Metal Laser Cutting in Las Vegas — Instant Quotes

What Las Vegas customers laser cut

A 12 kW fiber laser cuts sheet metal and steel plate quickly and cleanly, which makes it the workhorse behind brackets, signs and fabricated parts across the valley. Typical metal laser cutting work:

Custom metal signs

Business signs, address numbers, logos, plaques and decorative panels in steel, stainless, aluminum and brass — cut-out letters, or etched text on a cut plate.

Brackets, plates and gussets

Mounting brackets, base plates, gussets, tabs and flanges for welders, fabricators, contractors and installers.

Exhibit, retail and hospitality metalwork

Sign brackets, display parts, shelf supports and decorative screens for trade show booths, stores and venue interiors.

Motorsports and off-road builds

Brackets, tabs, mounts and plate blanks in steel and aluminum for race cars and desert trucks. The tube they attach to — coped for a cage or chassis, or bent into bars and hoops — is CNC tube laser and CNC tube bending work, quoted on request.

Equipment and machine parts

Guards, covers, panels and replacement parts, cut from a drawing instead of traced by hand. Round replacement parts such as pins, shafts and bushings are CNC lathe turning work, quoted on request.

Parts ship flat and as cut. Bending, welding, tapping and powder coating aren’t part of the instant quote; for a full build, send a custom fabrication inquiry.

Choosing a metal

Choose the metal for where the part lives and what it carries. Each guide covers the stocked grades, thicknesses and design notes:

Mild steel

Strong, weldable and the most economical — brackets, plates, gussets and frames. Bare steel rusts, so plan paint or powder coat for outdoor parts.

Galvanized steel

Zinc-coated steel for outdoor and damp locations; the cut edges are bare steel and can show light rust over time.

Stainless steel

304 for food service, kitchens and most indoor work; 316 near pools, salt and chemicals.

Aluminum

About a third the weight of steel. 5052 bends well for covers and panels; 6061 is the structural choice for plates and brackets.

Brass and copper

Warm, decorative metals for plaques, signs and inlays, and copper for electrical parts.

In the desert sun, dark steel gets hot to the touch, and bare steel rusts once the summer monsoon storms arrive — choose stainless, aluminum or a coated finish for parts that live outside.

Design rules for laser-cut sheet metal

A fiber laser cuts with a focused beam, so its rules are about heat and the narrow kerf rather than tool size. Every part is checked against them before it’s priced, and anything that may not cut cleanly is flagged for the shop to check.

Hole size

Keep holes at least about half the material thickness across; smaller holes may not cut cleanly, especially in thick plate.

Slots and cutouts

Make slots and narrow cutouts at least the material thickness wide, so the slug drops free and the kerf doesn’t close up.

Webs and edges

Keep the metal between cuts — and between a cut and the part’s edge — at least the material thickness wide; narrower webs can warp or burn through.

Through cuts only

A laser cuts all the way through, so pockets, dados and partial-depth holes can’t be made. Need a recess? Make that part on the CNC router in wood or plastic.

Etch versus cut

Set a line to engrave — “Etch line” in the quote — to mark part numbers, logos, bend lines or layout marks on the surface instead of cutting through. Etching follows the lines you draw, so outlined text etches as outlines.

Letters and stencils

Cut-through letters lose the centers of A, B, D, O, P, Q and R. Add small bridges to keep them — a stencil font does it for you — or etch the text instead.

Small parts

Parts under 1″ both ways can tip or drop through the cutting slats, so the shop may hold them in with small tabs you snap off.

Threads and fits

Holes are cut, not drilled or tapped. Draw tap-drill size if you’ll tap them yourself, and call out press fits or bearing bores for review. Metal parts that need machined bores, threads or pockets are CNC milling work, quoted on request.

Export a DXF at 1:1 with closed outlines, or send a STEP model. The CAD file prep guide covers the file habits that keep any quote moving.

Sheet metal gauge to inch chart

Sheet metal is sold by gauge, and gauge numbers run backwards: the higher the gauge, the thinner the sheet. This chart lists every thickness stocked for laser cutting today, with the steel and stainless gauge and its decimal and metric equivalents.

Steel plate is ordered by the fraction instead of a gauge. When a drawing calls for a gauge, check which scale it means — an aluminum gauge isn’t the same thickness as the steel gauge with the same number — and give the decimal thickness when in doubt.

What drives the price of a laser-cut part

Laser quotes show each part’s price and the total, like routing quotes, but metal is billed differently. The drivers:

Cut length

The inches the beam travels around outlines, cutouts and slots, at a rate for the metal and its thickness. Thicker metal cuts slower.

Holes and pierces

Every hole and cutout starts with a pierce, and each hole is priced by its size, so a part full of small holes can cost more than a bigger plain one.

Etched lines

Priced by length, like cutting.

Metal used

Billed by the area your parts use — each part’s outer size plus a little cutting space — never more than the sheets they’re cut from.

Setup, handling and quantity

The quote adds setup and programming once per design, handling for each piece and loading for each sheet the job uses. Identical parts get automatic quantity discounts on the cutting, so each additional part costs less than the first.

Speed and delivery

Lead-time options and local delivery are priced on the quote; pickup is free.

To lower the cost, merge small holes where the design allows, use the thinnest gauge that’s strong enough, order identical parts together, and etch marks instead of cutting extra features.

Laser, plasma, waterjet or router?

Metal can be cut several ways. Here’s where each one fits:

Fiber laser — available now

Sheet metal and steel plate up to the thicknesses in the chart above. Fine detail, small holes, a narrow kerf and clean edges — the best fit for most brackets, signs and plates.

CNC plasma — available now

The same stocked steel, stainless and aluminum plate, with its own instant quote. As a process it’s often the economical cut on heavy plate, with a wider kerf, more bevel and more dross to clean up — the plasma design guide covers its rules.

Wire EDM — custom quote

One of the CNC machining processes: slow, precise through-profiles in hardened tool steel, carbide and other conductive metals, held to tighter tolerances than a laser or plasma cut, with very little heat effect. Quote requests are reviewed individually.

Waterjet — not offered

A cold, slower cut for stone, glass, tile, thick composites and metals that can’t take heat. The Job Shop doesn’t run one; if a part truly needs a waterjet, describe it in a custom fabrication inquiry.

CNC router — available now

Wood, plastics, foam and Dibond aluminum composite — and the right machine when a part needs pockets, dados or drilled hardware holes.