Laser cutting is a production process that allows you to cut into flat materials or etch into the surface of materials with extreme accuracy and intricacy. All laser cutting stems from digitally drafted vector designs, created using software like Adobe Illustrator or AutoCAD. The cutting process is quite quick, much quicker than 3D printers, much more precise than hand cutting, and extremely more versatile than die cutting. Best suited for custom manufacturing applications, laser cutters can mark material in three ways: cutting, raster etching, and vector etching.
Cutting
The most standard application, laser cutters can cut through material into an infinite variety of shapes. Depending on the strength of laser cutter, there is a limit to the thickness of material and type of material that the laser cutter can cut all the way through. All shapes for cutting must be generated through vector based software, meaning the shapes have an editable path composed of directional nodes that can be scaled and edited. There is a slight kerf to most CO2 laser cutters, meaning that there is a small “thickness” of material removed as the beam as it burns through it. This kerf is very small (0.08mm-1mm), and vector files can be adjusted accordingly for applications where exact dimensions are necessary, such as slots or notches for joining multiple materials.
Raster Etching
Aside from cutting through materials, laser cutters can also engrave into the surface of materials at various depths. Raster etching is typically used for decorative or descriptive markings, like signage or artful images, but it can also be used to add depth to components for structural applications. The depth of etching is determined by adjusting power settings and can be adjusted by color spectrums of the raster image, meaning that a grayscale image will etch black areas deeper/darker than lighter areas. Raster etching tends to be quite a bit more time intensive than vector cutting, as it requires the laser head to move back and forth like a plotter to remove material in consecutive rows. Raster files are pixel based, such as .jpg’s or .png’s, and can be generated in a wide variety of programs. Vector shapes that are designed to have colored fills or stroke thicknesses will register as raster data which will etched as well.
Vector Etching
Very similar to vector cutting, vector etching allows the laser to quickly mark material without cutting all the way through by using low power settings. Vector etching can be used to score non-rigid material for folds, and it can be used to in a decorative way to mark thin lines on material that has a different aesthetic than raster etching. Vector etching can be very useful to provide visual marks that help streamline assembly methods, and it provides a quicker alternative to cutting and raster etching.
These three functions can be used simultaneously for laser cut manufacturing, and they can be used for a variety of effects determined by the material and custom application. Have a specific material and application in mind? Contact my factory, Calibrated Maximalist, with your project details and I’d be happy to answer your questions and provide an estimate for my laser cutting services.
Continue Learning!
If you are excited to start building your product but don’t how to begin, don’t be intimidated! Maker’s Row offers a suite of introductory courses for first-time designers. If you want detailed instructions through the pre-production and production processes, register for our Prototyping 101, Production 101 and Sourcing 101 courses. Our Academy distributes these educational guides for free! Over the duration of each course, expect a new lesson in your inbox each day.
