Laser Cutting
How it works
Laser cutting works by firing a very high-powered beam of light that effectively burns its way through the material. Our machine can cut very accurately and in great detail with a beam width of just 0.4mm.
01/BED SIZE
Bear in mind material of this size will only just fit inside our laser cutter, with the laser able to cut around 10mm in from the largest dimension.
02/Cutting Width (Min)
This is the very minimum tolerance that is theoretically achievable. In reality, the focus of the laser is imperfect, and you should plan for around 1mm width cutting.
03/Cutting Depth (Max)
This is the maximum depth we can cut on most materials, and materials that are thinner than this will cut best.
Our Laser Cutter has a 1300mm x 900mm bed size and is capable of cutting and engraving pretty much anything up to 10mm thick, except metal and glass. For cutting thicker materials, take a look at our CNC Machine.
What we can do
Our machine, #motherfrickinlaser, is pretty clever, it can cut, kiss cut and engrave. These processes can be combined with a whole variety of materials, in endless combinations to create many exciting things.
Note: you may see a variety of different terms used by others to describe these processes — but this is how we describe them:
1. Cutting
Cut straight through something, following a vector path. The laser cuts a very clean line.
Note: If you cut wood, then it will leave a burnt edge, though this can be sanded away.
2. Kiss Cutting
Uses the same process as regular cutting, following vector paths but with less laser power allowing detail to be added quickly to the surface of a material.
3. Etching
Laser etching burns a design into the surface of the material or pre existing product. A bit like your printer at home it runs from side to side to build up an image line by line but instead of laying down ink the laser vaporises the surface of the material.
We can etch with a high level of detail and vary the depth of the etch too. We can even etch some materials that we are unable to cut such as glass, slate and coated metals.
Materials
These are the materials we can laser cut. We can source a whole range of materials for you. Your choice of material and the thickness are significant factors in the cost.
MDF
Acrylic
Leather / Fabric (except PVC)
Birch Plywood
Laser Plywood
Polypropylene
Wood
Veneered Plywood
Cardboard
Card/Paper
Cork
Glass (engrave only)
Slate (engrave only)
Recycled Plastic Sheets
Valchromat
Pricing
We need a design to work from to start the quoting process. To be able to accurately cost for a job we load the final design file into our software to see how long it will take to produce.
If required we can also charge for design files to be created.
Prices will vary depending on the materials involved and the effects desired.
Our Minimum Laser Project Cost is £100 + VAT
We offer discounted rates for large production jobs and 10% Student Discount.
Delivery – from £10 or free collection. Find us
Please note, Duke Makes is a cashless space and will only accept bank transfer or card payments for all services.
What we need
If you plan to provide your own files
The laser cutter runs from vector files. We can create these from other image files, however if you are not able to provide vector files then there will be additional setup costs for this process.
The best software to use is Adobe Illustrator. Ensure all lines are ungrouped and clipping paths are released and are single paths. We prefer .AI files but can work from .EPS, .DXF files and to a lesser extent SVG.
Filetypes to provide
As an exception, engraving only projects can be produced from a high resolution jpeg.
We have a handy template guide you can download to get you started and use to submit your files to us.
FAQ
Prices will vary depending on the materials involved and the effects desired and the time it takes to produce.
Our Minimum Laser Project Cost is £50 + VAT
As much as we love phone charades we really need a design to work from to start the quoting process.
To accurately cost for a job we load the final design file into our software to see how long it will take to produce.
Fill out our job enquiry form here with all your details and upload any artworks you have and we can get back to you with a quote.
Most projects can be completed within 2 weeks, however our booking times vary depending on busy periods. For a project to be expedited, if we have capacity , we charge an additional fast-track fee. Please get in touch with your artworks and details of the project and we will follow up from there on time and costs.
This is not something we offer.
However if getting hands on and creative is what you are after then you might be interested in booking an away day with your organisation or team.
Head to our Away Days page for more information on booking a team session. Or keep an eye out on our News and Events page for upcoming public workshops.
Ready to start a laser cutting job?