Laser Cutter
Welcome To Unallocated Space's Laser Cutter Wiki Page!
This page was created by Honey_Badger to document his trials and tribulations of learning how to utilize Unallocated Space's laser cutter. Here you will find the following information:
- DOs and DO NOTs
- Laser Information (Make, Model, etc...)
- Materials Settings (Wood, Leather, Acrylic, etc...)
- Basic Checklist To Follow When Operating The Laser Cutter.
DOs and DO NOTs
- DO - Check That The Mens Bathroom Fan Is ON
- DO NOT - Attempt To Lift The Lid While The Laser Is Cutting
- DO - Focus The Laser With The Puck To The Material You're Cutting/Engraving
- DO NOT - Cut/Engrave Materials Listed Under The "Prohibited Materials" List
Laser Cutter Information
Model: Type: Laser Tube Power:
Material Settings
Prohibited Materials
| Material | DANGER! | Cause/Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride)/vinyl/pleather/artificial leather | Emits chlorine gas when cut! | Don't ever cut this material as it will ruin the optics, causes the metal of the machine to corrode as chlorine is released and ruins the motion control system. |
| Thick ( >1mm ) Polycarbonate/Lexan | Cuts very poorly, discolors, catches fire | Polycarbonate is often found as flat, sheet material. The window of the laser cutter is made of Polycarbonate because polycarbonate strongly absorbs infrared radiation! This is the frequency of light the laser cutter uses to cut materials, so it is very ineffective at cutting polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is a poor choice for laser cutting. It creates long stringy clouds of soot that float up, ruin the optics and mess up the machine. |
| ABS | Melts / Cyanide | ABS does not cut well in a laser cutter. It tends to melt rather than vaporize, and has a higher chance of catching on fire and leaving behind melted gooey deposits on the vector cutting grid. It also does not engrave well (again, tends to melt). Cutting ABS plastic emits hydrogen cyanide, which is unsafe at any concentration. |
| HDPE/milk bottle plastic | Catches fire and melts | It melts. It gets gooey. It catches fire. Don't use it. |
| PolyStyrene Foam | Catches fire | It catches fire quickly, burns rapidly, it melts, and only thin pieces cut. This is the #1 material that causes laser fires!!! |
| PolyPropylene Foam | Catches fire | Like PolyStyrene, it melts, catches fire, and the melted drops continue to burn and turn into rock-hard drips and pebbles. |
| Epoxy | burn / smoke | Epoxy is an aliphatic resin, strongly cross-linked carbon chains. A CO2 laser can't cut it, and the resulting burned mess creates toxic fumes ( like cyanide! ). Items coated in Epoxy, or cast Epoxy resins must not be used in the laser cutter. ( see Fiberglass ) |
| Fiberglass | Emits fumes | It's a mix of two materials that cant' be cut. Glass (etch, no cut) and epoxy resin (fumes) |
| Coated Carbon Fiber | Emits noxious fumes | A mix of two materials. Thin carbon fiber mat can be cut, with some fraying - but not when coated. |
| Any foodstuff ( such as meat, seaweed 'nori' sheets, cookie dough, bread, tortillas... ) | The laser is not designed to cut food, and people cut things that create poisonous/noxious substances such as wood smoke and acrylic smoke. | If you want to cut foodstuffs, consider sponsoring a food-only laser cutter for the space that is kept as clean as a commercial kitchen would require. |
Ply Wood (Cutting)
- Power: 30
- Current: 70
- Speed: 40
- Passes: 2 - 3
Acrylic (Cutting)
- Power: 80
- Current: 35
- Speed: 100
- Passes: 6 - 9 (Cut Without Cracking (Cracks/Shards from too much heat))