Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation Custom Laser Cutting Guide 1. Steps for Ordering Laser-Cut Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. Pricing for Laser Cutting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. Materials for Laser Cutting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. Capabilities and Limitations of Custom Laser Cutting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. Instructions for Laser Cutting File Setup . . . . . . . . . .
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation 1. 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 five business days, and we can ship as quickly as the same day. Here are the steps involved in making a custom part: 1. You prepare CAD or other drawing files of your custom part. (See Section 5 for information on preparing your files.) 2.
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation 2. Pricing for Laser Cutting The cost of a laser-cut part is determined by how long the parts take to cut on the machine, the amount of labor 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 that takes hours to cut).
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation Expediting costs for laser cutting The standard turn time for most parts is 3-5 business days assuming you do not need many hundreds or thousands of parts. If you need the parts more quickly, we generally charge 20% – 50% more per expedited day depending on the standard turn time (the percentage is such that the minimum turn will cost double the standard turn price).
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation 3. Materials for Laser Cutting We can laser cut plastics, woods, rubbers, foams, papers, and thin metals as long as they do not contain chlorine. Depending on the material, there is usually no limit to the thinnest sheet we can cut, and the thickest sheet we can cut is typically 1" (24 mm).
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation ◦ Woods (MDF, balsa, birch, poplar, red oak, cherry, holly, etc.) – we stock 3 mm birch plywood; for other types of wood, try Midwest Products [http://www.midwestproducts.com/]. Materials we cannot laser cut We do not or cannot cut the following materials: • Most metals – We cannot cut most metals. The two exceptions are thin sheets of stainless or spring steel (up to 0.060" thick).
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation Opaque black acrylic #2025. Translucent red acrylic (#2283 or similar). Transparent fluorescent red acrylic #2085. Transparent red acrylic #2423. Red mirrored acrylic. Transparent yellow acrylic (#2208 or similar). Translucent green acrylic (#2108 or similar). Green mirrored acrylic. Transparent green acrylic #2092. Transparent fluorescent green acrylic #2154. Translucent dark-blue acrylic (#2114 or similar).
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation Translucent blue acrylic #2051. Transparent light-blue acrylic #2069. Sapphire blue mirrored acrylic. Translucent turquoise acrylic #2308. Transparent gray acrylic (#2064, #2074, or similar). Opaque white acrylic #3015. Translucent white or “sign white” acrylic #7328. Very translucent white acrylic #2447. Transparent clear acrylic. Transparent amber acrylic #2422. Translucent orange acrylic #2119.
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation Translucent brown acrylic #2418. Translucent ivory acrylic #2146. Pink mirrored acrylic. Translucent pink acrylic #3119. Purple mirrored acrylic. Translucent violet acrylic #2287. Two-tone acrylic stocked: We also stock two-tone acrylic with either a black top and white core, or a brushedaluminum top and black core (in both 1/8" and 1/16" thicknesses).
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation Acrylic is manufactured in two main ways: via casting or extrusion. Extruded acrylic has a lower melting point than cast acrylic, so extruded acrylic tends to have a shinier, polished finish when cut. We mainly stock extruded acrylic for this reason. However, we do stock some cast acrylic since cast acrylic is better for engraving (the engraved portions of cast acrylic become a milky-white, sand-blasted version of the original color).
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation cut thicker ABS, but we have not tried. The thickness in inches of ABS is nominal; the actual thicknesses are in millimeters and vary by + or – 10% within the same sheet. ABS does not come masked. If you would like us to mask it during cutting, please request this in the special instructions section of our quote request form. ABS is opaque to infrared light (IR), so it can be used for IR-sensing applications.
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation If a material supplier is shipping to us directly, please be sure they include your full name and quote number in the attention line in the address. If possible, the shipping receipt, label, invoice, or packing list should also include your day-time phone number. Please instruct the supplier to select the flattest material and ship it flat, not rolled, folded, or bent.
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation 4. Capabilities and Limitations of Custom Laser Cutting With our custom laser cutting service, you can create custom, two-dimensional plastic parts suitable for a variety of projects. We can laser cut almost anything you can draw, including sharp angles, smooth curves, small screw holes, and complex lace designs, and we can also laser engrave text, logos, and photos onto your parts.
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation You might try Weld-On acrylic adhesives for gluing acrylic/Plexiglas parts. Hardware stores usually carry thick, black glue for gluing ABS parts. You must take care when drilling holes in acrylic, which is brittle and tends to crack (it is better to have us laser-cut small screw holes). ABS, PETG, styrene, and wood are easier to machine by hand.
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation part so that the dimensions you control are slightly too big or too small (so that to achieve a tight fit, you might have to either sand some parts, or use glue or add some shims). • 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.
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation 5. Instructions for Laser Cutting File Setup We will be adding more tutorials, instructions, and tips for setting up your laser-cut parts. In the meantime, please read the following information before sending us a file for a quote [http://www.pololu.com/laserquote/ new]: Accepted file types for laser cutting We use CorelDRAW X6 to draw and laser-cut parts.
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation area, we can use any sheet size up to 48" x 48" sheet, in which case the layout must have at least a 1/4" border all the way around. ◦ 11.75" x 11.75" ◦ 11.75" x 23.75" ◦ 23.75" x 23.75" ◦ 23.75" x 35.25" ◦ 23.75" x 47.75" • Laying out your own parts – If you would like to lay out your own parts, please include the layout in a different area in your file (away from the single copies of each unique piece) and label it as your layout.
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation Laser engraving file set up instructions We can do two types of laser engraving (also called laser etching): vector engraving and raster engraving. Please note the following when setting up your files for engraving: • Vector engraved lines should be indicated with different RGB colors (each color indicating a different engraving depth) as shown in this file of a pentominoes puzzle set with vector-engraved solutions shown in red.
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation Programs for drawing laser-cut parts We use CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X6 to draw and cut parts. We can also open files from a variety of other programs (please see our accepted file types above). If you need a program to draw your parts in vector-format, here are a few free trials or completely free programs to try: • Open Office Draw: This free vector-graphics drawing software is part of a free office suite, OpenOffice.org [http://www.openoffice.
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation QuantityMaterial Description 1/8" clear 2 Circle diameter 3" acrylic 1/16" 5" x 5" square with four 1/8"-diamter mounting holes in the corners (center of mounting holes 8 black should be 1/2" away from the corners of the square) ABS 1/16" Circle diameter 10" with 1/4" center hole, will supply the Delrin in 12" x 12" sheets, will ship a 10 white few extra sheets just in case, material will be coming from McMaster-Carr Delrin • If you are drawing a s
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation 6. Examples of Custom Laser-Cut Parts We can cut almost any two-dimensional part that you can draw.
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation This custom laser-cut chassis is designed to work with a pair of GM7 Gearmotors [http://www.pololu.com/product/183] and our laser-cut wheels [http://www.pololu.com/product/360]. The cutting work consists of two 3.0" x 2.4" acrylic plates that sandwich the two gearmotors. Cross-shaped cutouts on both plates accommodate plastic tabs on the gearmotors to lock them into place securely.
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation Once we have laser cutting file, we can easily re-use the same file to cut a smaller or larger version of the part — we could cut the same design to be as wide as 35". The intricate design, geometric nature, and small size of the piece would make it difficult to cut by hand but is no problem for the laser cutter. In fact, the laser cutter can cut any scroll saw pattern and produces beautiful fretwork from various woods and plastics.
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation As you can see from the picture to the right, the assembled pterosaur has a whopping 4-foot wingspan. It is comprised of 21 two-dimensional pieces laser cut from 1/8" acrylic. Each piece of the puzzle has slots for connecting to other pieces; all the parts fit snugly so the pterosaur stays intact. Mounting holes in the head and spine are available for hanging the completed 3-D dinosaur puzzle from the ceiling.
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation 6.d. Laser Cutting Example: Servo-Driven Sumo Robot This custom sumo robot chassis is propelled by two radio-control hobby servos modified for continuous rotation. The five laser-cut components consist of top and bottom panels, two identical side panels that hold the servos, and a front shovel panel (see drawing below).
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation 6.e. Laser Cutting Example: Pentominoes Puzzle With Engraved Solutions Laser cutting is a perfect process for making your own custom brain teasers and puzzles that involve tessellations (mosaics or tilings that cover a plane without gaps). For this example, we made a pentominoes puzzle out of transparent blue acrylic.
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation CAD drawing for the laser-cut pentominoes puzzle. In this case, it is helpful for you to lay out your own parts. One-time laser cutting file creation fee (since customer could only provide a photograph): $35.00 ONE of this custom architectural ornament shipped to you for: $25.00 TWO of this ornament for: $34.00 6.f. Laser Cutting Example: Calculator Robot Chassis Norland Research [http://www.smallrobot.
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation Pricing CAD drawing of the calculator robot chassis. One set (minimum order applies): $25.00 Two sets (discounted cutting rate for longer cutting time): $35.00 6.g. Laser Cutting Example: Acrylic Cat Logo This custom laser-cut logo for Anna started as a pencil sketch on a cocktail napkin. To laser-cut any design, we need a vector-format drawing file.
Custom Laser Cutting Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation Laser cutting is a great way to make unique, personal gifts, or even works of art. If you have a creative design but it is only on paper, we can help you take your idea from sketch to fabrication. Pricing Scanned sketch used to create the logo. ONE piece out of 1/4" black acrylic: $31.00 One-time laser cutting file creation fee (since customer could only provide a sketch): $38.00 6.
