| Capabilities & Limitations
of Laser Cutting
With our custom laser cutting service, you can create custom,
two-dimensional latex overlays suitable for a variety of projects.
We can laser cut almost anything you can draw, including sharp
angles, smooth curves, smallholes, and complex lace designs.
Request a Quote Now!
- Online Form.
We can:
- Vector Cut - Vector Engrave and Rastor engrave parts up
to 11.5" x 23.5"
- Cut holes as small as the laser beam width, around 0.01"
- Use a variety of file types including AI, PDF, and JPG.
- Draw parts for you based on a sketch
- Cut just one part or thousands of parts, and anything
in between (we do provide price breaks)
- Pre-back parts with clear masking, low stick plastic for
easy application.
Matericals:
- Latex sheeting: Our specialty - We cut latex sheeting
between 0.20mm and 1.20mm thick. We have thousands of yards
of latex sheeting in a huge variety of colors and thicknesses
in stock at all times. Check
here for color avialability.
- Other Materials: We can also cut Wood, plastic, paper,
cardboard, leather, neoprene, cloth and other soft materials.
We can engrave Aluminum, steel, plastic, leather, glass,
wood, and more.
- We cannot cut metals, glass, polycarbonate (Lexan), carbon
fiber, or any material containing chlorine, including PVC
and vinyl.
Two-dimensional parts
- We can only laser cut two-dimensional parts at this time.
Laser Vector Cutting
- Vector cutting can cut clean through the latex, and backing
or be set to cut through the latex but leave the plastic
backing intact as a masking/locating guide.
- We will clean up the latex melt that results from vector
cutting, and lightly powder your part to avoid it sticking
to itself as latex is prone to do. You will have to simply
clean the back, apply glue and stick your overlay in place.
Then peel away the plastic backing to expose the "good
side" of the latex.
- You will need to clear away the off-cuts from your vector
cut overlay.
- See image to the right of a Vector cut overlay of our
logo (note that it is backwards so that it can be glued
and placed directly onto the project with the plastic backing
acting to locate the parts of the logo!) Click to enlarge.
Laser engraving (Vector and Rastor)
- We can do two types of laser engraving (also called laser
etching): vector engraving and raster engraving. Engraving
depths can range from barely scratching the surface to almost
going through the material; we can control the depths fairly
precisely, and can achieve what you need. In general, laser
engraving is suitable for marking material and thinning
narrow sections of latex to add stretch/transparency.
- Vector engraving is for etching lines that are the width
of the laser beam (around 0.01"); it is just like laser
cutting, but the laser does not cut all the way through
the material. Vector engraving is limited to line art.
- See image to the right of Vector Engraving of our logo.
Click to enlarge.
- Raster engraving is slower and more costly than vector
engraving, and is used for engraving bitmaps (JPG or GIF
files of logos, photos, etc.), text, and filled-in areas
of your vector drawing file. Raster engraving is more flexible;
you can engrave thin lines as well as recessed areas. The
laser blasts away material one pixel at a time, similar
to the printing process used by inkjet printers. We usually
raster engrave at 400 dpi, but we can use lower resolutions
and can also use 600 dpi and 1200 dpi settings.
Edges:
- The edges of latex cut with the laser will initially be
slightly sticky to the touch. This is caused by the melting
process of cutting latex. We clean away as much of this
sticky residue as we can, but there may be some residual
gummyness. This residue becomes less tacky over time as
it cures, and can be cleaned with regular rubber cement
thinner.
- The image to the right shows the residue left from cutting.
We clean up most of this mess, and the remainder cures over
time and will be cleaned away in the normal removal of powder
to prep for gluing. The residue does have a burned rubber
smell that dissipates over time. Rush shipments may still
have a burned rubber smell to them on arrival, this will
become less over time.
- The edges of some materials including wood, paper, felt,
and cloth, will get charred from the laser. The degree of
charring depends on the material.
- The back side might show more charring or some scorching
(the laser bounces off of the metal grill on which the material
sits and hits the back of the material, leaving scorch marks).
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