One of the biggest challenges is the processing limitation of most cutting machines, originally designed to make simple industrial cuts. Making final cutting files from more complex designs has been a continuous challenge that Factum Arte has faced through collaborations with different artists. A good relationship with Spanish company Arm Waterjet succeeded in carrying out several successful large-scale cutting projects, such as Jan Hendrix’s Santa LucÃa and Puebla.
Laser cutting
This technology allows making precise cuts from CAD files on metal plates. The laser, mounted on a linear guide structure, makes the cut by heating up the metal through light concentration and expelling the material with pressured gas (oxygen, nitrogen or argon). This cutting method is incredibly precise and leaves no side-trace if the cut is well regulated, producing a clean cut on the metal. Factum Arte has collaborated with different laser cut companies on the production for artists like Anish Kapoor, Jan Hendrix and Alex Arrechea.
The main limitation is the production of heat, which cannot be used on certain materials or thicknesses. For metals or materials of over 1 cm thickness we usually use water jet cut.
Anish Kapoor’s dishes are a good example of this precision. Thousands of mirrors are fitted perfectly together in a dish shape thanks to a perfect laser cut made by the Japanese company Ultrafinish Technology, leaving an invisible separation in the joins.
