Online laser cutting and engraving

As a general rule, it should contain only the lines you actually want us to cut. If the design contains lines you do not want manufactured, select them and assign them to the "No function" layer on the top toolbar. Those shapes will not be produced.

Please make sure that:

• If the design contains notes: assign them to the "No function" layer, otherwise the price calculator will include their geometry in the final price.
• The shapes to be cut must be unambiguous: do not place duplicate contours, bounding frames, drawing headers, title blocks or frames representing a material sheet on the cutting or engraving layers.

In summary: include only the drawing lines that you want manufactured. Delete anything that should not be cut, or assign it to the "No function" layer. Otherwise, your manufacturing requirements may be ambiguous and clarification can delay production by several days. The price calculator also considers not only the overall dimensions of the workpiece but the total length of the geometry to be cut. Unnecessary text, frames and shapes will only increase the final price.

The calculator displays the exact laser-cutting price based on your uploaded file. Customers sometimes ask for an approximate laser-cutting price per centimetre before deciding whether to prepare a design.

The calculator considers the required quantity, material variant properties, cutting and engraving lengths, and the complexity of the geometry. For this reason, we cannot provide one universal cutting price per centimetre.

Depending on the material and its thickness, the cutting component of the laser-cutting price is approximately HUF 1.5-10 per cm, excluding the material cost, which the calculator adds separately. Material prices can vary considerably: a cast acrylic sheet costs approximately 2.5 times as much as plywood of the same thickness.

We work with 1000 x 500 mm sheets, so the maximum size we can cut is approximately 995 x 495 mm. If, for example, you need lettering larger than this, divide the design into sections that fit within the working area and add them to the cart as separate items.

We always include cut-out pieces that form the inner shapes of letters. In other cases, please indicate in the comments field if you need the cut-out pieces and we will include them in the package. We cannot reuse these pieces ourselves.

Yes. You may nest several shapes within a single design and order them together.

When nesting multiple shapes, always bear the following in mind:

• Maximum size: Our machine has a 1000 x 500 mm working area, so this is the maximum sheet size for a nested layout.
• The distance between shapes must be at least equal to the material thickness: Different customer orders are manufactured together on larger sheets. If a layout does not leave the sheet sufficiently stable, it may warp in the Z direction. With acrylic and other plastics, narrow sections may also deform under the heat input of the laser, potentially deforming the workpiece itself. Arrange the shapes within the smallest practical area because the price calculator uses the overall dimensions of the complete design to calculate material requirements. Scattering shapes across the file will unnecessarily increase the price.
• Nesting is particularly worthwhile when you need many pieces of an unusual shape: Some shapes would produce considerable waste if cut on their own, such as a large-diameter ring. In such cases, it may be worthwhile nesting other shapes inside the ring because we cannot reuse the internal offcut for later jobs. If you do not place anything in this area but request the offcut in the comments, we will be happy to send it with the finished parts.

When is nesting worthwhile?

• When the shape makes the nested layout more economical by reducing material costs.
• It also reduces waste because internal offcuts cannot be reused for another production job.

When is nesting NOT worthwhile?

• When ordering multiple copies of the same design by nesting repeated copies on one sheet, such as a 5 x 5 layout. Larger ordered dimensions are more difficult to manufacture without defects, so the calculator automatically assigns a higher price to larger items.
• Nesting several different designs on a larger sheet similarly increases the production size, complexity and cost. For example, if you require 36 pieces of a 100 x 100 mm shape, uploading a 9 x 4 nested layout as one item will cost more than uploading the original 100 x 100 mm file and setting the quantity to 36.
• For the best price, add each different part to the cart as a separate item.

The smallest legible engraved character size is approximately 1-2 mm, depending on the typeface. We engrave with a UV laser with a spot size of approximately 0.03 mm. This enables extremely fine, hairline engraving, so the technology itself does not limit the production of small but legible text. In practice, human vision is the limiting factor for readability.

On acrylic, UV laser engraving does not remove material from the surface; instead, it slightly alters the material structure, producing a colour difference relative to the base material.
On plywood, the process primarily chars the surface and does not remove a significant amount of material.
On EVA foam, the engraving depth is approximately 1 mm.

The smallest shape we can cut is approximately 10 x 10 mm, although this depends strongly on the material. For plywood, cardboard, fibreglass and felt, the limiting factor is whether the cut part can fall through the honeycomb bed of the laser cutter. For plastics, the determining factor is how much the part heats up and consequently deforms during cutting.

For acrylic, polyester (PET) and EVA foam:

• Smallest cuttable shape: approximately 10 x 10 mm
• Smallest hole/opening: equal to the material thickness

With plastics, it is particularly important to maintain a distance of at least the material thickness between openings within a contour. Otherwise, narrow wall sections may deform due to the heat generated during laser cutting.

A further issue with small openings is that the cut-out piece may overheat and its edge may melt and adhere to the wall of the opening or hole as it drops out. Removing it afterwards can leave cosmetic marks on the cut wall.

For acrylic and EVA foam, we therefore recommend making every section of the part at least as wide as the material is thick. Narrower sections can deform under heat during cutting, potentially to the extent that the heated material adheres to an adjacent edge. Separating the parts can then leave marks on the edge surfaces.

Please note that we will manufacture designs containing excessively narrow shapes or walls at the customer’s request, but the issues described above may occur.

For plywood, cardboard, fibreglass, felt and other non-plastic materials:

• Smallest cuttable shape: approximately 10 x 10 mm
• Smallest hole/opening: approximately 0.2 mm, equal to the laser beam diameter

The issue described above does not apply to non-plastic materials, so in practice the laser beam diameter is the only minimum-size limitation for shapes within a contour.

The laser beam used for cutting has a kerf of approximately 0.2-0.25 mm. The exact value depends on the measurement direction because the spot is slightly elliptical. We compensate for kerf on both internal and external contours, so every shape in your design must use its required finished dimensions. Do not apply separate kerf compensation, even for mating parts, because this would make the cut dimensions too small or too large.

The laser beam used for engraving has a diameter of approximately 0.03 mm.

The stated thicknesses of all materials in stock are nominal values.

Typical thickness tolerances relative to the nominal value are:

• Plywood: between -0.3 and +0.3 mm
• Cast acrylic sheet: between -0.2 and +0.5 mm
• Corrugated cardboard sheet: between -0.1 and +0.1 mm
• EVA foam sheet: between -0.5 and +0.5 mm

The quality of non-natural materials is homogeneous.

For a 2 m² cast acrylic sheet, a thickness difference of up to 0.5 mm between opposite ends of the sheet is not unusual.

When ordering multiple plywood parts, they may be cut from different sheets, which can result in thickness variations between individual pieces.

Depending on their quality grade and manufacturing process, plywood sheets may contain repairs, for example where knots have been removed. Repairs in the inner layers are generally made with phenolic resin adhesive, which the laser beam cannot cut. We finish these locations mechanically after laser cutting. The larger and thicker the workpiece and the more openings it contains, the more likely it is that manual mechanical cutting will be required in some areas. At these locations, the colour and texture will match the original material rather than the laser-cut edge surface. Please take this into account for aesthetic products where the edges remain visible and will not be finished by sanding, painting or another process.

Always draw every part at its required finished dimensions. Do not apply kerf compensation, or set it to zero. We measure the finished dimension along the lower surface of the workpiece. Due to the laser-cutting process, cut edges are not perfectly perpendicular to the surface; they taper by approximately 1° on each side. For example, if a 10 mm thick laser-cut part is 50 mm wide at the bottom, its expected width at the top is 49.75 mm. This must be taken into account when designing thick mating parts.

For softer materials such as EVA foam, this difference is not a problem even at a thickness of 20 mm. With 5 mm acrylic, mating parts may already fail to fit if the tab and slot have identical dimensions, because the general laser-cut contour tolerance is ±0.2 mm.

Technically yes, but it is not recommended and we do not offer it. PVC stands for polyvinyl chloride, a material that contains chlorine. During laser cutting, heat causes PVC to decompose and chlorine atoms separate from the molecules. They immediately react with moisture in the air to form hydrogen chloride (HCl), which becomes hydrochloric acid.

Hydrochloric acid is one of the most aggressive corrosive substances encountered in an industrial environment. It attacks linear guides and ball screws, oxidises solder joints in electronics and causes widespread corrosion. Powerful fume extraction does not solve the problem because the acid also attacks ventilation ducts and the extraction fan. Its release into the environment also presents a health risk due to its irritating effects.

The issue is not that PVC is a plastic, but that it contains chlorine. We therefore do not stock or cut PVC or similar chlorine-containing materials.

Yes, provided that you hold the right to have the logo manufactured.

If you want us to manufacture the logo of a recognised brand, even for your own use, you must hold the necessary permission. Without it, we cannot accept the order.

Read more here about the manufacture of protected logos.