How to Submit Your Files for Cutting

In order to ensure that your designs will be interpreted correctly and fit the dimension of the machine, you should use one of our templates below. It is important to follow the instructions in the templates as the various lineweights and colors will determine how the laser cuts your work. By varying the power and intensity of the laser, the laser cutter is able to either cut, score or engrave materials. These instructions are sent to the machine by the lineweight and colors in a drawing.

Once you have prepared your files, you can email them to us with any instructions at info@prototope.com. Once you submit your files, we will examine the drawings and respond with an estimate.

Accepted file formats

Prototope strongly encourages you to submit your files to us using our templates in either Adobe Illustrator, Rhino or AutoCAD. Submitting your work to us in one of these formats using the provided template will greatly speed up our ability to process your order. While we can work with other formats such as DXFs, PDFs, etc, we prefer to work in the programs above if possible. If you are submitting a file for engraving only, you may submit your design as a grayscale raster in any format such as JPEGs, PSDs, GIFs, etc. If you do not have access to one of these programs or if you would like us to translate your designs or drawings into one of these formats, feel free to contact us.

Template

Please use the templates linked below to submit your designs. Your work must match the colors and lineweights in the templates in order to be interpreted by the machines correctly. To download any of the templates in the programs listed below, right click "download" and choose "save link as..." to save it to your computer.

Rhino (download)

Adobe Illustrator -CS3 or Earlier (download)

AutoCAD 2004 (download)

AutoCAD 2007 (download)

DXF Template (download)

Optimizing Your Work

There are a number of steps to help optimize your files for cutting and to speed up the time it takes for the laser cutter to process your work.

Spacing: In order to prevent charring or warping of your material, you should try to leave adequate space between different parts in your file. The thicker the material, the higher the intensity of the laser--so, it helps to space out your work as much as possible in order to prevent the adjacent cuts from impacting each other.

Overkill (AutoCAD): Before uploading AutoCAD files, run the OVERKILL command to remove duplicate lines and combine overlapping segments. If you don't run this command, the machine may run over these overlapping areas multiple times which can lead to charred or warped material.

Cut order: Another helpful trick is to adjust the cut order of your file. If you are cutting a piece out of the middle of a part, it is helpful to cut the inner parts before the outer parts. For example, if you wanted to cut a large letter "O" or donut-shaped piece, you would cut the inside circle before the outside circle. The templates contain different layers for first and second cuts, etc. If you have closely nested parts, you can help prevent warping by putting adjacent parts on different cut layers (for example, you would Part A on the first cut layer, and Part B on the second cut layer). This gives one cut a chance to cool off before the adjacent piece is cut, which is helpful in materials such as acrylic.

Cutting, Scoring, Etching and Engraving

The laser cutter is capable of a variety of different techniques based on variations and power. While most jobs typically cut all the way through the material, the laser can also either score, etch and engrave just the surface of the material. In addition, while some materials like glass and stone cannot be cut with our laser, we can etch the surface of many of these materials.

		Laser Cutting: Laser cutting is when the laser follows a vector drawing and cuts completely through the material.
		Laser Scoring / Etching: Laser scoring or etching is when the laser follows a vector drawing and cuts or etches into the surface of the material, but does not penetrate all the way through.
		Laser Engraving: In laser engraving, the laser passes back and forth over the material engraving away the artwork, in a similar way that an inkjet printer works. Typically, engraving takes much longer than the other techniques.

Kerf: The Size of the Laser Beam

If you are working on a very precise design such as interlocking parts it may be necessary to consider the kerf, or the thickness of the cut of the laser. Our current laser setup has a thickness of 0.003". You should be aware that with any laser, as the thickness of the material increases, the laser diverges slightly producing a slightly angled cut.

Materials

A rapidly growing list of the materials we work with is available on our Materials page. You will find a list of materials we can cut and engrave, as well as a few materials we cannot cut. If there is a particular material you do not find on the list, or if you would like us to cut a specific material, we are always happy to test samples. You can either mail them to us, or drop them off at our studio in NYC.

Pricing

Our estimates are based on the time it will take to cut your designs as well as any preparation work we may need to do. Because the time can vary so greatly based on the complexity of a drawing and the settings needed for a particular material, we can only return an estimate once we have taken a look at your file. Certain orders may require more preparation work, such as cleaning up files, preparing jigs, and masking of materials. Please let us know if there are any special considerations we may need to make in working with your files or materials when you submit your designs for an estimate.

Payment

You can pay for your orders by check or credit card. Checks should be made out to Prototope. If you would like to pay by credit card, we will send you a link to our Google Checkout system.

Shipping

If you are in NYC, you can swing by our studio in Tribeca to pick up your order (directions are located on the Contact page). If that isn't convenient, we will package your order and use FedEx to ship it wherever you would like. We will try to tape down all pieces when possible, but some smaller parts may come loose during cutting. We will package up these pieces separately in an envelope within your package. However, if you have a very complex or heavily nested cut, you may find it helpful to score marks on your material so you can identify your parts.

Questions

If you have any questions or need help setting up your file or selecting materials, feel free to contact us at info@prototope.com