Term project: every student designs a badge, we cut all 300 in a week on the LP2 Safeguard, and they learn the process rather than just receiving an object.
How we ran it
- One laminated settings card on the wall for 3mm poplar ply — the only material in the cupboard, so nobody invents settings.
- Students prepared files in Inkscape, exported plain SVG, checked by me before cutting.
- Two students per session: one operating, one on the log sheet (name, material, settings, duration).
- Extraction checked on a tick sheet before each session.
Settings
Cut: 100% power, 10mm/s, 1 pass. Engrave: 40% power, 180mm/s, 800 DPI.
What worked
The log sheet. It felt bureaucratic for about two days and then became the thing that taught them process. Two students independently spotted that their engraves were faint and worked out the material had changed batch.
What I'd change
Budget more time for file prep. Cutting 300 badges took four hours. Fixing 300 SVGs with open paths and hairline strokes took considerably longer.
