Laser Cutter Materials
To have a material approved please contact the laser maintainers group (coming soon, please contact the committee in the interim) with material information/datasheets.
Approved Materials
Cutting
- Solid wood sheets
- Plywood
- MDF
- Non PVC composite woods
- Paper/Card
- Cardboard
- Acrylic/Plexiglas/PMMA
- Depron foam
- Acetal/Delryn/POM
- HIPS sheets
- Non PVC foamcore
- Non PVC rubber
- Cotton/Hemp based textiles
- Untreated real leather
- Non coated carbon fibre weave
- Magnetic sheet
- Polypropylene - may melt and/or catch fire, needs to be watched carefully
Engraving
- Any material approved for cutting - however not all will produce good results
- Anodised Aluminium
- Glass
- Ceramic
- Stone/Slate
Banned Materials
The following materials are banned for safety reasons, because they give off highly toxic fumes, are a fire risk, or may damage the machine.
- PVC/Vinyl - releases Chlorine which will damage the laser
- Any other material containing chlorinated or halogen based compounds
- Treated Leather - releases Formaldehyde
- Any other material containing more than trace levels of Formaldehyde
- Polycarbonate
- Polystyrene foam
- Epoxy/Fibreglass
- PETG - releases large amounts of fine dust which can contaminate the optics and is flammable
- Coated carbon fibre
- Any metals, other than engraving anodised Aluminium
- Food - please don't eat anything out of the laser cutter