Safe Materials

• Paper/matte board/cardboard/pressboard/cork (cardstock could have additives that should not go in the cutter, test a sample)
• Acrylic and several other plastics (Delrin, Melamine, Mylar, Corian, Rubber polymer)
• Wood (careful of fire, treated wood could have additives)
• Cotton / other NATURAL fibers/cloth
• Many other fabrics (moleskin books can have high chlorine content and are bad!)
• Cell phones (check for chlorine in the plastic)
• Laptops (check for chlorine in the plastic)
• Leather (be careful about how it is tanned)
• Glass, Ceramic, Tile, Marble (etch only, cannot cut)
• Anodized/coated/painted metal (etch only, cannot cut)
• Tortillas (the drier the better)

Detailed List

WARNING: Because many plastics are dangerous to cut, it is important to know what kind you are planning to use. Make.com has a How-to for identifying unknown plastics. If you’re unsure about plastics, don’t cut it! It’s not worth it for the safety of the laser and your own health!

Please research your materials carefully before cutting or etching.

Cutting

Material	Max thickness	Notes	WARNINGS!
Woods	1/2″ (iffy) 1/4″	Avoid oily/resinous woods	Be very careful about cutting oily woods, or very resinous woods as they also may catch fire.
Plywood/Composite woods	1/4″	These contain glue, and may not laser cut as well as solid wood.
MDF/Engineered woods	1/4″	These are okay to use but may experience a higher amount of charring when cut.	Check for toxicity before cutting.
Paper, card stock	thin	Cuts very well on the laser cutter, and also very quickly.	Chipboard and photo mats need to be checked for toxic stuff in material composition.
Cardboard, carton	thicker	Cuts well but may catch fire.	Watch for fire.
Cork	1/4″	Cuts nicely, but the quality of the cut depends on the thickness and quality of the cork. Engineered cork has a lot of glue in it, and may not cut as well.	Avoid thicker cork.
Acrylic/Lucite/Plexiglas/PMMA	1/2″	Cuts extremely well leaving a beautifully polished edge.
Thin Polycarbonate Sheeting (<1mm)	<1mm	Very thin polycarbonate can be cut but tends to discolor badly. Extremely thin sheets (0.5mm and less) may cut with yellowed/discolored edges. Polycarbonate absorbs IR strongly, and is a poor material to use in the laser cutter.	Watch for smoking/burning
Delrin (POM) – Only very very thin Delrin can be but do not attempt anything thicker than 2mm	thin	Delrin comes in a number of shore strengths (hardness) and the harder Delrin tends to work better. Great for gears! Soft Delrin will turn into puddles and will never cut.	Messy. Requires extra clean-up.
Kapton tape (Polyimide)	1/16″	Works well, in thin sheets and strips like tape.
Mylar (not the metallic ballon-type)	1/16″	Works well if it’s thin (1-2mm). Thick mylar has a tendency to warp, bubble, and curl	Gold/metallic coated mylar will not work. Go for engineering mylar from the art store.
Solid Styrene	1/16″	Smokes a lot when cut, but can be cut.	Keep it thin.
Depron foam	1/4″	Used a lot for hobby, RC aircraft, architectural models, and toys. 1/4″ cuts nicely, with a smooth edge.	Must be constantly monitored.
Cloth/felt/hemp/cotton		They all cut well.	Not plastic coated or impregnated cloth!
Leather/Suede	1/8″	Leather is very hard to cut, but can be done. Results vary. Thinner leather works better.	Real leather only! Not ‘pleather’ or other imitations!
Magnetic Sheet		Cuts beautifully
NON-CHLORINE-containing rubber		Fine for cutting. Get specific rubber polymers manufactured for laser cutting.	Beware chlorine-containing rubber! Rubber art blocks crumble with heat.
Teflon (PTFE)	thin	Cuts OK in thin sheets
Carbon fiber mats/weave that has not had epoxy applied		Can be cut, very slowly.	You must not cut carbon fiber that has been coated!!
Coroplast (‘corrugated plastic’)	1/4″	Difficult because of the vertical strips. Three passes at 80% power, 7% speed, and it will be slightly connected still at the bottom from the vertical strips.

 

Etching

All the above “cuttable” materials can be etched, in some cases very deeply.

In addition, you can etch:

Material	Notes	WARNINGS!
Glass	Green seems to work best…looks sandblasted. Be careful about etching glass with backings and ensure you know what the backing is made of and is safe.	Only FLAT GLASS can be engraved in our cutter. No round or cylindrical items.
Ceramic tile
Anodized aluminum	Burns the anodization away.
Painted/coated metals	Burns the paint away.
Stone, Marble, Granite, Soapstone, Onyx, slate	Gets a white “textured” look when etched.	Etch Only. DO NOT CUT! Many stone products will explode.

Unsafe Materials

This list includes the most common materials that can and cannot be cut or etched in our laser. It is not an all-inclusive list.

NEVER cut these materials

WARNING: Because many plastics are dangerous to cut, it is important to know what kind you are planning to use. Make.com has a How-to for identifying unknown plastics. If you’re unsure about plastics, don’t cut it! It’s not worth it for the safety of the laser and your own health!

Summary List

• Anything with formaldehyde. That includes MDF made with formaldehyde.
• Anything containing halogens (fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, astatine, and ununseptium). This includes vinyl and many plastics (including teflon), as well as Moleskine. notebooks or anything ‘pleather.’ If you’re not sure whether what you’ve got contains chlorine, you can check on the MSDS (if you can’t find it there, ask the vendor or manufacturer directly) or do a burn test to check.
• PVC (contains chlorine –> hydrogen chloride gas –> hurts you and the laser)
• PVC Foams (chlorine)
• Lexan / Polycarbonate / PETG (Does not cut)
• ABS (Gives off hydrogen cyanide)
• Vinyl (chlorine)
• Polymer clay (contains PVC)
• Foam Core (Usually made of PVC)
• Styrofoam (Catches on fire)
• Metals* (exception is that you can etch anodized metal)
• Animals
• People or your body parts
• Butane lighters
• Gasoline or other liquids
• ANY OTHER ITEM NOT ON THE APPROVED LIST

Expanded List

Material	DANGER!	Cause/Consequence
PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride)/vinyl/pleather/ artificial leather	Emits pure chlorine gas when cut!	Don’t ever cut this material as it will ruin the optics, cause the metal of the machine to corrode, and ruin the motion control system.
Thick ( >1mm ) Polycarbonate/Lexan	Cuts very poorly, discolors, catch 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.
ABS	Emits cyanide gas and tends to melt	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).
HDPE/milk bottle plastic	Catches fire and melts	It melts. It gets gooey. Don’t use it.
PolyStyrene Foam	Catches fire	It catches fire, it melts, and only thin pieces will 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.
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.
Gator foam/foam core board	Foam core gets burned and eaten away compared to the top and bottom hard paper shell.	Too many icky melty things have happened here.

See also

http://atxhackerspace.org/wiki/Laser_Cutter_Materials

Storing and disposal of laser materials

• This is not a good place to store your entire stash of laser materials. Only store the materials you will use in the next two weeks
• Do not put tiny pieces of scrap on the material shelves.
• Do not leave larger pisces with only a small usable area for other in the materials bings.
• Materials can be stored here for up to two weeks by members using the tagging system in general laser material storage. 
• To store a few items, tape them together and tag the bundle with a blue tag.
• Any untagged items on the laser shelves are available for use, please use what you need then cut off excess waste material and return usable material to the shelves for community use. 
• Cut off the waste parts of your material before returning to scrap! 
  • Draw lines in Lasersoft and cut off the used-up pieces to keep scrap nice and user-friendly. 
• Only leave the usable bit in scrap. Remove the cut-up section and pack it out with you.
• Expect to pack out your waste material. Use the provided trash bags from the cleaning cabinet in storage.
• If it doesn’t fit on the scrap rack please take it with you.
• Pack out your waste material, there is no trash service in the building and it will cost ACE money if you leave your trash.
• If it is smaller than half a piece of  8.5×11 paper it is okay for the trash bins

Places to get materials

Plywood

Local

MacBeath Hardwood (on Ashby) — show your blue key fob for a discount
EarthSource
Discount Builders Supply

Acrylic

For description see http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-acrylic.htm

Cast Acrylic is better suited than extruded acrylic for machining.

Online

E Street Plastics — has a wide variety of colors (note that “Plexiglass” is just the brand name of acrylic)
OnlineMetals — contrary to their name, also sells plastic

Local

TAP Plastics — scrap pieces under 1 sq. ft. are cheap; larger pieces can be cut to size, but more expensive than buying online (see above); located in El Cerrito, San Leandro, SF, and Concord
Interstate Plastics — used to have an extensive scrap bin in the San Leandro location (now closed); the remaining Hayward location may have one (call to check)
Mr Plastics — has a $10 minimum but otherwise is less expensive than TAP; San Leandro; also carries ABS and PLA filament; unknown quality; low prices; scrap bin closed to the public during Covid but employees will look for you.