# Laser Cutting

https://kdisplay.com/capabilities/cutting-forming/laser-cutting

Laser cutting separates sheet metal along a programmed path with a focused beam and cutting gas. K-Display in Chicago laser cuts panels, plates, and bracket parts from customer DXF and STEP files in aluminum, carbon steel, stainless steel, galvanized steel, and galvanneal.

## Overview
The beam heats the sheet along its path and a stream of cutting gas drives the molten metal out through the underside, leaving a narrow gap, the kerf. Each part comes off the sheet with its outline, holes, slots, and cutouts in place, and no tool is made for it. We cut carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum, galvanized steel, and galvanneal, and the parts leave bare or powder coated with hardware installed. CNC punching forms knockouts and raised details as it cuts, and it strikes a large pattern of identical openings from one set of punches.

## Materials
- Carbon steel
- Galvanized steel
- Galvanneal
- Stainless steel
- Aluminum

## Applications
- Mounting plates with component and cable openings cut from the component drawing
- Enclosure covers with cutouts for switches, displays, and connectors
- Brackets cut flat, with holes positioned for the bends that follow
- Guard panels with a sensor window and a cable cutout in solid sheet
- Access covers with one window cut to the outline of the part behind them

## Process
- Lay the sheet under the nozzle: The sheet lies flat on the cutting table, in the material and thickness the drawing names, with the nozzle above it.
- Follow the path: The beam travels along the outline, the holes, and the slots until each part is free of the sheet.
- Release the parts: We ship the cut parts flat and bare, or send them on to bending, welding, powder coating, hardware installation, and assembly and ship them finished.

## Design considerations
Dimension the mounting holes and the openings they serve from one datum edge, the edge every measurement starts from, and take that edge from the formed part when the sheet will be bent. Two datums add their tolerances, and a pattern that misses its component by the sum will not seat. We cut each feature from the datum edge on the drawing. The cut removes a strip of metal, so the beam has to run to one side of a hole's drawn line for the hole to come out at its drawn size. A self-clinching nut, which locks into the sheet when it is pressed in, seats only in a hole of its published size. Name…

## FAQ
**Which files help with quoting?**
Revit, SOLIDWORKS, and AutoCAD/DWG files can preserve native design context. DXF is useful for flat geometry, STEP communicates 3D intent, and PDF captures dimensions, tolerances, and notes. A sketch or early concept is also welcome.

**Can laser-cut parts be finished and assembled?**
Yes. K-Display can coordinate forming, welding, powder coating and assembly after cutting.

## Related pages
- [CNC Punching](https://kdisplay.com/capabilities/cutting-forming/cnc-punching)
- [Sheet Metal Forming & Bending](https://kdisplay.com/capabilities/cutting-forming/forming)
- [Hardware Installation](https://kdisplay.com/capabilities/finishing/hardware-installation)
- [Custom Control Panel Enclosures](https://kdisplay.com/products/electrical-enclosures/control-panel-enclosures)
- [Custom Mounting, Backing & Gland Plates](https://kdisplay.com/products/brackets-plates/mounting-backing-plates)
- [Custom Front Panels & Bezels](https://kdisplay.com/products/panels-covers/front-panels-bezels)
- [Custom Machine Guards & Access Panels](https://kdisplay.com/products/panels-covers/machine-guards-access-panels)