Lasers are not affected by the material being cut and SS is no more harsh on a break than any other material.
This argument is already dead, but I'll chuck in some quick FACT:
Laser Cutting is expensive primarily because of the power needed to drive the high-wattage laser (and the setup labour time, but that goes away when you do it yourself or buy bulk). The wattage of the laser required depends entirely on the material you are cutting. The statement you make above is incorrect. Stainless Steel is extremely reflective, and when hit with a standard cutting laser, roughly 20% of the cutting heat is lost in reflection.
Compared to mild steel, stainless requires around 20% EXTRA power from the laser. Where I live here in Brisbane Australia, there are probably 100 laser cutters in the phone book. Of those, only 5 will cut stainless, because the rest don't have machinery powerful enough. I know, because I rang nearly all of them for a job I needed done.
This isn't internet conjecture. Ring up a laser cutter and ASK THEM on the phone what the go is, and they'll say the same.
Nobody *likes* working with stainless. The material itself is dead sexy, and the end results are stunning (I have all-stainless control panels on my cocktail cab and they are STUNNING). At first I was stupid enough to try and cut the stuff myself. $100 in broken tools later, I bit the bullet and paid another $200 to get the suckers laser cut. Total ---smurfette--- of a job that ended up costing me more for the CPs than the rest of the cabinet, but it looks amazing.
Anyways... back on topic: Spacies, do you have any of these clips left? I might be interested in a set of 8 for said cocktail. And yes, I use the sensible metric system, and need 24mm gap (18mm MDF and 6mm glass). Do you have a few lying around, or make on demand?