How to Set Up Files for Laser Cutting — Cut Lines, Islands, Bridges and Multi-Layer Cards

Why laser-cut files fail

I've been doing specialty print for a long time, and the most common reason a laser-cut job stalls is not the design. It's the file. The artwork looks perfect on screen, the client approves the proof, and then the file reaches the laser operator and nobody can tell which lines are cuts, which are print, and which parts are supposed to fall out.

A laser is honest to a fault. The operator imports your vectors, gives each colour a power and a speed, and the machine traces the centreline of every path of that colour. It doesn't know that the inside of your "e" was meant to stay. It doesn't know that two stacked lines are an accident. It cuts both, and the second pass scorches the edge. The stroke weight you see on screen is only a display setting.

This guide is the standard we hand our own designers, the one our production team works to. If you're a designer preparing laser-cut business cards, wedding invitations, pockets or multi-layer pieces for us, follow it and your files will go straight to production.

Four different jobs a laser does on paper

Before you draw a single line, decide which of these jobs each element needs. They get set up differently.

The colour and layer standard

Every operation gets its own file, on the same artboard, at 1:1 in millimetres. Inside that file, the tooling lines use a named spot swatch. The colour is a second safety net: even if a file ends up in the wrong folder, anyone opening it can see what it's for.

Never draw a cut line in rich black, CMYK red or any colour that also appears in the artwork. A cut line that matches the foil or the ink is the fastest way to get a job sent back.

A note on RGB red: many laser-only shops ask for pure RGB red (255/0/0) cut lines, because their machines are driven from RGB design software. Print files are CMYK, so we use the magenta spot and send a DXF of the cut layer when a laser operator asks for one. If you're working with another vendor, ask which convention they want before you start.

Clean paths: the mistakes that stop a laser

• Open paths. If a shape isn't closed, the piece stays attached. Check in Outline view (View › Outline) and join the ends with Object › Path › Join.
• Stacked duplicates. Two identical lines on top of each other get cut twice. You get a wider, darker, burnt edge, and on paper it can catch.
• Shared edges. Two shapes that touch (two lace cells, or two letters that kiss) each carry the same edge, so it's a hidden duplicate. Fix it by drawing the paper you keep as filled shapes, running Pathfinder › Unite, and only then swapping the fill for the CUT stroke.
• Outlined strokes. Outline Stroke turns one cut into two parallel cuts. Leave cut lines as strokes.
• Clipping masks. The hidden geometry is still there, and it still gets cut. Release masks and delete what's outside.
• Live text, images, effects, symbols, Live Paint. Outline the type, delete placed images, expand appearance, break symbols. The laser reads plain vector paths and nothing else.
• Auto-traced art. Image Trace can leave thousands of anchor points. Simplify it (Object › Path › Simplify), then check it in Preview so your curves don't go lumpy.

Islands, windows and stencils: tell us what stays

This is the one that costs the most time. Any closed cut releases whatever is inside it. When you cut an O, e, a, p, B, d or 8, the counter (the enclosed space inside the letter) is an island. What happens to it depends on what you intend, and the file has to say so.

Always include a keep/waste preview. Export a flat JPG of each cut layer with the waste hatched and labelled "hatched = removed." Then add one line to your notes, for example: "Letters are windows. All enclosed areas drop out on purpose. No bridges." That single sentence stops the most common question a laser operator asks.

Bridges for stencil work:

• At least 1.0 mm wide on 250–350 gsm stock.
• 1.2–1.5 mm on pieces larger than about 15 mm, and on anything handled a lot, like pocket flaps and sleeve openings.
• At least two per large counter.
• Draw them into the art yourself. Don't count on the operator to add tabs.

Script and hairline fonts almost never survive as stencils. Either redraw the lettering so it's tied to a baseline, or switch to a window with a foiled layer underneath.

Minimum sizes: what paper can survive

The rule every laser shop agrees on: no feature narrower than the paper is thick. The numbers below are our safe defaults. They sit a little above the absolute minimums, because a card that technically cuts and then tears in the envelope is still a failed card.

A few more physical facts worth knowing:

• The laser burns away about 0.08–0.2 mm of paper along the cut (the kerf). You don't need to compensate for that on stationery.
• The edge browns slightly, about 0.1–0.4 mm. That disappears on black and dyed-through stocks and shows on bright white, especially in dense lace.
• If you remove more than about 40% of a card's surface, it becomes fragile.
• Anything cut free that you want to keep, like confetti or a punched-out tag, needs to be at least 6 mm, or it falls through the machine bed.

A quick way to check in Illustrator: draw a 1.0 mm circle at 50% opacity and drag it along your bridges and slots. Anywhere it doesn't fit, you have a problem.

Multi-layer cards: duplex windows and triplex reveals

Multi-layer builds are where laser work gets spectacular, and where most files go wrong. Two things matter more than anything else. First, every layer file shares the same artboard and origin, so they stack exactly. Second, you plan for the layers not lining up perfectly. Laminating two plies holds about ±0.5 mm. That's excellent for paper, and it's still enough to show a sliver if you design to zero tolerance.

Duplex: a laser-cut top layer over a printed or foiled base.

• Spread whatever fills the window (foil, ink, colour) by 0.5 mm past the cut, using Object › Path › Offset Path, +0.5 mm, with round joins.
• Choke any counters and knockouts to match, then check they're still at least 0.6 mm for foil.
• Keep critical print, like text, thin rules or foil, at least 2 mm from any cut on the same layer.
• Include an assembled composite as a reference preview. Never send a flattened composite as a production file.

Triplex and colour-core: the laser reveal. On a triplex card (white, then a dyed core, then white), a "red" or "black" icon is often not printed at all. The laser removes the white face ply and exposes the colour underneath. That's an engraving job, and it's set up like one:

• Filled vector shapes on the ENGRAVE spot. Set your final line weight, then Outline Stroke, so every line becomes a fill.
• Lines at least 0.5 mm, gaps at least 0.4 mm. A 0.2 mm hairline, like a delicate heartbeat line or globe grid, is thinner than the laser spot and won't reveal cleanly. Thicken it or simplify it.
• No raster images, gradients or transparency.
• Knock the reveal elements out of your CMYK file. Red ink printed next to a red core never registers perfectly, and you get a ghost halo.
• Build it on the identical artboard, trim box and crop marks as the CMYK file for that side.

If you're weighing a triplex build, our thick business card options show the stocks and core colours.

Illustrator workflow: artwork to laser-ready in 12 steps

1. Duplicate the artboard. Never cut up your master artwork.
2. Set up the document. Units in mm, artboard equal to the trim size, 1:1 scale, not rotated. For print-plus-cut sides, match the CMYK file's page, trim box and crop marks exactly.
3. Make the layers: CUT, CREASE, PERF, ENGRAVE, ART, REF-NOPRINT.
4. Outline type with Type › Create Outlines. Keep a live-text copy on a hidden artboard.
5. Flatten: ungroup until nothing is grouped, release clipping masks, Expand Appearance, break symbols.
6. Build the shape. Pathfinder › Unite the paper you keep (or the windows you remove) into one compound path.
7. Deal with islands. For windows, release the compound path and delete the counters. For stencils, draw bridges and Minus Front.
8. Assign the operation. Cuts: fill none, stroke CUT 0.25 pt, Align Stroke to Center, Overprint Stroke. Reveals: fill ENGRAVE, stroke none.
9. Clean up with Object › Path › Clean Up to remove stray points, unpainted objects and empty text paths.
10. Inspect in Outline view. Look for open ends, stacked lines and hidden objects. Join anything open.
11. Verify. Select › Same › Stroke Color should put every CUT path on the CUT layer. Window › Document Info (set to Objects) should show zero images and zero fonts.
12. Measure, then export. Check minimums with the 1.0 mm circle, then save a PDF plus an AI file saved down to CS6 (older laser software reads it more reliably). Add a DXF of the cut layer if it's requested.

Preflight checklist before you upload

• One operation per file, named by process and side (e.g. 01-diecut-front.pdf, 02-foil-front.pdf)
• Cut, crease and perf lines are strokes on their own spot swatch. Engrave is fills only
• No rich black, CMYK red or artwork colour used for any tooling line
• All paths closed, with no duplicates or shared edges
• No live text, images, masks, effects or symbols
• Artboard equals trim, 1:1, mm, and is identical across every layer file
• Bridges 1.0 mm+, slots 0.8 mm+, gaps 1.0 mm+, edge frame 3 mm+
• Reveal lines 0.5 mm+. Foil knockouts 0.6 mm+ after spread
• Window fills spread 0.5 mm. Critical print 2 mm from cuts
• Keep/waste preview included, with notes stating windows or stencils
• Files supplied as seen from the front. If the operator cuts face-down, they mirror it

What to send us

One folder or ZIP per order, named with your order number. Put the machine files in a separations folder and the pictures in a previews folder. Add a short README with three sections:

• Hard rules: trim size, stock, corners, and the intent, for example "letters are windows, no bridges"
• Notes: one line per file
• Before tooling: anything that needs confirming

Our general file requirements cover bleed, colour and resolution for the printed layers, and our foil artwork guide covers foil layers and trapping.

If you're not sure whether your design works as a window, a stencil or a reveal, send it to us before you build the tooling files. It's a five-minute conversation, and it's much cheaper than a re-cut. You can book a call and we'll go through the artwork with you.

Laser cut vs steel-rule die cut

Both read the same kind of file, and the rules above apply to both. The difference is what each one is good at.

• Steel-rule dies are fast and clean on simple shapes, like card outlines, rounded corners and pocket folders. They need larger inside corner radii (0.8 mm at the least, 3 mm is better), and every new shape means a new die.
• Lasers need no tooling and handle lace-level detail down to about 0.5–1 mm. They leave a slightly browned edge, which hides on dark and colour-core stocks.

For intricate work, the laser is the move. For simple shapes at volume, the die usually wins. See our die-cut business cards for both.