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Step 7Vector vs. Raster
There's two different cutting techniques you can employ when using a laser cutter, vector and raster.
Raster tends to be used for engraving things, while vector is much more adept at cutting things out.
Raster engraving is quite akin to a normal printer. I hope anyone intending on using a laser cutter, has used either an inkjet or laser printer sometime in the past. Printers print on a page from top to bottom, while printing from left to right. They don't start printing in the bottom right corner, then the top left and continue on to the middle of the page. Raster cutting works in the same manner. When you hit print in whatever program you decide to print from, the laser cutter will start at the top of the piece you're working on, and proceed down to the bottom, while the laser moves from left to right on whatever you're engraving. The laser turns on and off in rapid succession at whatever points a normal printer would and wouldn't shoot out ink.
Vector cutting is a little different if you've never experienced it before. It will start at a point on your image, leave the laser on (kind of, see Step 6: Frequency Settings for more info), and continue on the line, tracing the entire image before turning the laser off. This is why it tends to be used for cutting instead of etching.
Perhaps videos of each would help make sense of it all.
Raster Cutting Your Skin
Vector Cutting A Bansky
When using Raster, you can try any type of image you like, and see how it comes out.
When using Vector, you should make the outline of whatever you're cutting 0.001-inch (0.025mm) so the laser has a clean line to trace.
Raster tends to be used for engraving things, while vector is much more adept at cutting things out.
Raster engraving is quite akin to a normal printer. I hope anyone intending on using a laser cutter, has used either an inkjet or laser printer sometime in the past. Printers print on a page from top to bottom, while printing from left to right. They don't start printing in the bottom right corner, then the top left and continue on to the middle of the page. Raster cutting works in the same manner. When you hit print in whatever program you decide to print from, the laser cutter will start at the top of the piece you're working on, and proceed down to the bottom, while the laser moves from left to right on whatever you're engraving. The laser turns on and off in rapid succession at whatever points a normal printer would and wouldn't shoot out ink.
Vector cutting is a little different if you've never experienced it before. It will start at a point on your image, leave the laser on (kind of, see Step 6: Frequency Settings for more info), and continue on the line, tracing the entire image before turning the laser off. This is why it tends to be used for cutting instead of etching.
Perhaps videos of each would help make sense of it all.
Raster Cutting Your Skin
Vector Cutting A Bansky
When using Raster, you can try any type of image you like, and see how it comes out.
When using Vector, you should make the outline of whatever you're cutting 0.001-inch (0.025mm) so the laser has a clean line to trace.
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