Digital technologies/Laser cutting/Laser cutting- Beginner/Material Settings

Materials not allowed in the CO₂ laser

Some materials should never be used in the laser as they may cause the release of toxic fumes. Other factors, such as fire hazards and excessive melting, can also make a material undesirable for cutting. Please consult the list below to know if your materials are allowed on the machine. If a material is unlisted in the table below and in the allowed materials list, please consult a Makerspace employee for further guidance.

Disallowed 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.
Material with Sticky Glue Backing	Coats lens, cracks lens	There are many normally laserable items such as thin wood laminates that you can purchase that become un-cuttable when the manufacturer adds a layer of peel-off glue on the bottom to attach them to surfaces. Examples include cork tiles, thin wood laminate, acrylic tiles, and paper stickers. Never cut these materials in the laser cutter if they have this backing. The glue will vaporize forming a coating on the lens that will coat it, cloud it, heat it, and then potentially crack the lens. The glue residue is worse than resin, and can't be removed without risking damage to the lens ... requiring a lens replacement.

Materials Allowed and Recommended Settings

Epilog (the company that manufactures the laser) has an extensive list of materials that you can cut with their lasers. Simply consult Appendix B in the Owner's Manual for the Mini/Helix (p.143) to get access to that list. Make sure you use the settings for the laser you are planning to use (50 Watts VS 60 Watts). Here are some extra materials that are unlisted but have been proven to work at these settings:

Proven Settings for some Unlisted Materials

Material	Cutting Settings (Power | Speed)	Raster Settings, 600DPI (Power | Speed)	Frequency (Hz)	Comments
Felt Sheet w/ Adhesive Backing (McMaster-Carr P/N: 87415K51) (60W laser)	11% | 3%	10% | 8%	400	Leaves a bit of a smell. The edges may become a little burnt.
Neoprene w/ Adhesive Backing (McMaster-Carr P/N: 8445K72) (60W laser)	100% | 20%	N/A	175	Dirties the machine quite a bit when this material is cut (generates large amounts of soot). Please limit use. While this rubber contains some amount of chlorine, the quantity of chlorine gas released is minor when the material is cut. Note that this materials generates quite a large flame.
Polyurethane base vinyl for adhering to shirts (50W laser)	11% | 80%	N/A	500	The point is not to cut through the plastic sheeting under the vinyl. Make sure you invert your design file! If you want to cut through the plastic, boost the power to 24% on the 60W laser or 23% on the 50W laser (both of these at 80% speed). Using a flat sheet of MDF under the vinyl will be very beneficial (the static electricity will help the vinyl sheet remain flat)
Polyurethane base vinyl for adhering to shirts (60W laser)	4% | 20%		5000