Full Version: Plastic plates
From: Bob (ALLSPORT) [#1]
31 May 2004
To: ALL
Here's a tip for those of you who need quantities of laminated plastic plates for namebadges or awards and happen to have a laser sitting around.
Use the Corel Graph Paper Tool to layout a grid of rectangles of the required size and then align a large rectangle to exactly enclose the grid. In this way the laser will cut each adjoining rectangle individually (thereby giving two aligned cuts on each internal edge because the rectangles' edges overlap), and then the surrounding rectangle will make the matching second cut to the circumference. (Did that make sense?)
This is much faster and less wasteful of material than cutting each shape individually.
For most cutting I use a support to keep the material clear of the table and allow the air assistance to blow residue through the cut. However. the plastic sheet is rarely flat and also tends to curl when being cut so I generally use magnets to hold it flat to the table and cut it in place. I usually use three repeats to cut the material (with protective cover on)
which gives a nice edge and no discolouration. As the laser effectively cuts each edge twice this is the equivalent of 6 repeats. I use a corner-nipper if the plates are to be used as namebadges.