Introduction to Laser Cutting

Laser cutting is a prototyping technique where a laser burns or melts away material to cut out parts from a flat piece of stock.

The Sherman Center Maker Space does not have easy access to a laser cutter, but outsourcing laser cut parts is fairly low cost. Visit Outsourcing Parts for more information.

Advantages:

1. Strong material selection. Materials can include, wood, many plastics, metal, and even composites like carbon fiber.
2. The prototyping process is fast. Since the act of laser cutting is quick, it's easy to iterate on parts.
3. Parts are cheap. Most laser cut parts are cheap to outsource and material is not super expensive.
4. Parts can be used in conjunction with sheet metal bending to create 3D parts.

Drawbacks:

1. Parts are limited to flat designs. Because all laser cutting is done from flat material stock, it can only create flat shapes.

Part Design:

• Parts need to be created from uniform thickness material (if created from one sheet of material)
• Parts need to fit together to create a 3D shape. See the box example below.

• If parts are going to be bent, see Designing for Sheet Metal
• Keep in mind that the laser on a laser cutter has a width which makes all part features slightly under sized

Tips

• Make sure the laser is properly calibrated for your material and its thickness, uncalibrated lasers will lead to poor cuts and burns.