Laser cutting at Mithras
THINGS HAVE CHANGED!
Welcome to 2024! It seems fitting that with the new year, there are new laser cutting guidelines and prices as follows.
Files should be bought on USB stick to be checked by a technician; they must be in the format outlined in the ‘Drawing your work’ section below.
Students must watch/wait with the laser cutter whilst their work is being cut.
450mm x 800mm - Maximum job size on the laser cutter is, please also consider the material size
6mm - Maximum material thickness. *Dependant on material
Materials will be charged before the laser cutter is started, you will be charged per ¼ sheet of material used. (please see prices below for whole sheets)
MATERIALS WE SUPPLY
Prices are per sheet of material in the given dimensions, you will be charged per 1/4 sheet of material used for stock materials.
MDF (800 x 450mm sheet)
2mm MDF* £2.40
3mm MDF* £2.40
3mm MDF – BLACK* £7.00
4mm MDF* £3.60
6mm MDF* £4.80
BIRCH PLY (800 x 450mm sheet)
0.8mm Birch Ply* £23.00
1.5mm Birch Ply* £20.80
3mm Birch Ply £31.00
POPLAR PLY (800 x 450mm sheet)
0.8mm Premium Poplar Ply £23.00
1.5mm Premium Poplar Ply £21.00
3mm Poplar Ply* £6.80
4mm Poplar Ply £8.40
6mm Poplar Ply £11.40
CLEAR ACRYLIC (600 x 400mm sheet)
1mm Clear Acrylic £22.00
2mm Clear Acrylic* £7.40
3mm Clear Acrylic* £9.00
4mm Clear Acrylic £12.00
5mm Clear Acrylic £15.20
PREMIUM ACRYLIC (600 x 400mm sheet)
3mm Coloured Acrylic* £12.60
3mm Frosted Acrylic £12.60
3mm Glass Acrylic £12.60
OTHER MATERIALS
0.9mm Laser Board* £4.00 (600 x 400mm sheet)
1.5mm Bamboo £14.40 (600 x 400mm sheet)
2.3mm Laser Rubber £10.00 (210 x 297mm sheet)
*Materials we try to keep in stock.
Please be ready to pay by Unicard.
Prices Updated Dec 2023.
DRAWING YOUR WORK
All line weights should be hairline or the thinnest possible (less than 0.1mm)
Make sure you remove fills from lines and delete construction or duplicate lines
Colours should be as follows and are RGB colours (not CMYK):
Cut Through (100% cut through)
Red (RGB colour – R 255, G 0, B 0)
Score line/ Etch line (approx. 10% cut through)
Blue (RGB colour – R 0, G 0, B 255)
Surface Etch/ Raster etch (text fill and images)
Black (RGB colour – R 0, G 0, B 0)
FILE FORMAT
Files must be vector based (CAD lines not images). Please use PDF file format, exported at the right scale.
Vectorworks: Export as PDF. Please make sure you unlock the password otherwise it won't open.
AutoCAD: Either PDF correctly scaled or as DWG. If using DWG you will need to draw a bounding box around your file that will be 800 x 450mm when it goes on the laser cutter.
DXF files can work but you will need to make sure you know what scale factor to use of you need to resize.
Please ensure that your files are correctly drawn and formatted or they cannot be cut.
GETTING YOUR WORK CUT
Bring your file on USB drive to the Workshop. A member of the Tech Team will check your work and book your cutting in for a time slot. It may not be on the day you bring your file to be looked at. You may also need to go away and redraw parts based on the initial discussion. You must be available to stay with the laser cutter while it runs. Some jobs can take up to an hour to complete.