Cart before the Horse

[Walt Langhans]

Hey folks!

I'm working on laying out some designs and I could use some help. I don't have a laser yet so I can't run test pieces so I'm counting on your real world experience.

I need to cut out pieces from 1/8 MDF that will vary in size but in and around 2 * 6.

The question is how close can I lay out these pieces together?

I found 1/8 MDF 4 * 8 sheets for $10 but, I hate to waste material (probably the German Engineering Gene in me, lol) Would 1/8 between each part be ok?

[Rodne Gold]

Keep the distance between cuts big enough so you don't get one heat affected zone near another and big enough to stop any warping.
What are you possibly gonna save in extremely tight nesting on material at 32c a sq ft? a penny or 2 , not worth the effort IMHO.

[Alexa Ristow]

for 1/8 th MDF you can get even closer. Make sure you are using Air assist since it will minimise the chance of a very fine piece of waste material catching alight.

Regards,

Alexa

[Walt Langhans]

Keep the distance between cuts big enough so you don't get one heat affected zone near another and big enough to stop any warping.
What are you possibly gonna save in extremely tight nesting on material at 32c a sq ft? a penny or 2 , not worth the effort IMHO.

I concur. So is 1/8 between parts ok or will that cause warping?

[Rodne Gold]

Not sure what will stop warping , I suppose it depends on the cuts and the laser , if there are 2 long cuts parallel to each other , 1/8 might not be enough and that smaller than 1/8th strip left over might warp a lot - the thinner the "residual " strip , the more chance of it warping and perhaps catching the head or an autofocus probe.. a lot depends on the amount of heat you put into the material.

[Walt Langhans]

So if I'm making pieces from 1/8 that are to be engraved and then cut out do I engrave first and then cut? And if I'm doing several pieces from the same stock to I engrave all of them first and then cut them, or engrave and cut as I go? (Assuming that made sense)

[Mike Null]

I almost always engrave then cut.

[Dee Gallo]

Walt, are these all straight cuts? Can you place the pieces right next to each other and use a single line to cut between two pieces? It only works with straight cuts, but I've done this lots of times to conserve space and time. You just don't want to make boxes and place them over each other or you'll get double cuts which is no good, you have to use line segments.

[Lee DeRaud]

Dee's trick is the best if you have enough of a given size to make it worth the trouble to lay out.

Otherwise, 1/8" gap is plenty IMHO: I've never seen any MDF worthy of the name that warped when cut, regardless of the line spacing.

[Walt Langhans]

Yes they are straight cuts, and I'll have to give that a try.

Thanks for all the great info!