So now there’s no excuse, if you have a great idea, or are inspired by some of the fantastic laser cut design items out there, now you design your own and have them made for a fraction of the cost of what it once was:
Fred Aldous Offers Laser Cutting Facilities
Fred Aldous, the design, craft and art supplies store in Manchester, are now offering a laser cutting service to local designers.
Assuming designers already have the appropriate Illustrator files the set up cost is £5.00 and the cutting service is charged at £1.00 per minute (the laser cuts very fast – for example a plain circle cut from 3mm Perspex takes about 15secs so that would cost 15p). A higher charge would be incured if the staff at Fred Aldous needed to work on Illustrater files with those wishing to use the service.
Materials the laser can cut
Plastics:
-ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene)
-Acrylic (also known as Plexiglas, Lucite, PMMA)
-Deralin (POM, acetal)
-Kapton tape (Polyimide)
-Mylar (polyester)
-Nylon (melts badly)
-PETG (polyethylene terephthalate glycol)
-Polyethylene (PE) (melts badly)
-Polypropylene (PP) (melts somewhat)
-Styrene
-two tone acrylic (top colour different than core material, usually for custom instrumentation panels, signs, and plaques.)
Foam:
-Depron foam < often used for RC planes.
-EPM
-Gator foam (foam core gets burned and eaten away compared to the top and bottom hard shell)
Other:
-Cloths (leather, suede, felt, hemp, cotton)
-Magnetic sheets
-Papers
-Rubbers (neoprene)
-Teflon (PTFE, Polytetrafluoroethylene)
-Woods (MDF, balsa, birch, poplar, red oak, cherry, holly, etc.)
Materials the laser can not cut
-Metals (Can not cut through any metals. It can mark metal and it engraves black)
-Polycarbonate (PC, Lexan)
Any material containing chlorine
-PVC (Cintra) < contains chlorine
-Vinyl < contains chlorine
-Glass (it can engrave glass, but it can not cut it)
-Fiberglass
-Printed circuit board (FR4 and other material types)
-Carbon fiber
The laser cutter is ideal for local designers working on small scale objects or prototypes. To discuss your requirements please contact:
Paul Walker, Fred Aldous Ltd, 37 Lever Street, Manchester, M1 1LW
Open 8.15am to 5.15pm (closed Sunday); Tel: 0161 236 4224
fredaldous.co.uk
check out Ponoko
http://www.ponoko.com
Calder Cut also provide an excellent service. Used them many times to make my designs and always helpful. https://www.caldercut.com/
Calder Cut provide an excellent service, always very helpful! https://www.caldercut.com/