We now offer CO2 laser cutting services in Richmond, VA.
What is a Laser Cutter?
Laser cutters can cut or engrave materials with your design and retain the finest details.
Laser Engraving or Etching – the practice of using lasers to engrave an object. it can be a simple as text and line art or a three-dimensional image. We can handle engraving art up to 1,440 pixels per inch, but usually engrave around 400 pixels per inch.
Laser Cutting – a non-contact process which utilizes a laser to cut materials, resulting in high quality, dimensionally accurate cuts.
Designs
If you have the idea but not the design skills, we offer design illustration and file preparation for laser cutting.
If you have designed it yourself, Engravings are made from bitmap images. The grayscale level determines the depth of the area.
Cutting and etching is usually done with vector files made with design programs such as Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape.
Materials for Laser Cutting
Up to 2″ thick material at 20″ wide X 18″deep
Up to 1/4″ thick material 20″ wide x unlimited length with our pass-though slot. In this case, we cut and engrave one section at a time. Once a section is finished, we slide more of the material into the laser cutter and contine cutting and engraving.
Our laser cutter can handle some curved or wavy material.
We Can Handle the Following Materials:
| Material | Cut | Engrave |
|---|---|---|
| Hard Woods | X* | X |
| Soft Woods | X* | X |
| Leather | X | X |
| Acrylic (plexiglass) | X | X |
| Silicon | X | X |
| Fabric | X | X |
| Cardboard | X | X |
| Paper | X | X |
| Delrin(acetal) | X | X |
| Mylar | X | X |
| Rubber | X | X |
| Cork | X | X |
| Sandpaper | X | X |
| Food | X | X |
| Stone | X | |
| Slate | X | |
| Marble | X | |
| Rubber stamps | X | |
| Ceramic Tiles | X | |
| Glass | X | |
| Steel | X | |
| Aluminum | X | |
| Titanium | X | |
| Corian | X | |
| Anodized Aluminum | X |
And many other materials!
*The ability to cut varies by material. Our laser can cut some 1/2″ (13 mm) hardwood and acrylic; for other materials 1/4″ or thinner is best for cutting. We can discuss your project to determine the best course of action.
Types of Items That Can Be Cut & Engraved Using Laser Cutters**:
| Signage | Guest Books | Shadow Boxes |
| Cake Toppers | Oil & Vinegar Sized Bottles | Ornaments |
| Bookmarks | Coasters (Wood, Cork or Slate) | Napkin Rings |
| Rolling Pins | Wooden Coat Hangers | Awards |
| Photo Frames | Fleece Jackets | Wine Charms |
| Gift Boxes | Gift Tags | Invitations |
| Jewelry | Cheese Boards (Wood or Slate) | Ornaments |
| Bottle Openers | Business Cards | Canvas |
| Greeting Cards | Chargers | Scrapbook Pages |
Tablets, Smart phones, Laptops (with metal or glass surfaces) and so much more can be engraved with a laser cutter!
**We do recommend that clients have a spare item for us to test laser settings on. Carbon Fiber and many types of plastics do not fare well with CO2 laser cutting – mostly plastics such as PVC.