Fred Aldous is a design , craft and art supplies store who now offer a laser cutting service to local designers.The design files for the laser cutter need to be in illustrator (.ai) and saved in version 8, the set up cost for the correct files is £5 and the cutting service is charged at £1 per minute the cutting speed depends on the type of media being cut ie wood would take considerably longer than paper.A circle cut in 3mm perspex takes 15 seconds to cot at a cost of 15 pence.Paul who demonstrated the laser cutter explained that a charge of approx £50 would be made if illustrator files had to be altered by Fred Aldous staff so its a good idea to double check your designs before you get there .The laser cutter is similar to a vinyl cutter and works best with clean lines and solid shapes my design had thin lines across a shape and gave an etched effect which works well for certain projects and on certain materials. Paul was very accommodating and showed us examples of designs cut from paper, mirror ,wood ,card, felt and acrylic.He said several designers email their files to him on a regular basis and a local designer uses the laser cutter to create acrylic jewelry.The store can provide the materials to cut from or you can take your own, the laser will not cut glass or metal but it will mark it (engrave) it cannot cut any material containing chlorine such as pvc or vinyl.
Paul Walker
Fred Aldous Ltd
37 Lever St
Manchester
m1 1lw
T-0161 236 4224
open mon-sat 8.15am-5.15pm
www.fredaldous.co.uk
