Introduction: Laser Cut Pepakura Files
Pepakura is an amazing program that unwraps 3D models and turns them into flat 2D nets, with the appropriate fold signs and flaps. These can be printed out with a standard printer and assembled back into a 3D model. The only downside is that you get a large set of 2D plans that need to be cut out and scored before assembly. What if there was a way to combine the power of Pepakura with the power of a laser cutter?
This instructable shows how to convert pepakura plans into a set of files that can be passed through to a laser cutter so you don't have to spend hours cutting and scoring.
You will need:
Pepakura, the demo program will suffice but a full version will allow you to save your work in progress.
A vector editing package, I'm using Inkscape, Cute PDF, or a similar pdf printer and access to a laser cutter.
Download and install cute PDF http://www.cutepdf.com/. I'm sure other pdf printers will also be acceptable. This will allow you to print directly from pepakura to a vector based format. The full version of pepakura does allow you to export to vector formats but so far I've found all of them to be incompatible with inkscape or not suitable to lasering (dotted lines made of a solid line and painted to look like a dotted one). Printing to pdf creates a file ready for conversion with no more effort.
Load up Pepakura and import your 3D model. Perform the unwrap and adjust the layout of your item until you are happy with the arrangement.
Others->Texture On/Off, allows you to export a smaller plain item.
Settings->Other Settings, allows you to change the spacing on the dotted lines
File->Print and Paper settings, has a setting to 'print lines clearly (vector)' this should be selected to ensure the file is printed as lines rather than a raster image.
When you're ready, go to File->Print and select cute pdf from the drop down box, save the output directly to pdf. Now your file is ready to be imported to inkscape or another drawing package and be converted to your laser cutting format. My laser takes in dxf files so I simply save the file as dxf and it's ready to go across to the laser.
Alas the laser can only cut the files out, all the assembly has to be done by hand but it has saved a boatload of time already.
20 Comments
9 years ago on Introduction
Is there any way to have the laser etch the tab numbers/fold lines and cut the solid lines?
Reply 1 year ago
Yes. You create whatever info and when you bring it into the cutter software, you mark those to Engrave or Score, instead of cut.
You can also engrave an image, for instance, eyes or claws.
8 years ago on Introduction
wow this would be such a huge time saver! I have never heard of a laser cutter. Are they affordable for home application or is this a commercial type machine? Thanks for the tutorial!
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
Laser Cutters are over $10K lol I've never heard of a cheaper one or "smaller" to be used like if it was a printer.
Reply 1 year ago
That was true at one time, and still true for some manufacturers. Go to Amazon and you'll find cutters for less than $500 some of them include shipping.
You can also find Laser cutters cheap feom from China that include shipping whereas just a year or two ago you could buy one from China but you had to arrange shipping and to pick it up at the port.
There are you been laser cutters that cost less than $100 but they I'm more design for laser engraving than cutting although they may be able to cut paper and thin cardboard. These laser cutters are called diode lasers
T/C
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
You can get them for $500 on ebay, I wouldn't buy one of those though if you like safety
Our cheapest machine is about $3K (UK equivalent)
http://www.justaddsharks.co.uk/
Reply 3 years ago
There are 2 types of laser cutters.A laser diode and co2,for this project a laser diode cutter will work just fine provided the user has the knowhow to set it up and run it and you can purchase off ebay and amazon as low as $100 -$400 depending on the power rating of the laser itself now do not expect to plug and play(pray) be prepared to learn and learn and experiment for the first 6 months for someone with no experience with any type of cnc machine.Also remember you have to experiment to find the correct settings for each material you want to us.I started out years ago doing maintance on a 100 watt co2 laser @Vishay in Malvern ,Pa.
Reply 3 years ago
One thing I forgot and it is the most important you must have the correct laser SAFETY glasses for your machine or you could lose your SIGHT in a flash.SAFETY FIRST.
Reply 1 year ago
Brightled is so right, as they said, the Correct one. What works for a CO2 laser is not correct for a diode laser.
Some cutter machine designs, like the Glowforge Basic and Glowforge Plus are designed so that you don't need glasses if you operate the cutter correctly, while the Glowforge Pro model allows you to feed long material thru the front and back of the cutter thru slits in the case where (invisible!!!) light can possible escape. For that reason GF recommends safety glasses for the Pro users and has even created a free Laser Safety Officer (LSO) course to help users.
Other cutters may be similar, but it is up to the user to learn about laser safety as well as what materials are dangerous to machine or personal.
G/L
Reply 7 years ago
Check if your community has a makerspace. Many have laser cutters that you can access. I don't know how close this is to you, but they have one. http://tampahackerspace.com/our-facilities/
Reply 7 years ago
Thank you!
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
Since I wrote this instructable we started a company selling laser cutters to hobbyists and makers. They're a little bit expensive to be purchased on a whim but with some ingenuity they can be made to pay for themselves.
justaddsharks.co.uk
3 years ago
The Glowforge Laser cutter has the habit of converting dashed lines into solid lines when it uploads a PDF file. It doesn't always do it, but it does give a warning when it does. The other major defect in the machine is that you have to be on the internet when you use the machine as the laser cutter's user interface is cloud based. While it is nice that you can use the cutter from your phone, it means you can not use it from Adobe Illustrator or any other program.
Reply 1 year ago
You simply save your Adobe Illustrator file as an SVG or PDF and load it into the glowforge app.
7 years ago
Pepakura Viewer for Silhouette Cameo has an option to export as PDF.
7 years ago
on inkscape that is
7 years ago
how do I select the lines I would like to cut instead of it just cutting out all of the lines?
9 years ago on Introduction
Also, my print lines clearly (vector) doesn't seem to outputting vectors. My PDF's will only print as raster, and it is way too slow.
9 years ago on Introduction
i am doing this already with thin sheets of plastic instead of card stock to give the model more strength. works like a charm and i can stack and glue layers to thicken the substrate to hold up better than the normal card stock.
10 years ago on Introduction
very cool, can you post the files for this shape?