FAQs

A large enough percentage of our customers have inquired about how best to color-fill the engraved areas of our templates. They are of course perfectly usable without any color fill, but to make your set unique, you may want to do so. The acrylic we use for most items ships from the manufacturer with a paper backing applied. This protects it from being scratched during shipment or handling. Because our laser engraves through the paper and into the acrylic to create markings, the paper naturally makes a perfect mask for color filling. Just apply the hobby paint of your choice to the engraved areas, allow it to dry, and then remove the paper. You will be left with a great-looking and very detailed color fill that will make your set stand out from the crowd even more than it already does. The easiest way to remove the paper is by scraping at a corner with a fingernail or using a sharp knife to get between the acrylic and masking.

This is actually a problem with the die-cutting process that FFG’s manufacturer uses when creating the official templates. There are a lot of factors that come into play, and I am not familiar enough with die-cutting to be able to explain them well. But what I have had explained to me by expert die-cutters is that when die-cutting something like the hard cardboard FFG uses, there is naturally some variation in length and width that occurs based on how much of the material is being cut, how thick the material is, how the press is set up that day and the thickness of the underlaying wood that supports the piece being cut. Lasers do not have most of these problems, and assuming equal material thickness (all our acrylic sheets are 0.118″ ± 0.17″) and no movement on the table, will produce exactly the same size piece every time. Our sets are based on an average of precise measurements of several FFG sets (which were different from each other) and where possible,  an extrapolation of precise dimensions in millimeters. For example, the straight movement templates are all based on 40mm increments, movement templates are 20mm wide and the range templates are 300mm long. All cutting methods destroy some material in the cutting process, and we have tried to account for this as closely as possible in regards to our laser setup. For a more technical explanation of die-cutting variations, see http://www.iadd.org/ceart3.htm

Yes, we do create custom designs. All of our gaming aids are products suggested by our customers. Overall cost depends on projected market demand and standard materials/time cost. If you are the only person in the world that wants a certain product, it will obviously cost more than if there is a large demand for it and we can sell it to dozens, hundreds or thousands of people. If you are able to demonstrate demand (by say, getting a dozen people in your gaming club to pre-order), we are better able to fast-track products through R&D.

Most of the time. Typical charges for personalization are between $15 – $50, depending on the complexity of the job. Some jobs may be more.

No. The focal point of the laser is about 1400 degrees F. Assuming you defeated the safety interlock on the machine and actually got it to operate with your hand in there, it’s very doubtful you would be able to hold still enough to get a good image. If by some miracle you were able to hold completely still, it would not leave a tattoo like mark, but rather a very intricate burn. If that sounds really awesome to you, you’ll still have to find someone else. I won’t do it.

Sort of. There are two main types of lasers used in industrial cutting; CO2 and YAG. We use a CO2 laser, which is great for engraving and cutting a wide variety of materials, like acrylic, leather and wood. It will also remove coatings from metals, such as paint or anodizing. Bare metals do not engrave at all. We do have a product that will create a permanent black mark on bare metal, but it is slow and expensive. YAG lasers on the other hand operate at a different wavelength than CO2 and instead of being reflected by a bare metal will engrave into it, but they are not as useful for the products we currently offer. We have no immediate plans of purchasing a YAG laser, though it is on the table for distant future purchases.

The long answer has to do with manufacturing processes and supply chains and isn’t very interesting. The short answer is because it IS really cool. It has a film applied during manufacturing that reflects every color, so the color of the acrylic changes based on lighting and the angle of view. As this video shows: