Safety

These articles describe how a cut removes stock and how that loss is counted. They are not a procedure for defeating an interlock, removing a guard, aligning a high-power laser, opening a high-pressure waterjet, or bypassing a machine stop. This page collects the limits that apply across the guides.

What a kerf is, and what it is not

Kerf is the slot the cutter removes. It is not the finished part size on the drawing. A catalog blade, nozzle, or lens width is not the slot in a real sheet. After a consumable change, the old measured kerf is no longer the slot.

Thickness changes the slot even when the material name stays the same. A setting that worked on a thin sheet is not a setting for a thicker sheet.

What a usable record has to name

A usable record names the material, the thickness, the process, and the machine. If one of the four is missing, the width stays blank. One millimeter copied onto every page is not a measurement.

What the next operation still needs

A later bend, mill, or grind needs allowance on the blank. That allowance is not supplied by the kerf the cutter already removed. A press-fit or a joint clearance is a second number. It is not kerf compensation.

Yield and a quote

A quote built only on finished part area understates the stock that had to be bought. Do not declare one process the winner for every material. Do not treat a nesting screenshot as proof of the best yield.

What the guides will not publish

The guides do not publish a controller menu, a pinout, or a G-code recipe as if every machine uses the same screen. They do not rank a brand.

Email is the wrong tool for an emergency at a machine. For a correction to a published sentence, use Contact. For the limit of the writing, use the Disclaimer.