Behind the Product

How We Cut Text Into Plastic (And Why It Beats Engraving)

September 2026 · 4 min read

Most personalized cards use one of three methods to put text on the surface: ink printing, laser engraving, or UV curing. All three are surface treatments. The text sits on top of the material, and it degrades along with the surface.

We do something different. We cut the text through the plastic. The letters are voids in the material, the same way a coin's lettering is a physical feature of the metal rather than paint applied to it. This post explains how that works and why it matters.

The Three Common Methods

Ink Printing

The cheapest option. Ink is sprayed or rolled onto the surface and cured with heat or UV light. It looks good for a while, but it's the first thing to go. Fingertip oils break down the ink. Sunlight fades it. Pocket abrasion scratches it off. A printed card in a wallet starts looking worn within a few months.

Laser Engraving

A laser burns or vaporizes the surface layer to create text. It's more durable than ink because it's a physical change to the material, but it's still a surface treatment. The engraving is shallow (usually 0.1 to 0.5mm deep), and it fills with dirt and oils over time. A laser-engraved metal card looks great for a year, then starts looking dirty and worn.

UV Curing

A UV-cured resin is applied to the surface and hardened with ultraviolet light. It's more durable than ink but less durable than laser engraving. It can chip, crack, or peel off over time, especially on flexible materials.

The Cut-Through Method

Instead of putting text on the surface, we remove material to create the text. The letters are voids in the plastic, cut all the way through both faces of the card. There's no surface layer to degrade because there is no surface layer.

Here's how it works:

1. Model the card. We start with a solid block of PETG, 85.6mm x 53.98mm x 0.8mm (standard credit card size). The corners are rounded to 3mm radius so it fits in a wallet slot without catching.
2. Create the text geometry. Each line of text is modeled as a 3D shape at the correct font size and position. For a four-line card, that's four separate text shapes, each centered vertically on the card.
3. Extrude through the card. Each text shape is extruded through the full thickness of the card (0.8mm plus a small margin on each side to ensure a clean cut). This creates a solid that, when subtracted from the card, leaves voids where the letters should be.
4. Boolean cut. The text solids are subtracted from the card geometry. The result is a card with physically cut-through lettering on both faces.
5. 3D print. The final model is printed in PETG with 0.2mm layer height, 3+ perimeters, and 100% infill. The print settings are tuned for clean text edges: the nozzle is calibrated, the bed is level, and the retraction is dialed in to prevent stringing between letters.

Why It Lasts

The key difference is that the text isn't a coating. It's the shape of the material itself. There's no ink to fade, no engraving to fill with dirt, no resin to chip off. The letters are as durable as the plastic they're cut from.

PETG is ductile. It bends instead of cracking under impact. A card that gets dropped on concrete, tossed in a backpack, or rubbed against keys will dent slightly, but the text remains. There's no surface layer to abrade away because the text isn't a surface layer.

The other advantage is readability. Cut-through text has depth. You can read it by sight in good light, and you can read it by touch in the dark (run your finger across the cutout letters). Engraved text has some depth too, but it's shallow enough that it's hard to feel. Ink-printed text has no depth at all.

The Tradeoff

Cut-through text is more expensive to produce than ink printing or laser engraving. It requires a 3D printer, a calibrated nozzle, and a print time of about 2 to 3 hours per card (depending on the printer). You can't do it with a standard desktop laser cutter or a screen-printing setup.

But for a card that needs to last for years in a wallet, backpack, or pocket, the tradeoff is worth it. The text will be there when you need it, in any condition, without any equipment to read it.

The Result

A card that's 4 grams, fits in any wallet slot, and has text that's part of the material rather than on top of it. No fading. No peeling. No smearing. Just plastic with letters cut into it, ready to be read by anyone, anywhere, at any time.