The Laser Experts

This is part of series of blogs I will be posting on materials suitable for laser cutting and engraving. FOr this chapter, we will identify materials that should NEVER be cut with a laser. 

Before you attempt to laser cut any material, you need to know exactly what it is and how it will react to a laser. Some materials, when heated, vaporize into gases that are highly toxic to humans or highly corrosive to the components of the machine. At best, using a banned material can ruin your machine; at worst, it can seriously harm the operator or those nearby.

The following materials are BANNED from use in a laser cutter, with no exceptions.

ALL MATERIALS CONTAINING CHLORINE

Many common products produce chlorine fumes when touched with a laser. The following slideshow lists materials that are banned from laser cutting.  

One of the most common questions we are asked is, “What should my laser settings be?”. Our answer is usually to tell the operator to begin a materials test log and slowly hone in on the setting that works best for them. While we could give setting suggestions for various materials, we have found many factors can affect proper settings outside of the laser itself. The truth is, two people could be cutting the same type and size of material and require different settings. Here are some things to consider when looking for standardized laser settings:

While many of our customers enjoy the perks of RE3 beta, some have reported some bugs (that’s called beta testing!). If you have an issue while trying to run a job in RE3 beta, revert back to RE2 and try running the job in the previous software. If you are able to run the job in RE2, it may indicate a bug in RE3. If this happens to you, please email us at marketing@fslaser.com with a brief description of the issue you came across in RE3. Any attached videos, photos or design files are greatly helpful and appreciated.