Preparing your workshop before the laser machine arrives

A laser machine is not a device you unbox and plug in. It needs services around it, and the time to discover that the doorway is too narrow is not the morning the pallet arrives.

Work through this before delivery day. Every point here applies to every model; the figures that go with them are in the delivery information document for your machine, linked at the end.

Space around the machine

While the machine is running it needs no clearance at the left or the rear. Maintenance and repair are what set the space you need, and that is the figure to plan for, because a machine that is awkward to service is a machine that does not get serviced.

• The machine footprint, plus room to open the lid fully, plus the service clearance from the document.
• Access to the electrical cabinet, the laser source and the optics.
• Somewhere for the peripherals. The chiller, the extractor and the compressor all need a place, and the chiller needs air around it to shed heat.
• Somewhere to put sheets down before and after.

The machine stands on four adjustable feet, so a floor that is not perfectly level is not a problem. Its weight against your floor is, particularly above ground level.

Getting it into the building

This is what most often goes wrong on the day, and it is the part of the checklist we ask most about.

Measure the narrowest point on the route, not the doorway you think is narrowest. Measure it correctly, which means the smallest of these:

• the inside dimension of the door frame, if the door opens completely,
• the measurement up to the hinges, if they protrude,
• the measurement up to the door itself, if it does not open completely.

Then walk the rest of the route and note what the checklist asks for:

• Where the lorry can stop, and how far it is from there to the final position, inside and outside.
• The surface, outside and inside. Gravel, tiles and carpet all behave differently under a pallet truck.
• Thresholds, and how high they are.
• Ramps: length, height difference and slope, and whether the ramp turns.
• Lifts: internal dimensions, including the grab rails, and the weight limit.
• Whether pallet trucks are allowed, whether only specific ones are (rubber wheels, for instance), and whether you have one we can use.
• How many people can actively help on the day, and who our contact is.

The document asks for photographs of the surfaces. Send them; they answer questions a measurement cannot.

When a moving company is needed

Lifting the machine, or taking it up a ramp that is too steep, too narrow, split, or has a tight turn, is a job for a moving company rather than our mechanic. The document gives the exact thresholds for your model.

The largest machines are delivered by a transport company, and unloading is the recipient’s responsibility. Delivery including unloading is not ordered as standard, so tell us beforehand if you need it. For transport inside the building you arrange the forklift or crane, and getting the machine from the trailer to its position is yours to organise. Our mechanic can support that, but cannot carry it out.

If you ever need to move the machine later, read this first: things to know before moving your laser machine.

Power

The machine and its peripherals are powered separately. The second supply feeds the fume extractor, the air pump and the water chiller, so that they can be switched with the machine.

• The supplies must be on separate circuits. Putting them on one overloads it.
• Grounded sockets of a permitted type, within reach of where the machine will stand.
• A BRM Extractor changes the requirement. Ask us if you are having one.

Get any electrical work done in advance.

The computer that will drive it

• Windows or macOS, with administrator rights available during installation.
• A wired connection, either USB or network. Keep the USB run short and do not put a hub in the middle of it.
• The network connection does not use DHCP. It needs a fixed address in the same subnet as the machine, with no NAT traversal and no routing between VLANs.

Extraction

Decide this early, because it can involve building work.

• Ducting outside needs a route and an outlet, which may mean a wall or roof penetration. Check with your local authority whether you are allowed to discharge outside at all. If you are not, a BRM Extractor is the answer.
• Filtered recirculation needs no ducting but has a running cost in filters.

Shared extraction needs a spark arrester

If you connect the machine to an in-house extraction system that several machines share, fit a spark arrester.

The room itself also needs a minimum volume, so that natural fresh air can replace what is extracted. The figure is in the location checklist.

Extraction is not an optional extra to add later, and the machine should not be run without it. Background: laser fumes and why extraction is not optional.

Air supply

An air pump comes as standard, and a compressor is optional but preferred. The air pump can put flow vibrations into the edge of the product; tank-fed compressed air gives a continuous stream without them.

Cooling

• The chiller needs space around it and somewhere for its heat to go. A chiller in a cupboard cannot work.
• Have the right water ready on day one. Which water, and how much, is in the water chiller in top condition.
• If the room gets warm or humid in summer, read what temperature should the water chiller be set to? before you start. Condensation on the laser source is avoidable and expensive.

Ambient conditions

The workshop needs to stay within the machine’s ambient range all year. Too warm or too cold costs power and beam quality, and below freezing you risk water damage to the source and the pipework.

If the space is unheated, plan for that ahead of time rather than once it is cold: can the laser machine and water chiller withstand the cold?

Dust is worth thinking about too. A dusty workshop costs you optics.

Safety, before the machine arrives

• Put the machine in your organisation’s health and safety policy. The delivery document is written to help you do that.
• Have the right fire extinguisher within reach. A laser machine has electrical components, so a CO₂ extinguisher is what we recommend. Which fire class you are dealing with otherwise depends on the material being cut, so tell your fire prevention service what you process.
• Our standard rule: the operator stays near the machine while it is on. Never run it unattended.

What we need for support

• Remote support needs a computer with a working internet connection and administrator rights, both for the user and for our support software. We use ConnectWise Control, which is installed just before a session and uninstalls itself when the session ends.
• On-site support needs the service clearance from the first section actually clear when the mechanic arrives. If the mechanic has to make space to work, that is billed time.

Software and materials

So you can make something on day one:

• Install and license LightBurn ahead of time: how to install LightBurn and activating your licence.
• Have safe material to hand. Check anything you are unsure of against which materials can you cut with a CO₂ laser. The first day is a bad time to discover a sheet is PVC.

A short pre-delivery checklist

This is the summary. The binding version is the one in your delivery information document.

	Done
Delivery information document completed and returned to us	☐
Narrowest passage on the route measured, photographs sent	☐
Thresholds, ramps and lifts recorded; moving company arranged if needed	☐
Unloading arranged, since unloading is the recipient’s responsibility	☐
Floor space marked out, including service clearance	☐
Separate circuits and permitted sockets in place	☐
Computer ready, with admin rights and a fixed network address	☐
Extraction decided, permission checked, building work completed	☐
Space and water ready for the chiller	☐
Room temperature within range year-round	☐
Somewhere for peripherals and materials	☐
Software installed and licensed	☐
Safe test material available	☐
CO₂ fire extinguisher in reach	☐

The delivery information documents

Each model has its own document, with the dimensions, weights, clearances, electrical requirements, extraction capacities and the two checklists. These links always point to the current version, so bookmark the link rather than saving the file.

Machine	Delivery information
BRM Pro	BRM_DeliveryInformation_Pro.pdf
BRM Slim	BRM_DeliveryInformation_Slim.pdf
BRM Open Bed	BRM_DeliveryInformation_OpenBed.pdf

Each document ends with a checklist for the installation route and a checklist for the location. Both are mandatory: we send them during procurement, before the order is final, and a delivery is not scheduled until they come back completed.

If anything on this page is uncertain for your site, get in touch before the machine ships. A doorway problem is far easier to solve a week early than on the day.