Physical Computing and Fabrication

2D Modelling for Laser Cutting

A laser cutter uses computer numerical control (CNC) to read graphic information from your computer and cut or engrave it into material using a laser beam. The laser optics are usually set up to direct the laser beam from one angle (usually from the top down). It moves along an X and a Y axis.

Video of the laser cutting a box: https://vimeo.com/130159461

Whether the laser cuts or engraves the material depends on the way in which the file is set up—it can run the laser using raster engraving and/or vector cutting.

Files for this can basically be prepared in any program that supports these two types of graphic formats (such as Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop, SketchUp, Microsoft Paint, etc.).

We’ll now walk you through what such files might look like in Corel Draw on a PC, Illustrator on a Mac, and also how you can translate a 3D model of a box in Rhino to flattened 2D files for laser cutting. (You can download a free trial for PC at http://www.coreldraw.com/us/free-trials/, a trial for Illustrator can be downloaded at http://www.adobe.com/ca/products/illustrator.html, and a trial for Rhino can be downloaded at http://www.rhino3d.com/download.)

Example models and online box model makers:

There are lots of other box models on Thingiverse, Instructables, and other sites. So if you want to use a different box model, try looking up models for laser cutting online.