What is laser cutting and what can be cut with a laser cutter?

Laser cutters use a laser beam to cut materials and are typically used for industrial manufacturing applications. The cut works by directing the output of a high power laser at the material to be cut. The material melts (in the path of the beam), burns, vaporizes or is expelled by a gas jet, leaving edges with a high quality surface finish. Those CNC machines use a computer and cutting software that takes a design file and implements it into the material to be cut to produce the desired cut.

Laser manufacturing supports cutting a pattern within a pattern. Here are some of the materials a laser cutter can cut:

Plastics: including acrylics, ABS, Lucite, plexiglass, mylar, Kapton tape, and styrene

Wood: The laser cutter can cut designs in wood, including personalized pencils, wooden jewelry, wooden picture frames, furniture, and more.

Foam: XPS foam for RC planes, Depron foam, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), styrene. Other material: clothing, paper, rubber.

It enables a level of precision and complexity not possible using conventional machining tools. It is ideal for cutting semi-rigid and soft flexible materials. The laser cutter uses powerful, high-density light energy that passes through its laser beam, which in turn burns the material. The laser beam is typically 0.2 mm (0.008 in) in diameter at the cut surface, rated at 1,000 to 2,000 watts.

It will produce any 2D shape, including cutouts and shape inserts, using a CAD file. Its main advantages are high precision, good quality of cuts, high processing speed, low deformation of the cut material, and the ability to cut small holes and small material (up to 1 m in size). However, cutting thick sheets of foam will result in a much slower production time than cutting thin layers. Also, each machine has its own thickness of material that it can cut. If the sheet to be cut is thicker than the capabilities of the laser cutter, the cuts should be made in layers and then glued together.

There are countless industries and markets that use it to make products: prototyping, furniture, packaging, instrument and case inlays, construction, robotics, jewelry, ornaments, personalized gifts, computer case parts, scale model parts , RC models, art pieces, signs, custom letters and logos and much more.

Anyone interested in a cutting project done with a laser cutter should put together their design and submit it in CAD file format to the cutting service company. They in turn will review the file to determine if it is compatible with the laser cutter and requested material. A laser cutting setup is then needed, including adjusting the power and speed for the laser beam to cut through the material. The laser cutter connected to the computer will read the CAD file as coordinates and cut according to the drawing.