Zünd Cutters

General Info

  • 3. Semester or higher
  • Completed the raplab safety moodle course
  • Self study this tutorial
  • Bring a USB stick to the raplab
 
    1. Unlock your machine with the ETH card
    2. Confirm the error message with “OK”
    3. Import your vector drawing(pdf, dxf) into the Zünd_template
    4. Use vector colours: Red = Cut, Black = Engrave, Blue = Pen
    5. Click the Send to Zund Button, select your vectors and press enter
    6. Follow the command instruction to send the job to the machine
    7. Press the online button the start the job

Cost: 30.- / h
Area: 800mm x 1300mm

 
  • Cardboard max 3mm
  • Corrugated cardboard Max 4mm
  • Foamboard Max 10mm
  • Set your vector lines to the correct colour. Red to cut through the material, black to engrave the surface of the material and blue to use the pen to draw on the material.
  • Make sure curved lines aren’t made up of too many polylines with a minimal amount of control points
  • Any curved lines shouldn’t have a radius tighter than 10mm.
  • Its best practice to space individual parts out with a minimum 3mm in-between. If you have many small parts very close to one another or touching, you run the risk of cutter tearing material and flipping the parts upwards.
  • The 3mm rule also applies to detailed parts such as window frames. If there are area of your parts are less that 3mm wide, the laser cutter is likely to be a better option for your parts.
  • Export your file to DXF, DWG, PDF or .3dm

Skip this step if drawing for your job isn’t required

  • To activate the pen tool press the following numbers on the control pad

Zund 1 (F3 Enter)

Zund 2 (2 1 1 4 Enter)

  • Use the navigation keys (2) to move the pen module over your material
  • Lower the pen module by pressing the tool down button (3)
  • Place the pen in the pen module. Loosen the thumb screw if it doesn’t go fully down
  • Push the pen about 1mm into your material and tighten the thumb screw.
  • Push the tool down button (3) again to raise the tool.
  • Press Esc to return to the main menu
  • Repeat all the steps above when changing to a different thickness of material
  • Please remove the pen when you have finished and place back in the pen holder

Tutorial

Machine Setup

Unlock the machine with your ETH card

(Zünd1) Turn on the machine by pressing F1 (1)

(Zund1) Confirm the error message with “ESC”

Place the material on the machine bed. When placing your material, please note the orientation of the X- & Y-Axis and the zero position.

If you want to use the pen please refer to the Pen Setup Tab above in this tutorial and ask a raplab staff member for help.

Cover up the area behind your material to ensure the vacuum power.

Rhino Setup

Open the “Zund_Template”  (Desktop) in Rhino 7

Import your vector drawing (pdf, dxf, dgn) with the command “File” > “Import”

Check your vectors are the correct colour, Cut = Red (RGB 255,0,0), Engrave = Black (0,0,0), Pen = (RGB 0,0,255) by double clicking the coloured box (3) that corresponds to your layer.

Move your job inside the material boarder window. leaving a 5mm+ boarder around your workpiece

Click the send to Zuend button (1) in the Top left corner of the screen

Select your vectors. Confirm with enter

Follow the instruction in the command bar (2) pressing enter after inputting each setting

  • Type in the width of your material in the Y orientation
  • Select type of material
  • Type in the material thickness
  • Select “yes” to send the job

Press “on-line” (1) on the machine panel to start the task

Troubleshoot

Pause and continue the task with “online”

  • Confirm with “ok”
  • Continue with “online”

Contact a Raplab-Employee

  • Zund 1: Click “F7” to delete the buffer
  • Zund 2: Press 3, 3, 1 on the number pad then enter to clear the buffer
  • Re-send the task to the machine
  • Turn off the machine with “shift”+”stop”
  • ensure you are logged in with your ETH card
  • Turn on the machine with “F1”

This may because your material is too small and therefore hasn’t got enough surface area for the vacuum table to work properly. Cover up the area behind your material to solve this issue. Also make sure you have correctly set the vacuum width.

Select your vectors and click on the properties tab. Change display colour tab to By Layer.

Click on tools in the top menu and select “tool layout”. On the tool layout window. Scroll down and check the box next to “raplab”.