DXF preparation checklist for a laser cutting RFQ
The ten checks that stop a laser cutting RFQ bouncing: scale, closed contours, duplicate entities, kerf compensation, bend layers and file naming.
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Topic hub · 18 guides
Laser cutting and sheet metal fabrication
A 12 kW fibre laser on a 40 ft by 16 ft bed changes what a single cut part can be: long canopy and coach panels no longer need splitting and welding. These guides cover how mild steel, CRCA, stainless, aluminium, brass and copper behave, the tolerance and kerf you can hold, nesting and material yield, dross and deburring, and the volume at which a press tool becomes the cheaper route.
Guides in this topic, page 2
Fibre laser cutting, nesting, edge quality, tolerance and the cost drivers behind a cut part, including long panels cut on the 40 ft × 16 ft bed.
How sheet metal nesting cuts laser part cost
How sheet metal nesting sets the price of a cut part: yield from 63% to 92% on one sheet, kerf and web arithmetic, skeleton design and remnant control.
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Deburring and edge quality after laser cutting
What sets edge quality after laser cutting, which burrs matter for coating and welding, thickness limits on a 12 kW fibre laser, and how to specify deburring.
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Laser cutting tolerances for OEM parts: kerf, holes and flatness
Thickness-by-thickness laser cutting tolerances for OEM parts, where the millimetres come from, and how to dimension a DXF so the cut passes first-off.
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Laser cutting for prototypes and production volumes
Why a five-part lot costs 786 seconds of work per part and a thousand-part lot costs 93, and how the nest, drawing and inspection change as volume rises.
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How material thickness changes laser cutting price
Thickness raises a laser-cut part price twice, in kilograms and in machine minutes. The worked numbers show which half dominates and what to change first.
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Laser cutting holes, slots and small features
The ratios that decide whether a hole, slot or small feature belongs on the laser: sizes by thickness, pierce-cost maths and the features to drill instead.
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Laser cutting for electrical enclosure panels
What the cut file decides for an enclosure panel: hole-to-bend rules, thickness and tolerance limits, a nesting example, and where the edge finish goes wrong.
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When to use laser cutting for a new part
A route decision for a new part: four tests that point to laser cutting, the pierce arithmetic on 6 mm plate, and the features a laser cannot form.
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