Skill Investigation: Laser Cutting Fabric With VLS 4.60

Intention

For my skills investigation I am going to test and document cutting different common types of fabric on the Universal Laser Systems VLS 4.60 30w platform. I am interested in creating a knowledge base for future fabrication projects and for the education of others. This exploration will potentially be useful for future and ongoing projects, such as the making of prosthesis and incorporating soft material into computer technology and interfaces.

Process

For the process of this project I cut various types of common fabric on a VLS laser cutter using four different types of cuts. The cuts were a small rectangle, a small oval, a straight line, and a square cutout of the entire swatch. I used the recommended settings on the VLS interface for denim and ballistic nylon and made adjustments to until I achieved an ideal cut with each type of fabric.

Fabric_Swatch.pdf

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Product

My final product was a collection of swatches with the ideal settings of power, speed, and ppi (pulses per inch), to use for each type of material.

Reflection

Making this project was a good step towards learning how to laser cut various fabrics. I discovered when cutting natural fibers such as cotton or jute you can keep the power at 100% and use a moderate PPI (pulses per inch) of 500 and adjust the speed to get an ideal cut. An ideal cut on natural materials is one that cuts all the way through at the highest speed possible. When working with the synthetic fibers of polyester, nylon, and spandex. It is better to use a power setting that is low enough to not cause shrinking or melting and use the speed for achieving the ideal cut. Also a lower ppi is recommended for the synthetic materials as it helps to lessen the chance of melting and shrinking.

For further research I would like to investigate using laser cut fabric and darting to incorporate soft materials into other mixed media projects, and experiment with different type of darting techniques to create 3d structures out of soft materials.