [NEEDS VERIFICATION]
Software/controller Lightburn

Basic Operating Steps

  1. [NEEDS VERIFICATION — likely mirrors the Effi 16s workflow below, but confirm keypad/homing differences]

Manuals & Resources

Software

Lightburn

Used for: Primary laser control software for both machines — importing/designing artwork, tracing images into vector lines, assigning cut/engrave settings by layer, previewing the job, and running it on the machine. Access: Shared workstation login: alt-makers-2026. [NEEDS VERIFICATION: confirm license seat/install details, and whether this login should be kept in an access-restricted doc instead of a public wiki.]

Basic Workflow

  1. Import your design. File → Import (or drag and drop) — almost any image format works (PNG, JPG, SVG, etc.). You no longer need a pre-made vector file to get started.
  2. Trace the image (if it's not already a vector). Select the imported image, then Tools → Trace Image. Lightburn previews the traced outline as a purple line — adjust the threshold sliders if the trace looks wrong, but the default is usually fine. Once you're happy, confirm, and you can delete or hide the original image layer since Lightburn now has vector lines to work with.
  3. Assign layers in the Cuts/Layers panel (right-hand side tabs: Move, Cuts/Layers, Camera, Variable Text — it opens on Move by default, switch to Cuts/Layers). For each layer you can set:
  4. Output — on/off switch for whether that layer fires at all when you run the job.
  5. Mode — Line (outline only), Fill (solid engrave inside the line), or Offset Fill (fills everything outside the line).
  6. Air — whether air assist runs for that layer.
  7. Double-click a layer to open Speed/Power settings (stay in the "Common" tab — you generally don't need the advanced tab): speed, min/max power, number of passes, line interval, and Bidirectional / Unidirectional / Crosshatch fill direction.
  8. Layer order (top to bottom in the list) is the order operations run in — always put engraving layers above cutting layers, since cutting can shift or dislodge your material before an engrave finishes. Layer color has no functional meaning; it's just for your own organization.
  9. Position and size your design. Use the top toolbar to set exact width/height (linked or independent), rotate by a typed angle, or scale by percentage (note: after typing a percentage, the field resets to "100%" — remember your last adjustment, or use Undo/Cmd+Z). You can also change which reference point (corner/center) the X/Y position refers to. Holding Ctrl while dragging snaps rotation to ~5° increments; holding Shift snaps to ~15° increments. [NEEDS VERIFICATION: confirm these snap increments against the installed Lightburn version — they can vary slightly.]
  10. The machine's absolute (0,0) origin is the back-right corner (where the laser homes to on power-up) — not every laser uses this corner, so don't assume based on other machines.
  11. Draw extra shapes if needed (e.g., a cut outline around an engraved design) using Lightburn's built-in shape tools, and assign them to their own layer (e.g., layer 2 for cuts). To round sharp corners: select the shape, click a corner node, then use the corner-rounding control in the bottom-left panel and set a radius; click the node again to undo the rounding.
  12. Set your job origin. Under laser controls, "Start From" can be set to Absolute Coordinates (travels to a specific point on the bed — useful when filling the entire bed) or Current Position (starts wherever the laser head currently is — useful for smaller jobs, since you just jog the head to a corner of your material first).
  13. Frame the job before cutting. With your design selected, use the square Frame button for roughly rectangular designs, or the circular "rubber band" frame for irregular shapes — this traces the job's bounding area on the material at a safe (non-cutting) speed so you can confirm it fits and is positioned correctly.
  14. Preview the toolpath using the monitor icon in the top toolbar: black lines mean the laser fires (cutting or engraving), red lines are travel moves with the laser off.
  15. Run the job on the machine's physical keypad once framing looks correct, the exhaust/filter is running, and the lid is closed.

Resources

Inkscape

Used for: Optional vector design/cleanup before bringing artwork into Lightburn — useful if you want to build clean vector lines yourself rather than relying on Lightburn's image trace. Access: Free, open source. [NEEDS VERIFICATION: confirm install location/link for shop computers.]

Basic Workflow [NEEDS VERIFICATION — not covered in the training transcript. General pattern: design or clean up vectors in Inkscape → export/save as SVG → import that SVG into Lightburn instead of tracing a raster image.]

Resources

  • [ ] Getting-started guide (link) — [NEEDS VERIFICATION]

Materials

There's no separate "Tool Settings" section on this page — the tool is always the laser, so power/speed/passes are documented together with the material they're for, in the settings library linked throughout this section.

What's generally safe to cut: wood and wood composites (plywood, MDF, hardboard), paper and cardboard, acrylic/PMMA, and untreated or vegetable-tanned leather are all commonly laser-safe categories on this class of machine. "Generally safe" isn't the same as "already dialed in," though — check the settings library below for what's actually been tested on our machine versus what's just a reasonable starting point.

Settings library: every proven and imported cut/engrave setting for the Effi 16s — MDF, plywood/hardboard, paper/cardboard, acrylic, leather, stamp rubber, and more — lives on its own page: Monport Effi 16S — Material & Settings Library. Always check there before assuming a setting for your material and thickness.

Never cut these materials

PVC/vinyl, ABS, polycarbonate, and other chlorinated or halogenated plastics — these release toxic chlorine gas/hydrochloric acid when laser-cut, even with ventilation running. Also avoid fiberglass, certain foams, HDPE, coniferous/oily woods, and any material of unknown composition. If you can't confirm what a material is made of, don't cut it — ask first.

See the full unsuitable/hazardous materials reference for the reasoning behind each one (and more entries not listed here): English · Deutsch.

How settings get made

Every entry in the settings library started one of two ways: it was tested directly on this machine, or it was converted from another lab's laser (with power capped and speed adjusted to compensate) as a starting point that still needs a test cut. Never assume a setting is safe to run at full speed just because it's written down — confirm which category it falls into, and for anything imported/unverified, stay nearby and keep the exhaust running for the first pass.

How power and speed affect the result

The laser cuts or engraves by putting heat into the material — power and speed both control how much heat lands on a given point, just in different ways:

  • Power is how strong the beam is. More power delivers more energy — useful for cutting through thicker material or getting a darker engrave, but too much causes charring, a wider kerf (cut width), melting on plastics, and a higher fire risk.
  • Speed is how fast the head moves, which controls how long the beam dwells on each point. Slower speed means more time for heat to build up — deeper cuts and darker engraves, but more charring the slower you go. Faster speed reduces heat exposure and charring, but may not fully cut through or may leave a faint engrave.

In practice you're balancing the two: enough combined power and dwell time to do the job cleanly, without so much heat that you get excess charring, melting, or fire. Because materials absorb and conduct heat differently — and this varies even between thicknesses or finishes of the "same" material — a setting that works well for one doesn't reliably transfer to another. That's why every material in the settings library has its own tested values rather than one generic number.

Running a material test in Lightburn

If a material or thickness isn't in the settings library yet, don't guess at a setting — use Lightburn's built-in test tool on a scrap piece first:

  1. Get a scrap piece of the actual material and thickness you'll be using — settings vary by thickness and even by color/finish, not just material type.
  2. Go to Laser Tools → Material Test (also called the Material Test Generator).
  3. Choose whether you're testing a Cut or an Engrave, then set a speed range, a power range, and the number of rows/columns — Lightburn lays out a grid, stepping through a different speed/power combination in each cell.
  4. Run the test with the exhaust running, and stay nearby in case anything flares up.
  5. Inspect the grid: for a cut, look for the fastest / lowest-power combination that still cuts all the way through cleanly without heavy charring; for an engrave, look for the combination with the depth/contrast you want without scorching.
  6. Note down the winning power, speed, and pass count for that exact material and thickness, and add it to the Monport Effi 16S — Material & Settings Library so the next person doesn't have to repeat the test.

Safety

Required before first use

[NEEDS VERIFICATION: confirm the certification/training requirement and sign-off process — the transcript only mentions a shared Lightburn login (alt-makers-2026), not a formal certification step.]

  • PPE: Laser safety glasses rated for this laser's wavelength if operating with the lid open at any point; general good practice includes avoiding loose clothing/hair near the machine. [NEEDS VERIFICATION]
  • Ventilation/exhaust: The exhaust/air filter must be confirmed running before closing the lid and starting any job — this was called out explicitly as a pre-start checklist item during training.
  • Fire safety: Never leave the machine running unattended. A small amount of flame/smoke during cutting or engraving is normal (air assist blows it away from the beam path, and the fan pulls smoke out). If you see a large or sustained flame, open the lid immediately — this cuts power to the laser automatically, same as pressing emergency stop. Location of fire extinguisher: [NEEDS VERIFICATION].
  • Material approval: Always confirm a material is on the approved list (see Materials section) before cutting — never guess based on appearance.
  • Emergency stop: Twisting/releasing the emergency-stop switch also powers the machine on; pressing it (or simply opening the lid at any time) immediately halts the laser. Exact physical location on each machine: [NEEDS VERIFICATION].
  • Emergency procedures: [NEEDS VERIFICATION — who to contact, incident reporting process]

FAQ

Q: How do I know if a material is safe to cut? A: Check the Materials list above and the Lightburn material library first. If it's not listed, don't assume it's fine — get approval from a shop lead before cutting. Unknown-composition materials (and anything containing PVC/vinyl, ABS, or other chlorinated plastics) are never safe to cut, regardless of ventilation.

Q: What do I do if the laser doesn't fire / air assist doesn't turn on? A: Check that the layer's Output toggle is on in the Cuts/Layers panel, that the lid is fully closed (an open lid disables firing), and that the machine's power/interlock is engaged. [NEEDS VERIFICATION: this troubleshooting wasn't directly covered in the training transcript — confirm steps and add air-assist-specific checks, e.g. compressor/air line connection.]

Q: Can I bring my own material? A: [NEEDS VERIFICATION — not addressed in the training transcript. As a general safety rule, any new/outside material should be checked against the Materials list and approved before use, since the main risk with laser cutters is toxic fumes from unknown plastics.]