Materials
What to make it out of?
Overview of suitable and unsuitable materials for my CNC laser:
Suitable materials:
"Materials that are great to work with and for which great results can be expected"
Cutting and engraving:
- Wood and wooden materials:
- Solid wood - cross section max approx. 15 mm (dry spruce)
- Plywood - cross section max approx. 10 mm
- MDF, HDF, DVD (hardboard - the more glue, the harder it is cut)
- Veneer
- Paper and Cardboard
- Cork
- Bamboo
- Balsa wood
Fabric
Hemp
Cotton
Felt
Kevlar
Leather (real and without chromium)
CF - real Cellophane
Plastics:
- PMMA - Acrylic - Lucite - Plexiglass, Acrylic Poly
- PES - Polyester
- PE - Polyethylen (sticky mess, easily melts and catches fire)
- PUR - Polyurethane
- Mylar
- PLA - Polylactic acid , Polylactide
- PET - Polyester, Polyethylene terephthalate
- PETG - Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol (creates mess; it is a lot more stable or resistant than Acrylic)
- Rubber - without Chlorine (Neopren has Chlorine; some kinds might produce a lot of smoke)
- FOAMS - made out of PES, PE, PS, PU, Depron, Gator
- PP - Polypropylene - Coroplast, Corflute, Synthetic Cellophane, PP Foam (wider kerf, melts, catches fire)
- Composits:
- Gypsum Drywall / Plasterboard - Calcium Sulfate Dihydrate
Only for engraving:
- Coated metals
- Tiles
- Anodized aluminum (Aluminium Oxide)
- Glass
- Glass mirror (will not affect the silver mirror finish)
- Ceramics
- Stones and Slate, Soapstone, Onyx
- Marble and Granite
Materials that should
be avoided:
"Meterials that I don't like to work with"
- HDPE - High-Density Polyethylene, plastic bottles (sticky mess, easily melts and catches fire)
- LDPE - Low-Density Polyethylene
- PCB - Polycarbonate, Lexan, Makrolon
- PS - Polystyrene (hard board, makes big mess)
- PE - Polyethylene (sticky mess, easily melts and catches fire)
- POM - Polyacetal - Delrin (might produce formaldehyde while cutting)
- Polyimide - Kapton Tape (does not cut well)
- Leather that contains chromium
- Corian (a composite of acrylic and minerals used in worktops)
- Magnetic sheet - without Clorine (creates hardly removable (magnetic) mess)
- Borosilicate glass (not a good result)
- Manganese
- Chromium
- Nickel
- Cobalt
- Copper
- Lead
Materials I don't work with nor even try to work with:
"My laser doesn't have the desired effects here, or toxic fumes are released when cutting"<br>
- PVC - PU - Polyvinyl Chloride - Vinyl - Pleather (imitation of leather)
- SPC - Stone Plastic Composite (has PVC inside), Rocko panel
- PVB - Polyvinylbutyral
- PTFE - Polytetrafluoroethylenes - Teflon
- PC - Polycarbonate
- ABS - Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene
- EPS - Expanded Polystyrene Foam, Styrofoam, Solid styrene, ethenylbenzene (highly flammable, toxic gas)
- PCB (FR4) (a composite of fiberglass cloth with an epoxy resin binder that is flame resistant)
- EPOXY - (Epoxy resin contains Chlorine and emits toxic fumes)
- Laminate
- Beryllium oxide
- Carbon fibers - Carbon, Polyacrylonitrile
- Fibreglass
- Nylon (better use Delrin)
- Any materials containing halogens (fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine and astatine), epoxy or phenolic resins
- Uncoated metals (other lasers are designed for cutting and engraving metals)
Feel free to contact me for more information - Phone - Email - Facebook or WhatsApp (I prefer it). We can talk about what is possible and what is not possible for me to do (especially the technical limits of my machine).
If I will be not sure if something will work, I'm definitely open to test it out.