[Sewing] what fabrics can be cut with laser cutters?

[Christie Dudley]

I forget the name of the woman who did the Laser cutter class at the Menlo
Park tech shop.  She did a dorkbot once where she brought samples of all the
things she etched and cut with the laser.  One of the things she handed out
was tiny cotton denim patches.  They didn't fray any more than cut fabric
did.  In fact, I'd argue just a little less.  The etching on the surface of
the denim was pretty neat, too.

Christie
_______
"It is the time you have lost for your rose that makes your rose so
important."
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

"Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart."
William Butler Yeats



On Sun, Dec 12, 2010 at 3:31 PM, Rose White <rose at yarnivore.com> wrote:

> When Kelly Farrell played around with the laser cutter and fabric at NYC
> Resistor, she found that it would cut natural wool felt well, but that it
> left a brown burned edge (similar to the edge you see when cutting wood) and
> the very particular smell of singed hair. Felt made from man-made fibers
> also cut reasonably well, but left hard edges (where the fibers had
> presumably melted).
>
> Diana Eng did some work cutting out stencil-like shapes from poly-cotton
> broadcloth, like that in some men's dress shirts, and got a good mix of
> clear shapes without fraying/melting. She then appliqued those onto another
> shirt -- the total result was awesome. Plain cotton left a thin brown edge
> that *could* fray, but didn't immediately; it seemed that if the edges were
> either stitched over with satin stitch, or a line run just inside the edge
> (either straight or tiny zig-zag), that it would be fine (depending on the
> look you want).
>
> Unfortunately, I don't know if either of them posted photos of the
> experimentation they did, or the settings they used. :/
>
> Good luck and have fun!
>
> -- Rose/yarnivore
>
>
>
> On Sun, Dec 12, 2010 at 3:09 PM, meredith scheff <satiredun at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> additionally, has anyone had experience with seaming to pieces of
>> artificial material with the laser cutter?
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Dec 12, 2010 at 3:02 PM, Rachel McConnell <rachel at xtreme.com>wrote:
>>
>>> This is also a good point to consider!  Again testing is key.  Wool
>>> blends might be a reasonable compromise between artificial fibers and
>>> fraying.  Also of course it depends on the look you're going for.
>>>
>>> Kelly wrote:
>>> > My guess would be that in theory anything can, but it may leave an
>>> > edge which will fray. I was asking Rachel about this recently and it
>>> > seems like anything synthetic will likely melt and make a good edge,
>>> > but most natural fibers will fray. Perhaps felted wool could be cut on
>>> > a laser cutter?
>>> >
>>> > -Kelly
>>> >
>>> > On Sun, Dec 12, 2010 at 14:50, meredith scheff <satiredun at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> >> also, what cannot be cut?
>>> >> Im looking mainly at fleeces and wools, but I'm also curious abut
>>> other
>>> >> fabrics.
>>> >> Meredith
>>> >>
>>> >> --
>>> >> doing stuff and making things
>>> >> ---
>>> >> "The function of all art ... is an extension of the function of the
>>> visual
>>> >> brain, to acquire knowledge; ...artists are, in a sense, neurologists
>>> who
>>> >> study the capacities of the visual brain with techniques that are
>>> unique to
>>> >> them. ." -Semir Zeki
>>> >>
>>> >> _______________________________________________
>>> >> Sewing mailing list
>>> >> Sewing at lists.noisebridge.net
>>> >> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/sewing
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > Sewing mailing list
>>> > Sewing at lists.noisebridge.net
>>> > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/sewing
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> doing stuff and making things
>> ---
>> "The function of all art ... is an extension of the function of the visual
>> brain, to acquire knowledge; ...artists are, in a sense, neurologists who
>> study the capacities of the visual brain with techniques that are unique to
>> them. ." -Semir Zeki
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Sewing mailing list
>> Sewing at lists.noisebridge.net
>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/sewing
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Sewing mailing list
> Sewing at lists.noisebridge.net
> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/sewing
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.noisebridge.net/pipermail/sewing/attachments/20101212/4349220f/attachment.html>