Laser Cutting for Fun & Profit

I’ve been experimenting with laser cutting lately, and starting to get some results I like. It turned out to be more accessible than I expected, and what started as a single-purpose project is growing into an interesting creative outlet (You can follow my experiments on my Etsy store). Here’s what I’ve learned so far.

Why & What to Laser Cut Laser cutting is awesome. You create designs in some vector-based art program (such as Inkscape or Adobe Illustrator), send them to a giant computer-controlled laser, and out pops the shapes you drew. You have a ton of precision to play with, and a huge variety of materials to choose from. You can give your two-dimensional designs some depth, or create interlocking pieces for a 3D result.

Materials I’ve been working mostly with acrylic, which is light-weight, comes in a ton of colors, and relatively inexpensive (the images of my pieces on this page are all mirrored acrylic). You can do cool things with cardstock, wood, textiles, and other things too, but I’ve not gotten to that yet.

Software I started out using Inkscape, an open source vector-based art program. As I got into it a little more, I switched to Adobe Illustrator, and it makes things a ton easier. I love and support open source software, but Adobe does a really good job with their products, as far as features and ease of use. The nice thing is that there are a number of portable file formats, to transfer documents between programs (such as SVG).

Cutting As A Service I initially sent off the same design to two different cutting providers: Ponoko and Pololu. Ponoko has a very slick website, and has instant quotes, which is awesome. Pololu’s site was more of a barrier to entry for me, since I was uncomfortable with the process and unsure how to proceed. That said, the functionality their site provides is good, and there is some great info on their site if you can find it.

I now use Pololu exclusively, for two reasons. First, when I originally sent the design to both providers, I got the package from Pololu a little over a week later, and already had them working on an updated design before Ponoko even told me my design had been started. From that experience, I’d say Ponoko is heavy on style, and Pololu is heavy on substance. Gotta go with substance. As a bonus, the first thing Pololu does when you send them a design is to have a tech go over it, for the layout and quote. For an inexperienced designer like myself, having a trained pair of eyes on my project before anything gets cut is invaluable.

Profit One cool thing about laser cutting (like other CNC fabrication machines) is that once you have a cool design, you can systematically iterate on the design to improve it. When you have something you like, you can reproduce as many copies as you like, and often simple alterations (like scaling the size) don’t require a ton of work. As I work on my designs, I’ll update my Etsy store with what I’m working on. Check them out and let me know what you think!