Approved Laser Cutter Materials
Plastics
Acrylic
Acrylic is generally considered safe for laser cutting. Cast acrylic is generally a nicer material to work with compared to extruded, but it has poorer dimensional/thickness tolerance.
Wherever possible we purchase recycled acrylic. Please place any unusable offcuts into the acrylic recycling bin.
Engraving Laminate
This material is made from two layers - one thin coloured layer bonded to a thicker layer of a different colour. By carefully engraving away the top surface you can make very hard wearing signs and labels.
Colours available:
- Yellow face, black substrate
- Blue face, white substrate
- Red face, white substrate
- Black face, white substrate
PETG, Polycarbonate
PETG and thin polycarbonate (<1mm) is generally safe to cut with a laser cutter, but aren't great to work with. Polycarbonate in particular discolours around the edges and cut edges can melt back together again.
We don't typically keep PETG and Polycarbonate in stock.
Wood
Laser-safe MDF
Normal MDF may contain glues which release harmful combustion byproducts. All the MDF the Maker Space purchases is "laser grade" and made with glues compatible with laser cutting.
Laser-safe Plywood
Normal plywood may contain glues which release harmful combustion byproducts. All the plywood the Maker Space purchases is "laser grade" and made with glues compatible with laser cutting.
PolyBAK LaserBoard
We usually keep 0.6mm thick brown LaserBoard in stock although we will be getting black, ivory, and grey colours soon. LaserBoard is a paper based manufactured thin board product that laser cuts exceptionally well. The edges are clean and usually without soot marks and the material itself is resilient and nice to work with. It will bend around large radius corners easily. Excellent for making architectural models.
Other
Engraving Rubber
We have a few different styles of engraving rubber, all of which are safe to use on our laser cutters.
Glass
Glass will only engrave - we can't cut normal thicknesses of glass. Exceptionally thin glass (think microscope cover slips) may be possible to cut with some experimentation. For day-to-day glass cutting use the waterjet cutter.
The Fusion Edge fibre laser has a rotary attachment which may assist you in engraving round objects like glass tumblers.