Arts & Crafts

Attention to detail and individuality characterize your products. With a Trotec laser, virtually any design can be engraved faithfully onto a wide variety of materials. Lettering, ornaments, logos, images, and even photos: Trotec lasers are as easy to use as printers are, and decorate your artwork in no time.

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With the Trotec laser systems, you can apply valuable, individual ornaments onto a single piece or an entire series. No matter whether you or another workshop created the design, you combine long-standing tradition with innovative technology.

Can metal be engraved with a CO₂ laser, too?

When marking with CO₂ lasers, it is necessary to apply a special paste or spray, which must be applied to the workpiece and dried before the laser process. The marking is burned into the metal with the laser. After the laser process, the residues of the paste or spray must be washed off. For this operation, a lot of energy is required; thus, the laser must be moved at an appropriately low speed. On some metals, high contrast can be achieved with this process, but it should be noted that not all metals are suitable for paste or spray marking. The necessary pastes or sprays are very expensive and the whole process is very time-consuming. Metal can be directly marked with a fiber laser. A distinction is made between engraving, annealing marking and coating ablation. The devices of the Speedy flexx series are equipped with a CO₂ laser and a fiber laser. Use both laser sources in a single job without having to manually change the laser source, the lenses or the focus. The patented JobControl^® laser software makes it possible: Simply assign the desired laser source to each color of the graphic.

Can all materials be lasered equally well?

Synthetic fabrics respond very well to processing. They often contain plastics or polyester. The laser beam melts polyester in a controlled manner, and this provides fiber-free, sealed edges. For organic fabrics such as cotton and linen a brownish discolored cutting edge is obtained, similar to when processing wood. This effect can be partially compensated by selecting the right lens and laser parameters and using compressed air.

Acrylic is not the same as acrylic?

Acrylic can be laser-engraved and -cut. The slightly more expensive cast acrylic (“gs”) enables crystal-clear cut edges and white engraving. However, in order to obtain a quality cut, the speed should be reduced. As a rule of thumb, a minimum of 10 W of laser power should be applied per mm of material thickness for a high-quality cut in one run. Laser cutting of extruded acrylic (“ex”) also produces crystal clear edges, but with a small burr. Extruded acrylic requires less laser power for cutting, but it is rather difficult to engrave. Acrylic is prone to flaming if the gases caused by the laser process are not removed efficiently; a high-performance exhaust system is therefore essential. Furthermore, the laser-engraving machine must never run without supervision.

Does the wood burn during laser cutting?

Yes. Wood lasering is a sublimation process. However, this is not bad and very often actually desirable. Accurate focusing, selection of the appropriate parameters, use of suitable optics and supply of compressed air allow cutting and engraving of the highest quality. Here also dust is formed, which is perceptible as smoke. For wood processing, we therefore recommend the use of an efficient extraction system. Thereby you achieve perfect engraving and cutting results. In addition, the service life of your laser device can thus be prolonged. I.e., extraction with maximum flow rate is essential when it comes to wood processing with lasers.