Fra DXF til skåret del: de praktiske veiledningene.
Korte, konkrete og med kilder: filforberedelse, delavstand, nesting, skjærehastigheter og tilbud for fiberlaser- og plasmaverksteder.
- DXF-filer · 5 min lesing
DXF units: mm or inch, and why parts come in 25.4× too big or too small
A DXF stores plain numbers; its unit lives in the $INSUNITS header, which is often 0 or missing. How to spot a unit error before it reaches the quote or the machine, and how to fix it.
- Komme i gang · 6 min lesing
Export DXF for CypCut and FSCUT: map the layers once
What a controller-ready DXF for CypCut, CypCutE and FSCUT looks like — R2000, mm, lines, arcs and circles on fixed layers — and how to map Zorocut's ZC_ layers to CypCut layers once.
- DXF-filer · 7 min lesing
Clean DXF from AutoCAD, Fusion, SolidWorks and Inkscape: what breaks and how to export it
Open contours, splines, bend lines, mirrored arcs and unitless files: the problems each CAD program leaves in a DXF for laser cutting, and the export settings that avoid them.
- Komme i gang · 6 min lesing
Plasma tables: from Zorocut's DXF to SheetCAM, FireControl, Mach3 or LinuxCNC
Langmuir FireControl and other hobby-class plasma controllers run G-code, not DXF. The route is Zorocut DXF → SheetCAM, one operation per layer → post-processor → controller, with Hypertherm chart values for speed and pierce delay.
- DXF-filer · 6 min lesing
Open contours in a DXF: why the laser won't cut the part, and how to close them
An open contour has ends that do not meet, so it has no inside and no outside and the controller will not cut it as a part. Where the gaps come from, how to find them, when an auto-join tolerance is safe, and what Zorocut's pre-cut check reports.
- DXF-filer · 7 min lesing
Splines, polylines and arcs in a DXF: why curves turn into thousands of short lines
The same curve can be an ARC, a polyline bulge, a SPLINE, an ELLIPSE or hundreds of short lines. What each one stores, why true arcs cut better, what CypCut, SheetCAM and Zorocut do with the others, and which export settings keep arcs as arcs.
- DXF-filer · 7 min lesing
Cleaning a customer DXF: dimensions, title blocks, bend lines and everything else that must not be cut
Customer files are often drawings, not cut files: dimensions, a frame and title block, notes, bend lines, hidden and centre lines, duplicates and stray points. What each one does at the machine, what Zorocut leaves out by itself, and how to choose the layers that get cut.
- DXF-filer · 6 min lesing
Text in a DXF for laser cutting: cut, mark or engrave — and why TEXT is not cut
A DXF TEXT entity stores a string and a font name, not the letter shapes. How to turn text into outlines, when to cut, mark or engrave it, why cut-through letters need bridges or a stencil font, and what Zorocut and CypCut do with text layers.
- DXF-filer · 7 min lesing
SVG to DXF for laser cutting: sizes, curves, fills and strokes from Inkscape, Illustrator and CorelDRAW
Vector art becomes a cut file when every shape is a closed path at the right size and text, strokes, clips and images are dealt with. Why SVG sizes come in at 75 % or 133 %, what Zorocut reads from an SVG directly, and what to fix in the art first.
- Nesting · 5 min lesing
Part spacing for laser cutting: how much gap to leave between parts
Start with a gap of 3 mm or the sheet thickness, whichever is larger, then adjust for kerf, heat and tip-up. What the spacing does, how the kerf eats into it, and how it changes the quote.
- Nesting · 5 min lesing
Common-line cutting: when sharing an edge pays, and why Zorocut leaves it to the controller
Cutting two parts along one shared line saves pierces and cut length on arrays of identical straight-edged parts. How CypNest, ProNest and PrimeCut do it, where it is risky, and why the DXF should still keep a gap.
- Nesting · 5 min lesing
Remnants: keep, label and reuse sheet-metal offcuts
How to leave a usable offcut instead of scrap, which strips are worth keeping, how to nest the next job on them first, and how to bill the material fairly.
- Nesting · 7 min lesing
CypCut nesting tutorial: the built-in nest step by step, and where it stops
How to nest parts in CypCut's built-in nest — parts library, plates, part gap, co-edge, arrays and sorting — from the CypCut v6.5 manual, and the limits (50 part types, 20 plates, array only) that tell you when a separate nester pays.
- Tilbud · 6 min lesing
Laser cutting quote template: what a laser or plasma quote should contain
The fields every laser or plasma cutting quote needs — parts, material and thickness, quantity, unit and line prices, setup fee, minimum order, lead time, validity and the assumptions behind the price — with a template, an example and the fees other shops publish.
- Nesting · 6 min lesing
True-shape vs rectangular nesting: what the box around each part costs
Rectangular nesting packs the box around each part; true-shape nesting packs the real outline. On rectangles they are the same; on brackets, rings and irregular parts the boxes alone capped our test jobs at 60–68 %, while a true-shape nest reached 71–76 %.
- Nesting · 6 min lesing
Sheet utilisation: how to measure nesting yield and how to raise it
Utilisation is the part area divided by the sheet you count as used — whole sheets, used length, or sheets minus the offcut you keep. What the figures mean, why one nest can read 64 % or 80 %, and five ways to raise it.
- Nesting · 6 min lesing
Part-in-part nesting: cutting small parts from the holes of large ones
Part-in-part nesting cuts small parts from the slugs of large holes. When it pays, how big the hole must be, why the small part is cut first, the heat and tip-up risks, and what CypCut, CypNest and Zorocut do.
- Tilbud · 7 min lesing
How to price laser cutting: machine time, per metre and per pierce
A laser cutting price is material plus machine time plus a share of setup. The formula, the starting values and a worked example: 100 plates of 3 mm mild steel at €90 an hour come to about €1.02 each.
- Hastigheter og materialer · 6 min lesing
Fiber laser cutting speed chart: mild steel, stainless and aluminium by power
Published fiber laser cutting speeds in m/min at 1 kW, 3 kW and 6 kW from the Raycus and IPG tables, plasma for comparison — and why the charts disagree by up to 2× and you should build your own.
- Hastigheter og materialer · 5 min lesing
Pierce time by thickness, and why every pierce costs money
Fiber pierce times from 0.1 s on thin sheet to 9 s at 20 mm, plasma pierce delays from the Hypertherm chart, what each pierce adds to a quote, and practical ways to need fewer of them.
- Tilbud · 6 min lesing
Laser cutting price per metre, per minute, per hour or per kg: which unit, and how to convert
The five ways shops quote cutting — per machine hour, per minute, per metre plus per pierce, per kg and per part — when each one is fair, the formulas that turn one into another, and one shop's published rates in every unit.
- Tilbud · 7 min lesing
How to price plasma cutting: per inch, per pierce, material and setup
How small plasma shops price: material × 1.25–2, $0.10–0.33 per inch of cut, about $0.15 per pierce, drawing time and a minimum. What an inch and a pierce really cost you, from Hypertherm's cut chart and a consumable kit price, with a worked example.
- Tilbud · 5 min lesing
How to count pierces and measure cut length from a DXF
One pierce per closed contour — the outline plus every hole — and the cut length is the perimeter of all of them added up. How each DXF entity is measured, what to clean first, what the drawing leaves out, and what Zorocut's DXF checker reports.
- Tilbud · 6 min lesing
How to work out your laser cutting machine's hourly rate
A machine-hour rate is the year's fixed costs divided by the hours you can bill, plus what each hour of cutting uses up: power, gas, consumables and the operator. The inputs with their sources, and a worked example for a 3 kW fiber laser.
- Tilbud · 6 min lesing
How to charge for material in a sheet-metal quote
Material is weight × price per kg × markup, and weight is area × thickness × density. Which area to bill — the part's rectangle, its share of the nested sheet or whole sheets — how much shops mark up, and who owns the offcut.
- Hastigheter og materialer · 6 min lesing
Kerf width for fiber laser and plasma: chart by thickness and amperage
Plasma kerf from Hypertherm's Powermax cut charts (1.3–3.8 mm), what published sources say about fiber laser kerf, where kerf compensation is set in CypCut, CypNest and SheetCAM, and what the kerf does to part spacing.
- Komme i gang · 6 min lesing
Micro-joints and tabs in laser cutting: why, how big and where to put them
What micro-joints prevent, the sizes shops publish (0.1–1 mm), how CypCut and CypNest add them by click, count, distance or line, where to place them, what removal costs — and why Zorocut leaves them to the controller.
- Komme i gang · 6 min lesing
Lead-in and lead-out for laser and plasma: types, length and placement
Why every contour starts with a lead, line or arc, how long (about the plate thickness on plasma near its pierce limit), where to put it, overcut and gap — the CypCut, CypNest, SheetCAM and Hypertherm settings, and why the part spacing must leave room.
- Hastigheter og materialer · 7 min lesing
Assist gas for fiber laser cutting: oxygen vs nitrogen vs compressed air
Oxygen for mild steel, nitrogen for clean stainless and aluminium edges, compressed air as the cheap middle: the pressures and speeds in a published 3 kW table, measured nitrogen consumption, what each gas does to the edge, and how to put gas into a quote.
- Hastigheter og materialer · 6 min lesing
Minimum hole size for laser and plasma cutting, by thickness
The smallest hole a fiber laser cuts cleanly (half to the full thickness, from SendCutSend and LaserBoost), why plasma holes need one to two times the thickness for bolt quality, and what to tell the customer about smaller holes.
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