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Laser Cutting Basics
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Detailed Intricate Cutting
Laser cutting materials with a CO2 laser allows you to create intricate designs and highly detailed inlays with a low-cost, highly profitable tool.
Attached to your computer just like a printer, the laser will cut designs you create in most graphic software programs. Set up your page size to the size of the piece you are engraving, create your image, and print it to the laser - it will even engrave the material with the same system!
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What materials can I cut with a laser?
You can cut through wood, acrylic, plastic, delrin, cloth, leather, matte board, melamine, paper, mylar, pressboard, rubber, wood veneer, fiberglass, cork, corian, and many other materials! If you have a material you would like us to test, send it to our Applications Lab and we'll see how it works with the laser.
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The Advantages of Laser Cutting
There are many advantages to laser cutting over other cutting methods methods. The laser creates a beam of light that is used to cut through the material, so there is no part of the laser system in contact with the material you are cutting, so gravity can hold the material in place. For thinner materials, all Epilog laser systems include an Integrated Vacuum Table to hold down papers, fabrics, and thin plastics as you cut through the material.
Laser cutting produces a crisp cut that works well with a multitude of materials. On acrylic, you can achieve a clear, shiny edge, while on fabrics the laser will sear the fabric so that it won't unravel.
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How do I connect the Laser?
The laser cutter is connected to a computer via an Ethernet or USB connection. A print driver, provided with the laser, is installed on your computer. Insert the Driver CD in your computer, and it will prompt you to load your laser system and walk you step-by-step through the process. You can create your artwork in a graphics program, such as CorelDRAW using scanned images, clipart, text, or any other graphic. As you work with the laser more and more, you will be able to create more complex projects!
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Image to Cutting in 3 Easy Steps
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In graphic software, draw or import your shape to be cut. In this example, we are cutting an intricate gate out of 1/8" alder.
The laser system will engrave and cut with the one system, so to let the laser know that the lines we have on screen are to be cut out, we set them to .001". The laser reads all lines below .001" as lines to be cut.
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Place your sheet of wood on the laser table and print the image to the laser. The system is hooked up to your computer just like a printer. Set a speed and power in the print driver for the material you are cutting, and send it to the laser.
The laser will automatically adjust to the correct height based on the thickness of the material you are cutting or engraving.
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The final product is an intricately cut set of 4" tall gates. As you can see, the laser does a beautiful job with the scroll work and fine detailing. You can use clipart, logos, AutoCAD files, and most other graphic files.
Create wooden photo frames, plaques, inlays, and much more - the opportunities are endless! And the same laser system will also engrave and cut acrylic, plastic, leather, rubber, and many more materials, as well as permanently marking metal.
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