{"id":27182,"date":"2011-07-12T17:35:59","date_gmt":"2011-07-13T00:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/?p=27182"},"modified":"2020-08-26T22:36:09","modified_gmt":"2020-08-27T05:36:09","slug":"figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/","title":{"rendered":"Figuring out kerf for precision parts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Knowing how much material a laser cutter takes away can be a tricky problem for precision parts, but James Williamson has an answer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s easy to tell when most tools take away material from a cut. A bandsaw cuts a slot the width of its teeth. A table saw cuts a slot the width of its blade. There’s lots of swarf, and powder, and sawdust around telling you things have been cut away. Laser cutters are a bit more subtle.<\/p>\n

The amount of material a laser cutter will take away, or kerf, will depend on the speed of the laser cutting, the material, its thickness, and the power of the laser.<\/p>\n

James Williamson has come up with a pattern (see above) that he’s cut in a variety of materials on a 40 watt laser cutter. By sliding all the cut pieces to one side of the frame and inserting a shim he’s able to determine the total material lost. Divide that by the number of cuts and you have the material removed by each cut. Clever, nes pas?<\/p>\n

Here’s his table of the materials he’s tested:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Material<\/strong><\/td>\nThickness<\/strong><\/td>\nCut Speed<\/strong>
\n(\/400)<\/td>\n		Cut Power<\/strong>
\n(\/100)<\/td>\n		Go<\/strong>
\n(mm)<\/td>\n		No go<\/strong>
\n(mm)<\/td>\n		Average Kerf<\/strong>
\n(mm)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Acrylic<\/td>\n3mm<\/td>\n6.5<\/td>\n98<\/td>\n1.25<\/td>\n1.30<\/td>\n0.125<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Acrylic<\/td>\n5mm<\/td>\n3.5<\/td>\n98<\/td>\n1.30<\/td>\n1.35<\/td>\n0.130<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Acrylic<\/td>\n6mm<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n98<\/td>\n1.40<\/td>\n1.45<\/td>\n0.140<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ply<\/td>\n3mm<\/td>\n7<\/td>\n98<\/td>\n2.00<\/td>\n2.05<\/td>\n0.20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hardboard<\/td>\n3mm<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n98<\/td>\n1.90<\/td>\n1.95<\/td>\n0.19<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mount Board<\/td>\n1.25mm<\/td>\n12<\/td>\n98<\/td>\n2.00<\/td>\n2.05<\/td>\n0.20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

For more brilliant laser projects, check out James’ site<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Knowing how much material a laser cutter takes away can be a tricky problem for precision parts, but James Williamson has an answer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s easy to tell when most tools take away material from a cut. A bandsaw cuts a slot the width of its teeth. A table saw cuts a slot the width of its blade. There’s lots of swarf, and powder, and sawdust around telling you things have been cut away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ponoko"],"yoast_head":"\nFiguring out kerf for precision parts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Figuring out kerf for precision parts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Knowing how much material a laser cutter takes away can be a tricky problem for precision parts, but James Williamson has an answer. It’s easy to tell when most tools take away material from a cut. A bandsaw cuts a slot the width of its teeth. A table saw cuts a slot the width of its blade. There’s lots of swarf, and powder, and sawdust around telling you things have been cut away.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ponoko\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Ponoko\/34020780272\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-13T00:35:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-27T05:36:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew Borgatti\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Ponoko\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Ponoko\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Matthew Borgatti\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/58a6d931c4debb9e2b9f408547273c5f\"},\"headline\":\"Figuring out kerf for precision parts\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-13T00:35:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-27T05:36:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/\"},\"wordCount\":235,\"commentCount\":1,\"articleSection\":[\"Ponoko News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/\",\"name\":\"Figuring out kerf for precision parts\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-13T00:35:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-27T05:36:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/58a6d931c4debb9e2b9f408547273c5f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Figuring out kerf for precision parts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Ponoko\",\"description\":\"Laser Cutting & Engraving News For Startup Engineers\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/58a6d931c4debb9e2b9f408547273c5f\",\"name\":\"Matthew Borgatti\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ce49ef212791040c75cd23cd49d8825dd39070874b7eeaa5e2a99f269241900?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ce49ef212791040c75cd23cd49d8825dd39070874b7eeaa5e2a99f269241900?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Matthew Borgatti\"},\"description\":\"I'm a lifelong maker and tinkerer. I got my degree in industrial design from RISD, spent a few years making movie animatronics, started specializing in CNC machining and rapid prototyping, and now spend my time designing, building, and teaching professionally.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/har.ms\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/author\/matthew-borgatti\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Figuring out kerf for precision parts","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Figuring out kerf for precision parts","og_description":"Knowing how much material a laser cutter takes away can be a tricky problem for precision parts, but James Williamson has an answer. It’s easy to tell when most tools take away material from a cut. A bandsaw cuts a slot the width of its teeth. A table saw cuts a slot the width of its blade. There’s lots of swarf, and powder, and sawdust around telling you things have been cut away.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/","og_site_name":"Ponoko","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Ponoko\/34020780272","article_published_time":"2011-07-13T00:35:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-08-27T05:36:09+00:00","author":"Matthew Borgatti","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Ponoko","twitter_site":"@Ponoko","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/"},"author":{"name":"Matthew Borgatti","@id":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/58a6d931c4debb9e2b9f408547273c5f"},"headline":"Figuring out kerf for precision parts","datePublished":"2011-07-13T00:35:59+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-27T05:36:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/"},"wordCount":235,"commentCount":1,"articleSection":["Ponoko News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/","name":"Figuring out kerf for precision parts","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-07-13T00:35:59+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-27T05:36:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/58a6d931c4debb9e2b9f408547273c5f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/ponoko\/figuring-out-kerf-for-precision-parts\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Figuring out kerf for precision parts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/","name":"Ponoko","description":"Laser Cutting & Engraving News For Startup Engineers","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/58a6d931c4debb9e2b9f408547273c5f","name":"Matthew Borgatti","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ce49ef212791040c75cd23cd49d8825dd39070874b7eeaa5e2a99f269241900?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ce49ef212791040c75cd23cd49d8825dd39070874b7eeaa5e2a99f269241900?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Matthew Borgatti"},"description":"I'm a lifelong maker and tinkerer. I got my degree in industrial design from RISD, spent a few years making movie animatronics, started specializing in CNC machining and rapid prototyping, and now spend my time designing, building, and teaching professionally.","sameAs":["http:\/\/har.ms"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/author\/matthew-borgatti\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ponoko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}