What are the benefits of laser cutting?

Posted By Lucie Gaget on Apr 10, 2019 | 0 comments

You may know Sculpteo as an online 3D printing service, but do you know that we are also a laser cutting service? That’s right, our online laser cutting service is as simple to use as the 3D printing one: you just have to upload your 2D file, you’ll get an instant quote and receive your parts in a few days.

Digital manufacturing is the future, but do you know why you should now start to make the most of laser cutting? Let’s discover the benefits of laser cutting right now.

What is laser cutting?

How does it work?

Laser cutting or laser engraving, are two digital manufacturing techniques, available at Sculpteo. But do you know how they work?

Laser cutting is a digital manufacturing technology working on 2D vector files. The laser cutter is built of a laser resonator which, depending on the cutting method, contains either a gas mixture of a crystal body or glass fibers. The cutting process starts when energy is applied to the mixture, which is then sent through different mirror lenses focusing the laser.

What about laser engraving

The Laser Engraving is a subtractive fabrication method for altering the surface of an object in order to obtain the desired design, and it can be done on many different types of materials. There are two possible types of engraving, etching the surface and line engraving.

Why you should use laser cutting

Laser cutting is particularly effective when it comes to rapid production. Laser cutting is an amazing manufacturing technique. Here are all its advantages:

Laser cutting material choice

By using a laser cutting service such as Sculpteo you can access a great catalog of laser cutting materials. From plywood to acrylic, make the best choice to give life to your projects.

While choosing acrylic, for example, you will have a choice between 17 colors in different thicknesses!

Accuracy

Here is the main benefit of this manufacturing technique: it’s precision. Laser cutting offers accurate and complex but clean cuts, even for small details. Don’t forget to check the design guidelines of the material you chose before ordering your laser cut. Indeed, to make the most of this technology, you will have to respect these design guidelines to create the best product possible!

You can add details

While creating your project with laser cutting, you can also add laser engraving! Using these two techniques will be perfect to create products with a great finish and really good quality! For production, it can be a great advantage for you. With laser engraving, you can bring different depths and dimensions to your projects.

Freedom

Laser cutting offers freedom for the design and the quantities of product. Indeed, you can choose anything! For the design, once you have your software and respect the material design guidelines, you can do anything. There is almost no constraint while using this manufacturing technique.

How to use laser cutting?

Here are a few projects made using laser cutting:

Laser cutting and 3D printing to create a drone

You can also create projects using both 3D printing and laser cutting! Remember our drone project? This device has been created using these two digital manufacturing methods, which allows to make the most of the benefits of the two techniques.

Laser cutting furnitures

The Alex Hammond studio is a studio that is focused on product and packaging design, but they have decided to create some furniture as well. This tube table that is shown below, is made from laser-cut acrylic. The acrylic was cut from 3mm white acrylic. This cut was then placed between two sheets of strong glass to be mounted on a minimalist powder-coated steel frame giving the table its unique look.

Credit: http://www.cutlasercut.com/showcase/laser-cut-furniture-alex-hammond

Laser cut business cards

By using premium woods like Veneer plywood, Studio eQ laser cuts company logos and graphics in the neatest way possible. By laser cutting cards, the company takes business cards to a different dimension in card design – allowing companies to stand out from others! Might it be a good idea for your own business?

Credit: Source: Studio eQ

Are you ready to start your laser cutting project? Check out our top of the best free software to create your 2D file and our best tips for laser cutting, and once it is ready, you can upload it on our laser cutting service and get your instant quotation! What are you waiting for?

For more info about laser cutting, you can contact our sales team, and subscribe to our newsletter.