Laser cutting a stack of paper

[Tim Jensma]

Before I experiment and potentially make a big fire, I'd like to check if anyone has cut a stack of paper on the laser cutter before?

The story is that a friend would like 120 rose patterns cut out of paper for her wedding - mostly from coloured gift wrap and old comic book pages. The pattern is about A4 size, so I essentially need to cut 120 pages.

I was thinking that I might be able to do it as piles of 10 or 20 instead of 120 individual sets? Considering the cutter is happy with paper and card, I assumed I could increase the power to cut multiple sheets at once... but was concerned that the increased power hitting an individual sheet of paper in the stack with an air space around it might be enough to ignite it?

If anyone has had experience cutting paper I'd love some feedback!

Cheers!

[Charles Yarnold]

Sadly your concerns are correct, doing multiple sheets isn't something you should do. Its already a big fire risk with one sheet, multiple are much more likely to catch on fire.

I would say that the lasercutter isn't really the tool for the job, much more suited for a craft robo or other automated cutting machine like how the vinyl cutter works.

Sol

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[Tim Jensma]

Thanks for the advice.

I suspect that cheap comic book pages would just love to have a fiery party in the cutter, so will not entertain this concept further!

[Andy Selby]

How about making a cutting die with wilkinson sword razor blades laid out in a rose pattern attached to a wooden board?
just press the paper between that and a cutting mat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_cutting_%28web%29

Andy

[Dean Forbes]

You could try finding a drag knife cutter

[Tim Jensma]

Cheers for the advice. It is a complex pattern with 7 pieces per rose, so making a punch isn't feasable in this case. She has a quote for getting the job done professionally that sounds pretty reasonable, I just volunteered to help if it was a quick simple job...Which it isn't.