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Tips for Preparing Files for Laser Cutting

If you want to create your design using a program such as CorelDRAW, Adobe Illustrator, or TurboCAD, here are some tips for designing your parts:

For small parts, we accept .dxf, .cdr, .ai, .eps, other drawing files and many other vector drawing file formats. If in doubt, send your original. most programs let you "save as" or "export" to this file type).
For parts larger than 300mm x 450mm, please send an original file or fax, or drawing file that uses only straight lines and circular arcs (you can approximate any curve using many small, circular arcs; please contact us if you need help with this).
Give your file a unique name (the part name, your name, but not "laser_cut_part").
Draw thin black lines where you want the laser to cut; the laser will cut down the centre of your lines.
Include a 25mm square for a size reference, and include just the outline of your parts (no dimensional information). TIP: See our Ezine on drawing in Contours
Send one file that includes one copy of each set, indicate how many of each you need, and the material from which it should be cut. Please make sure to leave enough space around every part so that we can easily select them by dragging a rectangle around them. See our Ezine on Minimum Spacing 8mm
We may need to adjust for the kerf (the thickness of the laser beam), which is about 0.010". For example, if you would like a hole of diameter 20mm", draw a hole with a diameter of 9.9". If you would like a circular part with a diameter of 80mm, draw a circle with a 7.95mm diameter. (These numbers are approximate and can vary depending on the material and its thickness.)
The largest part we can laser cut is 3600mm x 1200mm, and we can fit even larger pieces of material by rotation methods developed by our laser operators.
We can do two types of laser engraving: vector engraving and raster engraving. Engraving depths can range from barely scratching the surface to almost going through the material; we cannot control the depths very precisely, but we will try our best to achieve what you need.
Vector engraving is for etching lines that are the width of the laser beam (around 0.09mm); it is just like cutting, but the laser does not cut all the way through the material. Lines to be vector engraved should be indicated with different RGB colors (each color indicating a different engraving depth).

! Please group all items of the same color and indicate the approximate engraving depths that you would like for each color.

 
Raster engraving is slower and more costly, and is used for engraving bitmaps (.jpeg or .gif files of logos, photos, etc.), text, and filled-in areas of your vector drawing file (note that a filled-in figure you want engraved should not have a thin outline since the laser will cut along that outline). The laser blasts away one pixel at a time, similar to the printing process used by inkjet printers. The depth of the engraving is specified by the gray-scale color of the pixel (black gets engraved the deepest, gray is engraved to medium depth, and white is left un-engraved). Please specify the depth of the black (deepest) portions of your image and color everything else with the appropriate grays (50% black will get engraved about half as deep as the black portion).

In general, artwork files for laser cutting require indepth knowledge, if suitable, let us set up files for you at cheaper art design costs.

• We are always happy to work to designs provided by our clients. But, if you don't have the resources to produce the designs, we can do it for you. QuickSmart Laser Cutting Services has a creative art and design facility to translate your ideas into effective, eye-catching images.