Laser Engraving and Cutting Auckland Service by Self-Inking Stamps Ltd

We bought a new Laser Engraving machine for our Laser Engraving and Cutting Auckland Service. After 2020 events, we expanded our capacity. Self-Inking Stamps Ltd has been laser cutting and laser engraving for over a decade now. The bulk of the work has been for rubber stamp production. However parallel with that in a smaller way other work associated with a laser machine has been performed on request with our current clients. Generally, this was in the form of “Hey with your laser machine can you do this?” Quite often we could. However, this was severely restricted by the machine size, power, and speed. Well, that has all changed!

It’s here our new Trotec Speedy 360 laser engraving machine!

Having fielded many enquiries and a desire to expand what we current make a bigger, better, faster, stronger machine was on the shopping list. Ever since the Austrian made Trotec Speedy 360 was launched this machine had been on Trent’s radar. On the top of his wish list!

This machine in the Trotec range has a lot of features that can help you out.

• Larger bed area – 800 x 500mm cutting area is now available.
• Taller items can be engraved from 180 to 280mm in height depending on the lens appropriate for your engraving.
• The machine speed is almost twice as fast. This can reduce heat distortion and speed up throughput for you. This machine is extremely fast moving at 3.55 metres per second when engraving at top speed.
• Power for this CO₂ machine is 120 watt, seriously powerful, capable of 12mm or more material cutting thickness. The extra power speeds up getting your job completed.
• With multiple lenses the appropriate one for your material can be selected from very fine detail work at 1,000dpi on flat surfaces to longer focal length one for objects with a more undulating surface or thicker depth with a squarer cut to the edge.
• With the interchangeable tables using an appropriate surface to hold your material and laser beam reflection marks can be reduced. Also, with the vacuum table we can hold down lightweight fragile items, so they do not move or buckle while being cut or engraved. Items like paper or very thin acrylic stickers.
• A seriously amazing feature is the JobControl®Vision. This has a camera mounted on the main beam looking down at the work being engraved. It can locate registrations marks and then accurately, and I mean ACURATELY, cut the object out. Pre-printed material can be placed on the table area in any direction or any place. The camera identifies a minimum of three registrations marks and then immediately cuts out the items of that printed material.
• One last feature is the rotary attachment. Due to that pesky little pandemic buzzing around we are still waiting on this part so watch this space for this one. With this rotary attachment we will be able to engrave the outside of cylindrical objects like glasses, bottles, and vacuum flasks. Maximum size is 550mm long, 207mm in diameter and up to 3kg.

What can we cut or engrave for you?

There is a vast array of materials that can be laser cut or laser engraved. Here is a quick overview of what you could have processed.

Laser engraving and cutting services.

Please go through this list as we suggest many laser engraving and laser cutting options associated with each of the below materials.

Laser engraving and cutting for acrylic.

Most of the work is with acrylics. Currently in our stamp production we are making traditional style stamps with the custom hand stamp and the rocker stamp using laser cut acrylic base plates and handles.

Beyond this there are a vast array of solid one colour acrylic and laminated acrylic. The laminated acrylic can produce some stunning effects for artwork and signage.

• Laser cutting acrylic up to 12mm or a bit more.
• Cutting pre-printed sheet acrylic accurately for promotional items and signage.
• Engraving office signage
• Badges
• Desk signs
• Machine tags
• Circuit board signs
• Custom made jigs.
• Wedding place names
• Custom made coasters.
• Trophies
• Custom cut lettering

Laser engraving and cutting for glass.

Firing a laser beam carefully at glass can create a micro fracture of the surface giving an appearance like sandblasting or frosting.

• Coasters
• Glasses
• Bottles
• Mugs

Laser engraving and cutting for fabric.

This one is a little trickier. Great care and testing are required for the correct finish. Each batch of fabric can have different characteristics altering what happens when laser beam hits the material. Engraving fabrics and cutting fabric are possible. Cutting of fabrics can heat seal the edge of the cut reducing fraying allowing intricate detail to stay intact.

• Personalisation of denim
• Intricate detail cutting for fashion items.
• Polar fleece customisation

Laser engraving and cutting for laminates.

These are generally the acrylic type. A thick background acrylic has a very thin colour bonded to the surface. The laser machine vaporises the surface material exposing the backing colour. This is fantastic for many purposes both interior and for some laminate’s exterior projects as well.

This material can be cut to any shape.

These materials can be extremely thin at 0.1mm 2 ply stickers, 0.5mm, 1.6mm and 3mm in thickness. There are types with a clear acrylic and a coating on the reverse where this reverse colour is removed to make the text or image required. The front face is still smooth keeping signage cleaner for longer periods of time and able to be cleaned much easier. Where material is removed from the rear it can be spray painted with a vast array of colours to get a special effect.

Also mirror laminates are available. Here these have a clear front layer and a mirror material on the reverse. This can allow multiple methods of engraving via engraving the front surface giving a frosted appearance and engraving off the mirror material on the rear. That can also be spray painted for some great effects.

Signage is the greatest use for laser engraved laminates.

Laser engraving and cutting for name badges.

• Badges
• Engraved Art – get your artwork engraved into permanent material.
• Bag tags
• Custom Machine tags
• Circuit board directions
• Cake toppers
• Wedding place names
• Custom made coasters.
• Custom Office signs
• Trophy text plates
• Custom made plaques.
• Memorials
• Custom made keyring.
• Jewellery
• Prototyping
• Model making
• Wall art
• Custom made lettering.
• Maps

Laser engraving and cutting for leather.

Leather can be both cut and engraved for some great effects. Vegetable tanned leathers are the preferred leather to engrave as there are toxins released from conventionally tanned leather.

Trotec have released a laserable leatherette for projects that needs a leather look without affecting any animals.

• Intricate leather cutting
• Saddlery
• Fashion design leather cutting
• Bag tags
• Custom leather patches for clothing

Laser engraving and cutting for metal tags.

Our CO₂ laser does not cut metals. However, metals with a paint coating can be engraved. With this process the laser removes the paint back to the steel base. This is great for stainless steel and aluminium products. Also, in an additive process steel can be sprayed with a ceramic paint (black) and then have the custom pattern engraved on the paint. This process bakes the paint to the steel only where the laser fires. The remaining paint is washed off leaving a fantastic black mark on the steel.

• Dog tags
• Machine tags
• Custom engraving vacuum flasks

Laser engraving and cutting for paper.

Yes, paper can be both cut and engraved. You would think it would burn up in the process. However, with the correct setting stunning work can be achieved in paper. There are special papers produced specifically for laser engraving which as well can be used. These can be engraved by removing a coloured surface layer, kiss cut for folding and laser cut for extremely intricate paper cutting. Prototyping of packaging or promotional products can be performed. We have engraved the paper so thin it leaves just a few fibres behind and is see through. Fascinating to look at. The edge of the cuts is darker colour as this is essentially a burning process. Likewise, laser cutting cardboard is possible too. We have used corrugated cardboard for prototyping in the past.

• Paper art
• Doilies
• Packaging
• Gift cards
• Gift tags
• Placemats
• Mapping

Laser engraving and cutting for plastic.

Care must be taken with plastics. Some are toxic when cut with a laser beam. Please provide the materials handling certificate when asking us to engrave various plastics so we can check if it is a safe product to work with. Nylon, and associated type materials, is not laser engravable it is toxic to the operator and very destructive to the machine. Some foams can be cut, again we need to check the material specification.

• Foam inserts cut outs.
• PETG stencils
• PETG shields
• Laptop personalisation engraving

Laser engraving and cutting for stone.

Stone cannot be cut by laser machines. Stone can be laser engraved. The laser beam can create ultra-fine fissures to the surface of polished stone providing a frosted appearance. Stone being a natural material can have vastly different engraving outcome within very small distances. The natural materials embedded and difference in material density and colour can have dramatic differences in the laser engraving. Some materials like black polished granite or slate can have some great effects once engraved. Bolder details are better suited. However, some photos can be engraved to great effect on just the right products. By masking the area and laser engraving through the masking the engraved areas can be painted for some great contrast effects.

• Coasters
• Memorial plaques
• Signage

Laser engraving and cutting for wood.

The last item has many uses and can be both lasers cut, and laser engraved for fantastic effect. Wood up to 12mm thick can be cut. MDF is a fantastic material to cut as the density and colour is very consistent. We have cut thicker than expected MDF due to the consistent cutting. Some brands are better than others due to the glues being used and percentage of wood present.

Cutting wood gives a dark colour edge. Thin materials can be just a light brown as not much energy is used and higher speeds. However, for thicker wood the edge can be very dark brown to black and have some soot. Engraving on wood usually requires some clean up afterwards as the vaporising of the wood produces a smoke with hot resins that can stain the surface. Usually, a light sanding will remove this effect. Having the timber sealed first and then engraving can stop this problem and require just a damp cloth to clean up.

Wood being a natural product will give varying results. The growth rings on wood being lighter and then darker laser engraves differently. The density of the wood will give a different effect for each part and the depth of engraving with change along with the colour. Having said that some woods give amazing results.

Plywood can be a great medium of wood to work with.

Cutting intricate detail can be achieved. The advantage of laser over CNC cutting is the very square corners. A CNC router bit being round cannot produce a square corner. A laser can cut into the fine corners. This can be helpful in lettering and signage.

• Photo frames
• Prototyping
• Custom made jigs.
• Wall art
• Lettering
• Signage
• Memorials
• Key chain
• Business cards
• Maps
• Product branding
• Promotional goods
• Chopping boards
• Laser cut inlay work.

How can we help with your custom engraving project?

While Self-Inking Stamps have products on the website finished and ready to go for you, we can also perform custom laser engraving or custom laser cutting projects for you.

You may supply the materials, or we may have them in stock. For supplied materials we will need test material. Setting a laser machine to engrave nicely requires adjustment of settings for power, speed and focal length which can take some time to get correct for the effect you require.

If we have worked with the material before this may not be required.

The information we require is as below:

• A brief description of what you would like to achieve.
• The material you want to use.
• Can you supply the material?
• Can you supply also sample material for testing?
• The size of the intended project – width and height in millimetres
• Number of items to be made.
• If it is engraving of text tell us what you need to engrave, the layout, font type and size if that is important to you.
• If you wish to have an image engraved, we need a high-quality image. A vector image is the best this may be a .cdr, .ai, or .svg file type. These can be scaled perfectly to any size. Beyond that the highest dpi you can achieve will be required. Screen shots are usually very poor quality. If an image is enlarged for engraving any quality issues will be accentuated. Pixilation is the usual problem. The laser machine is so accurate it can engrave that pixilation into your precious item.

With all this information we can then check whether we can do the work for you and then provide a price to do it. Send all this information to sales@selfinkingstamps.co.nz. We can usually get an answer back to you in one to two working days.

Contact our Laser Engraving team for more information…

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