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Are you are considering having parts laser cut for a project?

• This information is to help you understand some of the challenges you will need to consider.
• Our machine capacity is limited to 600 mm x 400 mm x 200 mm deep.
• We can cater for cylinder engraving such as glasses.

What we can do for you:-

• Accept a sketch, photograph, solid object, in fact anything that tells what it is you wish to achieve for us to prepare a file and produce the required parts.
• Advice on how to proceed with the preparation of files to cut/engrave your project.
• Accept completed files ready for cutting/engraving.

Steps for ordering laser cut parts:-

Once you have a design for a custom part, getting it laser cut is simple.

Upon receiving your design, we typically ship within 7 working days   

Here are the steps involved in making a custom part:

1. You send us your custom part designs via email.
2. We email you a quote within 5 working days.
3. The email will include a PDF of your parts.
4. You verify the PDF file.

• If there are changes needed, you let us know and we go back to step 2.

5. We will invoice you through PayPal or directly for the parts. You make a payment via or by direct deposit. (banking details provided on direct invoice.)
6. We cut the parts and send them to you!

Now that you know the steps involved, you can...

Get started laser cutting:-

Get a quote

The cost of a laser cut part is determined by how long the parts take to cut on the machine, the amount of labour involved (unloading and verifying parts), and the amount of risk involved in cutting a part (multiple medium-sized pieces are less risky to cut than a single large piece which takes hours to cut).

We require a test file in an appropriate file format in order to provide an accurate quotation.

Getting an estimate

It is difficult to estimate a one-off job unless it is similar to something we have done in the past utilising similar materials.

Your chosen materials may also be an unknown factor.

Laser cutting cost:

Cutting is a VECTOR process in laser speak.

Here are some factors that affect the price of laser cut parts:

• The laser cutting charge is based on the time it takes to cut the parts, which depends on the material type and thickness. For example:
• cutting 1.5 mm acrylic, wood or card  cut length 200mm,  time about 30sec - Cost  $0.50  
• cutting .5 mm  plastic, card  cut length 200 mm,  time about 10sec - Cost  $0.20
• There is a $3 minimum charge per unique part and a $1 minimum per additional copy of each part. We do lower these minimums for simple parts or for large quantities.

 

Laser engraving cost:

Engraving is a RASTER process (in laser speak.)

• Raster a 10mm square low heat fast time, about 30sec - Cost  $0.50  
• Raster a 10mm square medium heat medium speed, time about 50sec - Cost  $0.80  
• Raster a 10mm square high heat slower speed, time about 5min - Cost  $5  This would result in considerable depth of engraving up to about 1.5mm deep on thicker materials.

Material costs:

We stock:

• Plastics PET-G  0.5 mm 0.7 mm 0.9 mm 1.0 mm & 1.5 mm.
• Multi layer multi colour plastics for sign and panel detailing in .9 mm and 1.5mm.   
• A wide range of laminated card in a multitude of thicknesses.

All of which we sell by the area used including testing.  Cost in small areas less than 100mm x 100mm range from a few cents to $2 or $3 more for larger areas.

You may also mail us your own material or have a supplier ship it to us directly.

Minimum order:

There is a $15 minimum order per material type (the minimum includes charges for labour and materials). We lower this minimum if your design is simple or if your quantities are large.

Shipping:

We will add shipping costs to any charges.

File creation:

$60 per hour plus GST if applicable with a $15 minimum.

Handling fee:

Large or delicate parts that require custom packaging will incur a handling charge, which can range from $10 - $50.

Exceptions:

We do make exceptions to our minimums and pricing depending on the parts. If your parts are particularly simple to handle and cut, we will provide more competitive pricing. On the other hand, we are less likely to discount our rates if your parts are more difficult or risky to cut, such as:

Single large or complex parts that take a long time to cut.

Parts that involve a lot of careful or tedious handling (such as very small or fragile parts), which are more time-consuming to verify and unload from our machines.

Parts that have many small, sharp, acute angles and small details (such as the frills in a dress), which tend to melt back into the scrap plastic and become difficult to remove from the sheet.

Parts that have many disjoined cuts (such as an array of small holes or a lace pattern), which take longer to cut since the laser cutting head has to stop and move from cut to cut more often than when it cuts along a continuous path.

To request an estimate that includes file creation, please submit a standard file type and form that communicates exactly the part you need. The file can be any file type that we can read, such as a text file with a written description, a scan of a hand sketch (JPG, GIF, BMP, PDF), a mock-up in Word, Paint, or Excel, etc. For more information, please see our topic on setting up your sketch or mock-up.

Material choice:-

We list various materials under MATERIALS heading on our website.

We cannot cut metals, however some metals can be marked or labelled.

Anodised aluminium marks very well for labelling and the likes.  

Problem materials

Multi veneer quality plywood thicker than 1 mm with resorcinol glue (waterproof glue  for, boats and aircraft) is difficult to cut and is inclined to surface char especially with multi passes.

Domestic plywood (no resorcinol glue) with thick centre veneer and very fine surface veneers are much more successful up to 6 mm thick. 

Soft materials

Balsa wood, timber veneers, plywood, customwood and card benefit greatly from fixing (sealing) before removing from surrounding waste materials and other parts.

How it all works and things to understand:-

File construction:

The laser beam kerf is the one constant.  When working with all material the only thing that changes the kerf is the time the laser spends penetrating the materials. The thicker the material the more tapered the cut is likely to be.  Thinner materials generally cut with less         taper  or are so thin so as not to matter.

Detail 1 & 2 above are created with vector function at lower temperature and faster traversing the materials.   Specify depth by dimension or percentage of material thickness.

1. Vector cut with enough heat to penetrate the materials. Slight taper.
2. Vector cut without enough heat to penetrate the materials. Slight taper and closing at the bottom.
3. Vector cut with enough heat to penetrate the materials and a second pass removing some of the taper.