Time for Laser Cutting Scale Models

Intro

This is about cutting scale models for the CEB Press digital fabrication version, which is made largely from 1/2" steel plate in real life, cut out on a CNC Torch Table. A laser cutter can be used to produce a scale model in paper which instead of welding can be glued together.

Laser Cutting Data

Material: 8.5 x 11 inch chipboard, approximately 0.025 inch think.

I got 51 tubes and 175 plates out of 19 (11 x 8.5) sheets (the 20th was for laser settings tests).

The laser was in great shape, so it only took me 15 min to resize the files, find the right settings for this material, and tile the designs.

Each sheet took 6 minutes to cut. Only towards the end did I notice that the plates had duplicate lines, so this added extra time to each cut.

Time in between cuts was around 3 minutes to remove the previous sheet, load up new material, align, and place weights.

The laser cutting price at NYCR is 25c per minute (for members), so it cost a total of $30 [(20 x 6) x .25] + the cost of the stock material.

Settings for cutting this material on a 35W Epilog are 100% speed, 60% power.