Laser Cutting and Etching Artwork

Stencils

The Boss Laser can be used to cut very intricate and customized stencils using extruded plexiglass; a useful thickness is 0.08 inches.

Optimizing the laser cut parameters, as well as plexiglass preparation and the method of mounting the material on the laser support bed, all contribute significantly to the quality of the cutouts, the minimization of plume debris and the avoidance of charred edges.

View this album for my full inventory of stencils cut by the laser.

My multi step process

1. Design the stencil patterns in Inkscape and export as .dxf files.
2. Import the .dxf into RDWorks and prepare the files with the laser parameters.
3. Cut the design into extruded plexiglass using the laser.
4. Clean the burn marks and caked on plume debris from the stencil surfaces.
5. Plan out in a sketch book which parts of the interlocking stencil components to use, modifying as desired to create the final layout. choose pen colors, tip sizes and paper weight and color.
6. Trace the outlines first starting from outside to in.
7. Remove the stencils components and fill in the outlines from inside to out.
8. Let the ink dry, then catalog the work.
9. Scan the work at high resolution, then use Gimp to resize down for web site viewing, adding my copyright and signature. Upload to this blog and Google Drive for backup.

Desk paper weight are essential to prevent stencil slippage

Fall out parts from the laser cutting can be retained and appended to the base stencils for unlimited design variations.

Not all segments of the stencil need be used each tracing time

Here are some Lessons Learned about cutting plexiglass and drawing with stencils:

1. Chipped edges on the back side of the stencil closest to the support create some unevenness from time to time when tracing with the ink pen. Therefore, look to adjust or remove some of the support bars on the laser bed to minimize chipping.

2. Smooth clean-cut edges make for an easier tracing experience. A little bit of roughness does not significantly detract; however, look for ways to change the speed and power settings to make the inside edges in the stencil as smooth as possible.

3. Through trial and error, I learned that the burn/char black marks and the caked-on laser plume haze can be removed with rubbing alcohol and a regular terry towel cloth. Dish washing soap and water with a terry towel also work, but not as well as rubbing alcohol. I found that simply using water on a cloth or dry fiction was ineffective. See photos for before and after cleaning views of the stencil.

4. Laser cutting of small shapes with tight turns and angles ends up leading to some play in the fit of the shape in the hole created around it. In other words, once a small cut dimension approaches about 10 times a laser cut line width, variability becomes noticeable and symmetric designs start to become slightly irregular. Experimentation with both software design and laser parameters will be required in order to figure out how to minimize this effect.

BEFORE cleaning with rubbing alcohol. Some areas around curves are significantly white and opaque. (Click image to enlarge)