Laser cutting is a technology that uses a finely focused laser to cut and engrave onto a wide variety of materials. The path of the high powered laser is controlled by a computer using CAD or vector drawings.
A laser cutter is a very accurate and versatile piece of equipment and by using different techniques and settings the laser can create a range of stunning products and art pieces. The different techniques of using the laser are listed below.
When laser cutting the beam of the laser is directed by the lines of a vector file. The accuracy of the cut is incredibly precise allowing you to create beautiful, intricate objects cut out from wood, plastic and fabric.
The final cutting edge, unlike conventional techniques is very smooth and needs no additional finishing. Some materials like plywood and fabrics will be left with some scorching marks where the laser is literally burning away the material as it cuts.
Raster engraving reproduces the fills of your vector drawings or your image files. Much like a traditional printer, the laser moves back and forth over the material building up the image line by line.
By varying the speed, power and focus of the laser you can create deeper, or shallower impressions into the surface of the material. It is possible to produce engravings a few mm deep or just very, very lightly engraving the surface, even on paper!
Vector engraving follows the same principles used in laser cutting, but we program the power of the laser to just mark the surface of the material, instead of cutting right the way through.
This techniques is an effective way of recreating detailed line drawings or score/fold marks on cardboard. It is possible to use a combination of all three of these methods to create some stunning effects.
Photo engraving uses the principle of raster engraving to reproduce a photo like image etched into your chosen material.
By providing us with a high quality photo (300dpi) in greyscale we can program the laser to recognise each different shade of grey from white through to black and it will engrave each shade at a different depth producing some fantastic effects.