Preparing Laser Cutting Files in AutoCAD

Choose your laser cutter

Choose the right laser cutter for your material type and size. See more detailed information at Laser Cutting.

Trotec SP500

Maximum material size: 1245 x 710mm

Materials: Strawboard (1 and 2mm), plywood (3 and 6mm)

Location: DBE Makerspace, building 418

Trotec Speedy 400 Flexx

Maximum material size: 1000 x 610mm

Materials: Strawboard, plywood, acrylic, polypropylene, fabrics, and other materials

Location: Digital Modelling Workshop, building 202

Download the template

Download the AutoCAD Laser Cutting Template.

This is a zip archive containing a dwg. On Mac, double-click the zip file to extract it. On Windows, right-click and select Extract all... to extract it.

Set up your layers manually (optional)

You can set up your layers from scratch instead of using the template. If you're using the template, skip ahead to the next section (Job Setup).

1. Click Layer Properties
2. Name your layers and set their colours according to the Laser Cutting Guidelines: Use a colour that is not red, green, black or grey to draw your material boundary. Use RGB red (255, 0, 0) for cut lines, green (0, 255, 0) for vector engraving, and black (0, 0, 0) for raster engraving.
3. Set your Lineweight for each layer to 0.00mm

Job Setup

Make sure your work fits within the material boundary. Create multiple boundaries if necessary.

Ensure that your objects are at the appropriate scale.

The Laser Cutter cuts  at 1:1 scale. For example, if you need your models at 1:100, they should be scaled down by 0.01.

Having trouble with Scale  |  Try a scale converter:

https://www.ginifab.com/feeds/cm_to_inch/scale_converter.html

Lineweight

Check all your cut lines (red lines) and etch lines (green lines) are set to 0.00mm line weight.

Explode

Select All (CTRL+A) and type EXPLODE - hit Enter

Overkill

Select All (CTRL+A) and type OVERKILL - hit Enter. A window will appear

No need to change any of these setting – Just push OK

Join

Select All (CTRL+A) and type JOIN - hit Enter

Nesting

Nest all pieces to be cut within selected material template or correct sheet size. Make multiple "sheets" if unable to fit work within one material boundary.

If you are intending to use plywood and will not fill the entire sheet, preference the left side of the sheet. As you may be able to use a smaller sheet size to lower the cost

Export to PDF

Export your file as a PDF. If you're using a Mac, skip ahead to Export file as a PDF (Mac).

Export file as a PDF (Windows)

Make sure you are plotting in Model page

1) Go to Print and select Plot, or type in Plot into the Command Line

2) Under Printer/Plotter, select:

AutoCAD PDF (High Quality Print)

3) If plotting from AutoCAD for the first time, you will need to set up a custom paper size to match the material you are using.

- Go to Properties

- Select Custom Paper Sizes

- Click on Add

4) Select Start from scratch

5) Set Width and Height to match selected material size

* Make sure Units are set to Milimeters

6) Set all margins to 0

7) Set a name for the new custom paper

8) Check that new custom paper is added to the list

9) New custom paper should be displayed in the drop down list under Paper Size

10) Under Plot Area, select Window

11) Select the material sheet to specify the area to plot

12) Select Center the plot

Make sure scale is 1:1

13) Click on Preview to check layout and pen colour

- Change page orientation if needed

14) Click on OK to plot

Export file as a PDF (Mac)

Make sure you are plotting in Model page

1) Go to File and select Print or type in Print into the Command Line

2) Under Printer, select:

AutoCAD PDF (High Quality Print)

And Select Paper Size

3) If plotting from AutoCAD for the first time, you will need to set up a custom paper size to match the material you are using.

- Select Manage Custom Sizes

4) Click on the “+” sign to create a new page size

5) Select New Paper Size to create a new custom paper size

6) Within the Custom Paper Size window:

- Set paper size to match the material size that has been set up (*note: dimensions are in cm)

- Set all margins to 0.00

- Double click Untitled new paper to set a name for the new custom paper size to save for future use

- Click on ‘OK’ to finish setting up custom paper

7) Back in the Plot window:

- Ensure correct paper size is selected

- Under “What to Print”, select Window and click on the icon to select the area to print

- Ensure scale is set to 1:1

- Center the plot if needed

- Click on Plot to finish and save PDF

If the cut file contains texts that needs to be etched or engraved, click on the icon next to the Printer selection and make sure that Convert all text to geometry is selected