Laser cutters are great but, as with everything, they have limitations. There are some materials they can't cut! This isn't a matter of needing more power, it has to do with the material properties and the cutting mechanism.
Let's start by listing some of the things our laser cutters can, and do, cut:
- We can cut all of the same materials as those in Room 36 namely-
- Acrylic (mirrored, textured/frosted, opaque, transparent)
- Duron (double-side finished fiberboard)
- Some Hardwoods (Black Cherry, Pine, Poplar, Walnut, Ash, Maple, Basswood)
- High-quality Birch plywood
- Corrugated cardboard
- Felt
- Matboard
- Chipboard
- Silicone
- Cork
- Various papers
- Foam core (tends to IGNITE!)
- Cotton fabric
- Anodized Aluminum (etching only!)
- Sometimes we go crazy and cut KAPTON!! (to avoid disappointment, please ask a CA to help with this material)
Materials you SHOULD NOT cut
DO NOT CUT ANY MATERIAL THAT GENERATES CHLORINE GAS !!
For example, DO NOT CUT PVC (poly vinyl chloride)
And here is a table of other materials you should NOT cut on the laser cutters:
- Any hardwoods NOT explicitly listed above
- Polycarbonate (OK, sometimes we cut really thin polycarbonate, but ask a CA for help!)
- PTFE
- Delrin
- Carbon fiber (visit our colleagues in Skilling for this)
- Transparency sheets
- Camera gels
- Polypropylene
- Polyethylene (HDPE, LDPE, etc...)
- Styrene
- Laser-engravable rubber stamp material
Materials you cannot cut (with the lab64 laser cutters)
For this we either use sheetmetal tools in the lab or we send the job out for waterjet cutting
- YOU CAN NOT CUT STONE OR GLASS
Again, waterjets to the rescue!
You can engrave a lot of things! Too many to list, really. Folks have engraved anodized aluminum, wood, ceramic tiles, and many other things. As long as you are sure your material WON'T GENERATE CHLORINE (or any other reactive ) GAS then give it a try and see what you think! Some very lovely things have been made using this technique!