From the intricate metal parts of a brand new car to the ornate metal home décor that brightens the details of any residence, a functional and decorative metal design starts with laser cutting.
Laser cutting can help create a range of inspired products and parts, with designs ranging from simple metal pieces produced for manufacturing purposes. This includes anything with perfect works of metal art constructed with a design aesthetic in mind. Over the years, the designs that laser cutting machines can tackle have grown by leaps and bounds. From engraving projects to precision cuts in even the toughest metals, like stainless steel, copper, or bronze. But when it comes to creating a perfect laser cut, there are a lot of details that go into quality results.
A business or manufacturer’s best way forward is to choose a laser cutting partner that can start the ball rolling for detailed designs. Additionally, they can take simple laser cutting projects to the next level. Outsourcing your last cut based projects will save time and material costs, regardless of the material, pattern, or depth of a particular laser cutting project. It also ensures that all of the delicate details are handled with care.
In the meantime, however, when it comes to laser cut designs, a wide range of factors go into any pattern or project. From engraving metal, wood, or other materials to create singular items for the home to mass-produced laser cut projects where every piece needs to be identical. Let’s discover what you need to know about metal laser cutting designs.
Metal Fabrication Techniques
Different Types of Laser Cut Machines and Options Used in Laser Cutting
What Factors Influence Laser Cutting Design?
Types of Laser Cutting Design
Types of Laser Cut Metal Designs
Find a Laser Cut Partner that Can Bring your Designs to Life
The Basics of Laser Cutting and Metal Fabrication
When it comes to laser cutting technology, a large variety of tools are available. Therefore, there are different laser cutting processes to cut a design into a specific material. Your laser cutting resource can provide more details on these individualized services. However, there are a number of metal fabrication options besides a straightforward laser cut.
Metal Fabrication Techniques
There are varying metal fabrication processes for intricate designs of all specifications, and all materials, from stainless steel to wood. A sample of the metal fabrication techniques that can be handled by a modern and advanced laser cutting machine include the following:
Cutting
Laser cutting machines can be used to cut a design or particular shape into various metals, wood, and other materials. Using a computer-generated pattern. These cuts are focused on a specific area to create a clean and quality part with no rough edges. A laser cut is a choice way for manufacturers to have consistent results, time after time, and once the laser cutting machine has the pattern, automation takes care of the rest.
Bending
A design may require bending instead of a straightforward cut, especially if the complete design calls for 3-D elements in the metal or other material. With a sophisticated laser cutting machine, metal can be bent into any desired shape to conform to the specifics of your source design.
Hemming
Hemming involves rolling the edges of a metal shape to create a higher level of quality on the sides of the metal piece. This process is used for common metal items in the home, such as a door hinge or more intricately designed elements of a roof.
Metal Punching
Metal punching entails adding precise and small holes into a metal sheet, like a sheet of stainless steel. These holes can be as small as the design requires when partnered with an advanced laser cutting machine and, in turn, can create a complex pattern or design.
Engraving
Engraving does not require an actual cut, but the process is similar to creating a laser cut in various types of metal. In the engraving process, a pattern or design is created by using the heat of a laser to remove material from the source metal sheet, resulting in inspired and intricately designed results.
Metal Forming
There are several steps involved in metal forming, which is a metal fabrication technique that uses bending and rolling to create laser cut shapes.
Welding
When multiple pieces of metal are required to create a complete design, welding can be incorporated into the laser cut project. Welding fuses two pieces of metal (but does not work for non-metal materials like wood) to create a completed design.
Fastening
Fastening is a process that simply bolts pieces of metal together. It’s used in the metal fabrication process and in assembling items like appliances and other things for the home to handle larger manufacturing orders or small, more intricate home décor projects.
Different Types of Laser Cut Machines and Options Used in Laser Cutting
Keep in mind that when it comes to laser cut metal, there are laser cutting machines and laser cut methods available.
Plasma cutting, for example, is useful for small and quality cuts in more intricate designs, as plasma cutting uses more advanced technology for the utmost laser precision. Plasma cutting is one of the relatively new processes for metal laser cutting, and it’s one of the many laser cut metal advancements that has been introduced to the public in recent years as laser technology grows.
At Steelway Laser Cutting, our metal laser cut capabilities can handle all types of metal, as we use first-class machines from the TruLaser series 1000 that provide detailed cuts every time. Additionally, they can handle a wide array of designs. Our machinery is equipped with the latest technology, and all projects are conducted in a clean and perfect environment. This gives us the ability to implement any special requirements your project might need.
What Factors Influence Laser Cutting Design?
Whether you are creating ornate pieces of cut metal for the home or a larger project that requires a detailed design for every metal part, there are several factors that you should take into account when orchestrating your laser cut design project.
There are a number of elements that will determine the price, speed, and timeframe of your design project, and these include the following.
Material Properties and Thickness
The thickness of your metal has a lot to do with how to set up your designs, as well as the type of laser cutting machine that will conduct the cuts. Thicker metals like steel have different parameters than more delicate metals like aluminum, especially when it comes to processes outside of a laser cut, like engraving. Non-metal materials like wood have different specs, but your laser cutting provider can help you determine the best way to create intricate designs.
Complexity and Intricacy of the Designs
Virtually any pattern, engraving, or detailed design can be tackled with a precise laser cut. However, the details of your designs will determine the price and timeframe of the laser cut process. When it comes to laser cut metal and detailed designs, it’s essential to find a great partner that can handle designs that can’t be addressed with a basic laser cutting machine.
Speed and Precision
Again, the laser cut machine and the laser cutting method will determine the speed and precision with which your designs can come to vivid life. For example, plasma cutting is a fast and precise process for all types of metal, but more advanced laser cutting machines that can handle difficult designs are often too expensive to purchase and use in house. Instead, find a partner with trained engineers and top-quality laser cut machines on hand to source these more difficult metal, wood, and other projects, where a top quality laser cutting machine will make all the difference.
Types of Laser Cutting Designs
The sky is virtually the limit when it comes to the types of designs you can apply to laser cut metal. When considering your laser cut projects, and the different metals or materials you’ll use (like steel versus wood), consider the following designs which can be orchestrated via a laser cutting machine when advanced technology is in play.
Geometric and Symmetrical
A geometric or symmetrical pattern is easy to deploy on laser-cut metal. Generally, a basic laser cutting machine can be used for a basic laser cut. However, for more enhanced designs (at a better price point), an advanced laser cutting machine can come in handy to produce great results in a day or even less.
Artwork and Engravings
Engravings and artwork are more intricate designs that require a detailed pattern, as well as a precision laser that can handle the details. This is especially true when working with wood, aluminum, and more delicate materials, and for small designs where a virtually microscopic cut is instrumental in the pattern.
Abstract and Modern Designs
Abstract and modern designs are found in home décor and other ornamental projects, and again, the more intricate the laser cut metal, the more useful an advanced laser cutting machine will be. However, if your modern or abstract designs have a laxer pattern, where free-form cuts won’t hurt the overall aesthetic, then a basic inexpensive laser cutting machine can be used at home to create more fluid designs.
Customized Fonts and Letters
Customized fonts and letters are typically created through an engraving process and are used to set a specific product apart from its competitors. For example, if you look at any vehicle or appliance, you’ll likely find engravings representing a company’s brand or outlining essential instructions for the products’ use.
Logos and Branding Elements
Like lasercut metal fonts and letters, logos and branding elements can be accomplished with engraving and other laser cut processes to identify a certain product. Engraving is arguably the most popular way to create logos and branding elements into cut metal pieces, and these designs can be easily created and repeated once the pattern is set.
Tips for Laser Cut Metal Designs
Before you can start to create laser cut metal parts, consider the following tips that will help with laser cut designs of all styles and materials – from wood to steel.
Use Great software to transform a pattern into laser cut metal designs
The designs that are etched into a piece of laser cut metal are set by an initial pattern, and modern laser cutting software is required to create laser cut metal pieces that are perfectly replicated every time and every day. Find a laser cutting provider that uses the best design software for laser cut metal designs that must be perfect every time they are produced.
Conduct Tests
Whether you are dealing with wood designs or metal designs (like steel), inaccurate cuts can raise the price of your project and can distort your designs. The best way to set a project in motion that is stress-free (and which sticks to a set price or budget) is to conduct laser cut tests beforehand to ensure that the engraving, bending, or laser cutting services you require are perfectly orchestrated once the laser cutting project begins in earnest.
Choose Your Metal and Designs Wisely
While an exceptional laser cutting services provider can generally handle all metal projects from steel to aluminum (or even non-metal materials like wood), the success of your designs is tied to your metal or material. An intricate engraving pattern will likely require a thicker metal. At the same time, a straightforward cut can be applied to virtually any wood, metal, acrylic, glass, or other set piece of material.
Find a Laser Cut Partner that Can Bring Your Designs to Life
From engraving to a basic cut, the price, timeframe, and success of your laser cut design project are set by the expertise of your laser cutting partner.
At Steelway Laser Cutting, we account for every intricate detail of your project, from the intricacies of your pattern to the final design. Regardless of whether you require engraving services in wood or steel, or precise manufacturing of intricate laser cut parts that will go on to create instrumental items like cars or homes, we can provide laser cuts to your exact specifications.
Bringing your designs to life starts with a conversation with Steelway Laser Cutting. Offering the most advanced laser cutting technology available, as well as the experts behind the scenes that can transform intricate designs into reality, we are your best source for every kind of laser cut design service you require.
Let’s start a conversation about how you want to transform your designs into a set product or other metal parts that will propel your business and metal projects to new heights of success. With Steelway Laser Cutting as your laser cutting expert, there is no pattern or design too complicated to handle with care, quality, and perfect efficiency.