What is laser cutting and how is it used in model engineering?
As its name implies, this is the cutting of metal (or wood or card or plastic) using a laser beam. Very accurate parts can be cutout with hole spacings for rivets or bolts, cutouts for loco frames and so on. This makes construction of, eg a loco cab, very easy, almost like a kit. The laser cutter needs a computer file (called a dxf file) which is created by a drawing using a CAD programme. So if you want your own laser cut parts you will first have to install a CAD programme (e.g. AutoCAD) on your computer and learn to draw with it! Many model engineers now combine this method of producing parts with the traditional methods.
