Tuesday, October 6, 2026

How to use 3d printers and lasercutter in the Barber Shop

 3d printing on a Prusa


  1. Click on PrusaSlicer


  1. Pull out the SD card, plug it into the Vanja “Thumb Drive” and plug that into the computer.


  1. Click on Add.


  1. Find your .STL file in the 00001BARBERTECHNOLOGYFOLDER without typing (the list SHOULD be in ABC order … double-click or click and open.


  1. Click Slice Now in the Bottom Right corner.


  1. Click Export GCODE in the Bottom Right corner.


  1. Find “USB Drive” on the left side to save it in. (Save)


  1. Click the Eject Button (NOT THE X).


  1. Remove the Vanja and SD Card and put them back where you got them (Vanja Thumb Drive goes back in the Orange Tray & SD Card goes back in the Prusa- MAKE SURE THE METAL IS FACING YOU.


  1. Turn the knob clockwise until it points > to your file and then poke it in quickly like a button. DO NOT HOLD IT IN TOO LONG.


Lasercutting on a Universal Systems Laser

PROTOTYPES ON CARDBOARD MUST BE APPROVED BEFORE YOU CAN LASERCUT FINAL PRODUCTS ON BIRCH

  1. Open your Adobe Illustrator Project. After the previous lasercut is done, click File & Print.

  2. On the Print Window, click Print.

  3. Click on the red lasercutter icon (next to Adobe Illustrator on the taskbar).

  4. If all your lines are bright red and blue, you are ready to move your design. If it is light & gray, STOP & get Mr. Barber! Click on the button with 4 arrows. Some whitesquares will appear. Drag the squares to move your design around. Take care not to miss and accidentally ZOOM in.

  5. The “Focus View” button to the left of the “arrows button” will put a red laser pointer dot on the material. Click on all the edges and corners to make sure your design will fit on your material (the top has to be open for the red dot to appear).

  6. Once you are sure it will fit, click on the magnifying glass button to change the red “Go” button to “Settings”.

  1. Cardboard

Click on the Manual Control Tab:

MAKE SURE TO CLICK “APPLY” AFTER EACH ROW

  1. BIRCH,

go to Materials Database, then click on

+ next to Natural

+ next to Wood

+ next to Hard Wood

Then click on the actual words General Hard Woods

Set the thickness to ____ (Calipers???)

AFTER YOU HAVE RUN IT ONCE, IT MIGHT NOT HAVE CUT THROUGH!! You might need to run red only again!


Color

Mode

Power

Speed

PPI

Black

Skip

Doesn’t matter, just click Apply

Blue

Rast/Vect

100%

60%

500

Red

Rast/Vect

100%

12%

300


7. BASSWOOD,

go to Materials Database, then click on

+ next to Natural

+ next to Wood

+ next to Soft Wood

Then click on the actual words General Soft Woods

Set the thickness to ____ (Calipers???)

AFTER YOU HAVE RUN IT ONCE, IT MIGHT NOT HAVE CUT THROUGH!! You might need to run red only again!

You’re ready to lasercut!

  1. Shut the lasercutter, and DON’T LET IT SLAM!! 

  2. Turn on the fan, by flipping the light switch on the outlet behind the lasercutter. 

  3. Click the big, green play button to start it. 

  4. Monitor it closely to make sure it doesn’t catch on fire. If it DOES catch on fire … yell, scream, and freak out until Mr. B comes running over. 

  5. After the duh-duh noise from previous cuts, the next person can click File >> Print as you can cut off the fan and retrieve your lasercut!!

FIRE??? If it DOES catch on fire … yell, scream, and freak out until Mr. B comes running over. Post-fire, we open the garage door and point every fan OUT. Leave the exhaust fan on, even though we won’t lasercut for a bit!

 3d printing on a Bambu

  1. On the computer, double-click on “Bambu Studio”

6. Click “Eject”

  1. On the computer, left-click on “Create New Project.”

7. Click “Eject” again

  1. On the computer, left-click on the cube/plus button and select your .STL file without typing!!

8. Remove the USB drive and insert it below the screen on the left side

  1. On the 3d printer, click the 4th button down (that looks like a nut/bolt head)

9. Now you are ready to slice. Use the pull-down menu to change the button to “Slice all,” & then click “Slice all.”

  1. On the 3d printer, click “USB Storage”

10. Use the pull-down menu to change the button to “Export all sliced file,” & then click “Export all sliced file.”

11. Export it to the USB drive. PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR .gcode FILE’S NAME!

16. Choose your .gcode file.

12. Click the “Eject” button before removing the USB & reinserting it into the 3d printer.

17. Click “Next” button.

13. Click the “Home” button.

18. This is how you switch the colors.

14. Click “Files.”

19. Click the color that you want (Look at the actual spools … they might not match the pics on the screen!)

15. Click “External.”


20. Then click “Print.” It will take a second before guessing how long the print will take


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