Cardboard is one of the most inexpensive laser cutter materials. There has been some preliminary testing with common materials to generate a set of recommended values for speed and laser power: Laser Cutter Settings. Sculpteo offers a great number of different combinations of laser cutting materials, complete with all of the online optimization tools you’ll need to turn your vector file into a physical object. Copyright © 2021 Makeblock All Rights Reserved. The following are suggested laser cutter configuration settings for various materials. Just place the material inside your laser cutter to get started. One of the things that’s most overwhelming about laser cutting is trying to figure out laser cutter settings for different materials. While businesses have used laser cutters for decades, you can use your very own desktop laser cutter at home. Thus, the laser cut is also optimized e.g. Cork isn’t a material you’ll likely work with often. Plus, a built-in warning system alerts you if anything is wrong. The laser can cut or etch. The laser cut produces polished cutting edges and inner contours, no additional post-processing of the material is required. Power settings that are too high can melt and distort many materials. The exact cutting area of the k40 may vary slightly from box to box; in general, it's around 310mm by 220mm (or 12.25 x 8.6 inches). Believe it or not, you actually have a wider variety of acrylics to pick from than wood. From Noisebridge. Picking the right laser cutting settings can be the difference between a beautiful finished product and a piece of material in the scrap bin. Next, with the help of mirrors and lenses, the laser beam is directed to the laser head and focused on the material … If you're just starting out these values should provide you a good starting point to experiment from and see what works best for you. In fact, there are numerous laser cutting materials. A laser cutter gives you a variety of options to create custom items. Using a laser cutter for fabric works as a form of digital embroidery. Typically, you can choose between corrugated, grey and cellulose. It provides information on the types of materials that can be laser processed and the processes (laser cutting, engraving and marking) that are possible with a given material. Of course, if you’d like to make your own custom coasters, cork is the perfect material and you laser cut it into any shape you want. The Mertex 1500mW laser cutter is a super affordable way to try this art at home, making it ideal for hobbyists. The Oculus laser cutters have excellent cutting and engraving techniques which allow designs in software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and CorelDraw to come to life. A large choice of thickness and colors, and sometimes different types of wood are available for each material. Ease of use is one of the top features of Laserbox. TroGlass Mirror is the perfect alternative for glass. Large-format laser cutter. General Natural Organic Materials Laser System Considerations. Ready to start trying out laser cutting? Applications & Usage: TroGlass Clear buy here. All the settings worked, but I’d recommend 60% @ 25 mm/s for fast cuts with minimum surface discoloration. Laser Cutter Approved Materials; At SAIC we verify all material types for safety before allowing them to be cut on the laser cutters. For more information on kerf loss for laser cutters, check out this Make Magazine article. You get similar results in a lot less time. 4  For engraving very fast, low power works best. Modifying the settings on this form will not alter the original stored settings within your database. Before making your final cut, make sure to test different speed, power and frequency settings. Click on the material name and this page will take you to information on vendors, material cut results, and recommended power settings. A simple way of showcasing different possibilities with a laser cutter: 20 engraving shades 3 straight line flex cuts 2 parabolic shape flex cuts 10 square and circular cut sizes 6 font size tests Cutting Note: Adjusting the standard focus distance so it is closer to the lens by about .080” (2 mm) will produce better edge quality when cutting 1/4” (3mm) acrylic and thicker. Foam works well for creating inserts and seals, though you might consider using it for kids’ projects too. So if you know the true output power of your machine then scale accordingly. 3  Cork will cut easy enough, but edges burn very easily at the lower speed you need on these lower power cutters. Click here for more information on how to easily determind your own laser settings. You will find a wide selection of pre-tested laser parameters in the Trotec JobControl® laser software. Don’t be surprised if you get addicted to creating stunning laser cut items. If you're just starting out these values should provide you a good starting point to experiment from and see what works best for you. We ship worldwide. Thingiverse is a universe of things. For more materials and details look here. Now that you have a CTR laser machine, you are likely looking to explore the different materials that you can process for cutting and engraving. Wood is one of the most common laser cutting materials. Find more usefull tips and tricks on how to use laser parameters here. The fun part of learning the laser is figuring out how to set up the software for different materials. Jump to: navigation, search. It has relatively inexpensive options and looks fantastic when worked by a laser. Trotec Materials for Laser & Rotary Engraving offers the ideal material for each application. The Laser Cutter. When a setting is selected fromt the database it will be used to populate the key fields in this section. It’s worth noting that the frequency setting will not have any impact on the speed of your job. Design something cool and then get crafty with the materials! Please visit http://www.DIY3DTech.com for more information on this and many other projects! While it’s not as popular for home projects as much as other materials, it’s still a good option to try out. For instance, you could laser cut thick foam pieces to create fun, custom puzzles. However, it’s fun to use for creating kids’ craft pieces. It’s an innovative laser cutter that uses an AI algorithm to identify materials, adjust settings and create patterns based on hand drawings. When you use a laser cutter for acrylic, you can create some truly amazing pieces of art. Makeblock set to support teachers, parents and students with STEAM and Computer Science lessons from home. When using CerMark Metal Marking Solution, remember that not all metals use the same speed setting. Another great use of the laser on fabric is when working with pre-layered fabrics, such as twill, to create numbers, letters and shapes. It’s an expensive material, but the results look amazing. For each product group, we offer 2 different parameter settings: one is optimized for time, and the other is optimized for quality. One of the things that’s most overwhelming about laser cutting is trying to figure out laser cutter settings for different materials. Also available is a laser cutter user guide. These are the values which work best for me on a 50W cheap Chinese laser cutter. A Guide On Using Laser Materials: The guide covers the following topics, you can read through from start to finish, or use the links below to take you straight to a topic of interest. Laser engraving produces a white or clear engraved image, depending on the chosen settings. Using some wood as my target, I program the laser cutter to draw a line (200mm/s, 50% power). These are beautiful and make great gifts. The products range from acrylic and plywood to MDF, cardboard, and metal. As with any material you plan on processing with a laser, finding the right settings (or settings analysis as I like to call it) is essential to achieving the desired outcome. Speed & Power. Click on the material name and this page will take you to information on vendors, material cut results, and recommended power settings. Below you will find the list of all approved materials. Overall, there aren’t many materials you can’t use. Plexiglass, especially colored plexiglass, is a popular acrylic. You can engrave on surfaces that are hard, soft, and even foods like ham! glossy, flame-polished edges with acrylic. Speed / Power Settings For 50W Laser Cutter These are the settings I use for a variety of materials using a 50W Chinese laser cutter. First, you’ll need to gather the materials you want to use. Our optimal settings for engraving are therefore maximum speed (200 mm/s), and whatever power level (darkness) you want for your project. Before the machine cuts anything, you get to preview the alignment using the 5 MP camera. While leather is obviously one type of textile, cotton, nylon, polyester, and silk are all options too. Two passes can be used for cutting thicker materials. Much like with wood, you have various thicknesses to choose from. What laser cutter settings for different materials should you use? When you’re new to laser cutting, you might feel a little overwhelmed. Whether you’re new to laser cutting or a professional, it’s easy to jump in and get started quickly. Laser cutters can cut a wide variety of materials – anything from paper, wood, cork, acrylic and foam to different types of metals. We are proudly woman-owned and based in Burlington, North Carolina. Any results are based on our laser and are likely to be different to the settings for your laser cutter. hints when choosing materials, setting parameters, and using different techniques to provide the best laser cutting and engraving results. Please use these settings as a guideline or starting point, in most cases these settings should work out well, but sometimes may have to be adjusted to produce desirable results. We call this loss "kerf." 10 Great Laser Cutter Projects To Make At Home, Makeblock launches NextMaker Box – a kit for at-home kids to learn coding and STEM – on Kickstarter. Keep in mind that different material thickness, laser focus, dirty optics, etc. While there are some materials that you definitely shouldn’t use, you’ll find that the following list gives you plenty to work with. 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