Laser cutting design guidelines.

Largest: 23.2 x 11.6 in (589 x 294 mm), in either direction. That is the reach of our laser. A bigger part still gets an instant price and can be ordered, but a person looks at it before it's cut and works out how to make it: on a larger machine, or in pieces that join. To talk it through first, send it through a custom quote.

Smallest: 1/4 in across its short side. Smaller parts can still be ordered, but a person looks at each one before it's cut: tiny parts can drop through the bed or move during the cut.

Leave at least 1/16 in (1.6 mm) of material between any two cuts: between holes, between a hole and the edge, and across thin bridges and fingers. A thinner web scorches, warps or snaps.

Our 26 part templates enforce this for you as you type the dimensions. In your own file, it's up to you, so check the tight spots before you export.

Every shape has to be closed. The laser follows the lines in your file, and it needs an unbroken loop to cut a part free. An outline with a real gap is an open line, and the quote stops until it's fixed.

Gaps under 0.1 mm, where lines almost meet, are narrower than the beam, so the quote closes them for you. An outline drawn twice, the copy within 0.5 mm of it, is cut once. Either way the quote says what it fixed, so check the preview. For a bigger gap, join the endpoints in your CAD or drawing app (or trim overlapping lines), then export again. If the quote finds no closed outline at all, the file likely holds only construction lines, text or an image.

A file can hold as many parts as you like. Each separate shape is its own part, checked and priced on its own, so a set of letters or a kit of brackets prices in one upload. Holes and cutouts inside a part belong to it: anything inside the outer outline counts as part of it.

The quantity counts sets: the whole file, once over. Size limits apply to each part, not to the layout, and you don't need to nest anything; we do that. Need 50 of one part? Draw it once and set the quantity rather than copying it.

A sheet already nested by your software can place small parts inside another part's hole. On a file of several parts, a shape inside a hole at least 1/4 in across is read as a part of its own.

Convert text to outlines before you export. The quote can't cut live text, because the font lives on your computer, not in the file. Text, images, dimensions and hatching are skipped and flagged, and a person checks the order.

In Illustrator that's Create Outlines, in Inkscape Object to Path; the file setup guide has the rest. Want text engraved rather than cut through? That's laser engraving, quoted by a person.

Artwork with outlined text is engraving, not cutting. Cut through, the middle of every O, A and 8 drops out, and so does anything inside a border ring. When a part has small shapes inside its cutouts, the quote stops and offers to send it to us as an engraving request instead of pricing every letter as a cut.

Draw at full size, 1:1, in inches or millimetres. A DXF that states its units is read in them. If it doesn't, the quote asks whether you drew in inches or millimetres.

An SVG is read in the units on its width and height (mm, cm, in, pt or pc). If it gives pixels or no unit, it's read at 96 pixels per inch, the web standard, and the quote says so. Either way, check the width and height shown next to the preview, and type the real size if it's wrong: the part scales and the price follows.

Draw every part at its finished size. The beam burns away a hairline of material along each cut, called the kerf, so holes come out a touch larger and outside edges a touch smaller than the line. On our CO2 laser it is about 0.1 - 0.2 mm (0.004 - 0.008 in), up to about 0.3 mm in 3/8 and 1/2 in acrylic. We cut on the line and don't compensate unless you ask.

Sheet thickness varies more than kerf: 1/8 in acrylic can run about 10% over or under. For tabs into slots, size the slot to the sheet, not the nominal number.

For most parts it doesn't matter. For press fits, tabs into slots, or anything with a tolerance, order one part to test before the batch, or send the job through a custom quote with the critical dimensions marked.

The instant quote takes DXF and SVG files up to 10 MB. In a DXF we read lines, arcs, circles, polylines, splines, ellipses and blocks. Anything else, like STEP models, PDFs or images, goes through a custom quote.

The quote offers acrylic in clear, colors and mirror, Baltic birch plywood, MDF, hardboard, Delrin (acetal) and polypropylene; the material picker lists every thickness.

We never put PVC and vinyl, polycarbonate, ABS (for cutting), HDPE and UHMW, G10, carbon fiber, neoprene and Viton on the laser. Some give off toxic gas; the rest melt or burn instead of cutting clean.