Templates / Stencils
The laser cutting technique is extremely well suited for making templates, stencils or spray molds. In inexpensive materials such as PP foil, cardboard, MDF or sticker material, we can cut out every shape for every application. Below are the advantages and disadvantages of these materials:
- PP films are thin, 0.5 to 1.2 mm thick. This makes it also flexible, so suitable for curved surfaces and rolling up for transport. Furthermore, it is a cheap material and the template is also frequently reusable. The material is less suitable for shapes smaller than about 1-2 mm, because the material melts away too much during laser cutting. This makes fine details less neat and parts can also warp a little.
- (Corrugated) board is of course another inexpensive material for creating templates and combines the advantages of PP film with MDF. It is cheap, flexible, thin and fine details are possible. The burned cutting lines do give off some soot, so it is important to take this into account when spraying for the first time.
- MDF is available from 3 mm thick, inexpensive and extremely well suited for creating ultra-fine shapes. Because of the thickness, it is important to spray perpendicular to the template for a good result. An MDF template is robust and can be reused many times.
For more information about the possibilities, mail us.
Design guidelines for templates
If your template contains a text, it is advisable to use a stencil font for this. After all, when a letter O is cut out, the inner circle is also cut out and forms a separate part of the template. With a stencil font all these inner parts of letters are connected by means of bridges. Do you have a specific font that you want to use, for example, are you attached to a logo? No problem, we can also graphically apply these bridges for you. Inform about the possibilities.
