I'm planning to get some parts laser cut. It turns out it is cheaper to put 8 of the same part on one drawing than have a single part and buy a quantity of 8. I suspect they price in a square of material around the part, so nesting 8 parts means you're paying for less material. Is there a problem doing it this way?

Hi John, can't see a problem, but normally with laser cutters I've used you just give them the drawing & tell them how many you want, they will then stick it into their CAD & juggle things to get the most out of a given size of plate. When doing small runs the biggest problem normally is minimum price which varies from one to another, I've seen as low as £50 & as high as £300

I've previously used fractory.com. You upload the dxf file, select the material and quantity and the price is generated automatically. The price seems to be the square of material (un-nested) plus the length of cut. I'm certain they would nest them manually, but wouldn't refund the material saving.

I tried fractory b4, IIRC they either didn't come up with any quotes or got a stupidly expensive quote. Last time I had any stuff done I used LaserMaster - they were quick, reasonably priced & excellent quality - if donlaser/doncaster laser have started up again I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole, they were going into administration during my last order, only ever got about half the order, couldn't get any response to emails & telephone calls never got the money back & quality wasn't great either!

www.lasermaster.co.uk

sales@lasermaster.co.uk

I have used this company
https://www.sorblasercutting.co.uk/

Uploaded drawing and got a quote on line.
The last order I added 2 just for spares and they also gave 2 spare on top in the quoted price.
From memory, it was about £120 for 12 off. Ali about 10"X5".

I had a pair of steering column brackets laser cut by a local company. I just sent the design and asked for 2.

He charged £15 incl posting but when I sent more stuff he never did them!





[Edited on 28/11/20 by lsdweb]

It’s water rather than laser but I can’t speak highly enough of https://www.octagonprecision.com/