Laser Policy
Introduction
Asmbly Policies outlined in the Member Handbook, HERE apply to ALL shop areas including Lasers. However Lasers has some additional policies specific to the space that are outlined below.
Check out the essential rules on How to Be Excellent, HERE
This policy covers the machines in Asmbly's laser space: who may run them, how they are reserved, how they are operated safely, and how they are maintained.
All lasers require a safety class before you may use it. Which class covers which machine is listed under Training & Authorization below.
Capabilities
The laser space is built around three primary capabilities we want to offer to our members:
- General-purpose CO2 cutting and engraving: our CO2 lasers cut and engrave wood, acrylic, and many other approved materials.
- Metal engraving and marking: a MOPA fiber laser marks and engraves metal, which our CO2 laser cannot do
- High-speed engraving (planned): a future engraving-specific galvo CO2 laser will engrave dramatically faster than a moving-gantry machine, with none of the carriage-motion artifacts (ripple and banding) that limit gantry engraving quality at higher speed.
Every machine in the laser space runs LightBurn. This gives us one workflow and skills that carry from one machine to the next. Learning the basics of LightBurn in the Big Lasers class will allow you to understand the concepts discussed in the MOPA/Galvo class(es).
Equipment
| Machine | Status | Role | Required class | Wiki page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tarkin | Active | Custom-built RF CO2, 225 W, 63" × 39" bed - large-format cutting and engraving | Big Laser Safety | Tarkin |
| Dorian | Active | Laguna EX-C, 150 W CO2, 36" × 51" bed - general cutting and engraving | Big Laser Safety | Dorian |
| Gimli | Commissioning - not yet available to members | MOPA fiber - engraving and marking metal | Laser techniques: MOPA Lasers & Lightburn | Gimli |
| Galvo CO2 | Proposed - not yet acquired | High-speed, high-consistency engraving | To be determined | - |
The Boss FC-6012 fiber metal cutter and the upcoming laser welder are not covered by this policy - they are managed separately, see Boss FC-6012.
Equipment Standards
- Known design: every machine brought into the laser space must be a known/standard design
- Either the machine is made by a manufacturer we can pick up the phone and call with a question, or it is built in a standard enough way that a qualified third party can be brought in to service it
- No closed ecosystems: we do not accept lasers with purposefully closed ecosystems - machines such as xTool that will only run on their manufacturer's own proprietary software
- This follows directly from the LightBurn standard: a machine that cannot run LightBurn cannot join the fleet because it cannot be taught, supported, or operated the way the rest of the space is
One machine predates/is grandfathered from this standard. Tarkin is member-built and is not a standard design, and it is the named exception to the above. It is a very capable machine and has thus far been well-maintained. If that stops being true, the exception may be revisited.
Training & Authorization
Every laser requires its own safety class before you may use it.
- Tarkin and Dorian: Big Laser Safety - This class covers both of these machines.
- Gimli: Laser techniques: MOPA Lasers & Lightburn (Big Laser Safety is a prerequisite)
- Fiber lasers present hazards that a CO2 class does not cover, as well as having different controls in LightBurn.
- Proposed galvo CO2: its training requirement will be defined when it is acquired
ONLY use a laser if you have taken the class and been authorized to use it.
Reservations, Time Limits & Etiquette
All laser time is reserved through Skedda. Laser sessions are capped at three hours, and you may hold one active reservation at a time; book your next session after your current one ends or in its final 30 minutes (see Booking Policies).
Gimli books through Skedda under the same three-hour and one-active-reservation rules once it is released to member use.
Etiquette in the laser space:
- Clean up within your booked time
- Budget the last few minutes of your reservation for cleanup
- If someone is booked after you, cleanup that runs past your slot comes out of their time.
- Scrap cart: usable offcuts may go in the scrap cart, and everything else leaves with you or goes into the trash.
- A piece belongs in the scrap cart only if it is at least 6" × 6" (expensive acrylics are exempt from that size minimum)
- It must NOT be "swiss cheese": no cuts or marks inside the 6" x 6" area.
- Trim the unusable part off a sheet before you put the rest in the scrap bin
- The laser space does NOT have temporary member storage
- Material left in the laser space without approval will be at risk of being disposed of or put into the scrap cart without notice
Safety
- NEVER leave a running laser unattended - fire is the number one hazard in this space
- A job that has run cleanly a hundred times can flare on the hundred-and-first because of a knot in the wood, a scrap under the workpiece, or a pocket of glue.
- Stay with the machine, watch the cut, and keep your hand near the stop
- "Unattended" means out of the room, and it also means in the room but NOT watching
- A long engrave is not an opportunity to run an errand
- NEVER disable, bypass, or work around exhaust, filtration, or air assist - these are not conveniences
- Exhaust and filtration keep laser smoke, which is genuinely toxic for some materials, out of your lungs and out of the building
- Air assist keeps flame off the workpiece and debris off the lens
- If exhaust or air assist is not working, the machine needs to be red-tagged: stop, and submit a problem report.
If something ignites
- Stop the job. Hit stop, and try moving the cut-head away from the fire. There is a good chance the air assist is the only thing keeping the fire going, and it will self extinguish when the head is moved away.
- Cut power if the flame does not go out immediately after moving the cut head.
- Put it out, working up the following escalation path. In order: the water spray bottles kept in the laser space, then the fire blanket, then the fire extinguishers kept specifically for laser use. Do NOT use a normal extinguisher from elsewhere in the building unless it is absolutely required. Know where these are BEFORE you start a job: find them at the beginning of every session, not while something is burning.
- Report any ignition event, even one you extinguished in two seconds. Submit a problem report to let the lead and volunteers know what happened. A flare-up that seemed trivial may have dirtied a lens, and is data about a machine, a material, or a setting that the next member could benefit from.
Materials
The allowed/forbidden materials list lives on the Laser Cutter Materials page. READ IT before you cut anything. Some common materials (PVC/vinyl above all) release gases that will injure you and corrode the machine.
- If a material is not on that list, do NOT cut it until you are sure it is safe
- To get a new material approved, ask the Laser Lead or other laser steward
- Bring what you know about its composition, a safety data sheet if you have one
Maintenance, Issue Logging & Spare Parts
Anything below marked PROPOSED is not in place yet. These requirements apply equally to every member who touches a machine, and they exist so that the state of the fleet is visible to everyone.
Issue log
Reporting a problem today: submit a problem report at asmbly.org/problem. The form creates a problem report in the system. Beyond letting others in the space know, that is all the reporting a member needs to do.
If a problem requires taking a machine offline, an admin or shop lead red-tags it in Skedda. The tag is removed once the problem is confirmed fixed by the shop lead or whoever red-tagged it. The red tag is how you know whether a machine is available.
PROPOSED: a log layer on top of that. The red tag tells you whether a machine is up; the log adds what caused the problem and what was done to fix it, so the tag is not the only thing members have to go on.
- Every reported problem with a machine gets a logged entry
- Each entry carries a status through its lifecycle: reported → in progress → resolved
- The log is visible to members
- If you hit a problem, log it by submitting a problem report.
- If you notice a problem, log it even if you are not going to fix it
PROPOSED: Work log
Maintenance and repair work is NOT complete until it is logged.
- Every entry records:
- who did the work
- when it was done
- what was actually done
- what parts were consumed
- The log entry is what closes the loop on the issue that prompted it
- A member should never have to ask around to find out whether a machine has been fixed; the answer should be in the log, and the machine's status should reflect it
PROPOSED: Spare-parts inventory
The laser space maintains a canonical spare-parts inventory: what we stock, and how many of each we have on hand.
- Any part consumed is decremented in the same log entry that records the work
- Consumption and the record of it happen together, not later from memory
- Purchase requests for parts must reference the inventory record showing the part is out of stock or below its restock threshold
- This is how we avoid buying a part we already have three of on the shelf
The specific tooling for all three of the above (a wiki page, a spreadsheet, a forum section) will be decided together with the laser stewards. The process requirements are policy regardless of which tool we land on.
Discipline/Violations Policy
Asmbly Discipline Policy can be found HERE
Note: The people enforcing Asmbly policies are volunteers and it's not the most fun job. Failure to comply when approached about a policy violation is very serious. Show your fellow members kindness and respect when receiving redirection. Maintaining a cooperative community space at Asmbly is very important to us and ignoring the redirection of an appointed leader in the space is a serious violation.
