Laser cutting of cardboard and paper

Laser cutting made easy for paper and cardboard in any desired shape! Laser cutting or laser blanking is affordable and highly precise. Create a design on your computer, order online, and get your laser-cut cardboard or paper delivered quickly. Choose from museum board, felt board, laserboard and more. The ideal service for every creative mind!

How does laser cutting work with paper and cardboard?

The laser (simply put, a powerful light beam) cuts through the material with a very thin point. The smallest holes you can make are approx. half a millimetre in size. The laser-cut edges are usually light brown, but this varies depending on the type of cardboard. This is called laser cutting or laser blanking.

The laser can also engrave. This discolours the surface (usually brown/black, but with corrugated cardboard, it's light brown/white). This allows you to add text and graphic elements without the need for ink.

Creasing is not possible. Instead, you can laser-cut a dashed or dotted line and fold along it. Note that not all types of cardboard are suitable for folding. Corrugated cardboard, in particular, folds well.

Because laser cutting doesn't require a mould, setup costs are low. You can have a small design laser-cut for just €15 ex. VAT.

If you order more than one piece, the price drops significantly, by up to 95% compared to a single piece.

Laser cutting is cost-effective for small to medium-sized runs. If you need even more, mechanical die-cutting is more economical. However, with that method, you can create fewer small details and cannot engrave.

What can you make with laser-cut paper or cardboard?

In architecture, cardboard is often used to create models. Laser cutting is especially convenient here because the design often already exists digitally. It's then very easy to have it laser-cut. You can create very small details. The laser's cut is only 0.1-0.2mm wide, making openings of half a millimetre or more already possible. Ideal for the smallest details, window frames, ornaments, etc.

Since cardboard and paper are easy to cut with a utility knife, it's not a problem if you want to make adjustments here and there. When ordering, choose 'include scrap material' so you always have some extra material for such cases.

Additionally, you can laser engrave. This allows you to create (brick) patterns on façades, alignment markings, texts, and logos, for example.

Similarly, you can laser-cut paper and cardboard for model making.

You can easily make stencils from thin cardboard. Large stencils are also made from corrugated cardboard because it is stronger.

You can also easily create form studies, mock-ups, and other models and prototypes from cardboard. Corrugated cardboard is very affordable and environmentally friendly, making it an ideal candidate for test models.

And what about custom boxes and packaging, or even advanced products like the Google Cardboard? All easily and affordably laser-cut.

Different Types

Corrugated cardboard. The familiar material used to make boxes. Corrugated cardboard is exceptionally affordable and strong. But did you know you can also laser-cut very small details into it? With a laser, you can easily cut out contours. Engraving is also possible, resulting in a light surface with reasonable contrast.

Felt board is the material you know from beer mats. It is off-white and fibrous. It produces a particularly light edge after laser cutting, and soft brown engravings. Overall, laser-cut felt board has a calm aesthetic appeal, making it highly suitable for models. We recommend felt board as an alternative to greyboard.

Greyboard can be laser-cut, but we intentionally do not offer it. Greyboard contains an adhesive that results in very sooty, black-discolouring edges after cutting. This contaminates the workpiece to such an extent that we would not be satisfied delivering it. Felt board is a better alternative.

Laserboard is a unique material. It consists of wood fibres soaked in resin, formed into very thin sheets. Due to the resin, it is extremely strong and resistant to heat distortion. The laser cut is exceptionally thin in this material. All of this allows you to create incredibly small details in laserboard, making it suitable for the most challenging model-making and architectural model applications.

Museum board is the go-to cardboard when you need crisp, pure white board. The edges turn light brown, and you can engrave quite neatly on museum board.

Easy online ordering, fast delivery.

To laser-cut and engrave cardboard or paper, you need a digital design of your project. You can create this, for example, with Illustrator, AutoCAD, or Inkscape. Save your design as DWG, DXF, AI, SVG, STEP, or vector PDF. Create a free account on account.snijlab.nl and drag your design into the browser. Then choose a material, and you'll see the price instantly. Next, you can choose a delivery date and pay online. After that, we'll get to work, and your laser-cut design will be delivered to your home.

Have questions? Our customer service team is happy to help.