Laser cutting

design in Illustrator –> laser cutter template on fablab page
focus button on cutter, push to focus, arrows to move up and down, focus tool gap line up with carriage
material must be flat
line weight and colour important: 0.1 mm – CYMK colours: red to cut through, Blue for surface cut/engraving, grayscale for rasterised colouring
don’t use masks on illustrator as laser cutter will cut them out too
two types of extraction, bed extraction for light/soft materials –> two switches down on wall and red lever turned to left
push play button to start
pause button to stop laser, moves it back to rest position
push resume to continue, play would start all over again
laser must be booked with the file timed
clean bed after using it

Below are some examples of laser cutting from the fablab. I was particularly interested in those as they allow by design to expand from a small size to cover a much larger surface. In regards to sustainability this is a concept that allows the usage of less to achieve more.

laser cutting sample from the fablab

fablab laser cutting sample

fablab laser cutting sample

Faith’s post it idea wall at the fablab

table display with books and samples laser cutting

laser cutting sample from the fablab

fablab laser cutting sample

fablab laser cutting sample

In one of the displayed books I also found examples of the applied to garments, where via laser cutting the 3D body shape is achieved without any darts. I then experimented with that concept at home using paper and scalpel.

However, I didn’t just want to have geometric lines, but some kind of pattern I could reuse for other designs as well. So I searched the internet for suitable patterns. I found a rose pattern, which I liked so I tried to laser cut it. Due to the complexity of the design however, it would have taken 4 hours for a piece about 15×20 cm, so I only tried a bit. It looked amazing lying down, but a lot of pieces were completely cut out, so it all fell apart.