Here at The Delta School, we use lots of different materials to cut or engrave. We mostly use 1/8-inch thick wood. Acrylic is another material that we use a lot but it smells really bad when cutting because of the heat on the acrylic, so it’s good to know that you need to have a door open when doing so. Using cardboard is something else that is used a lot on the laser cutter for making stencils and prototyping other things.
When people are looking for material to cut or engrave it is good to pay attention to see if the material is warped. If it is, then you might have to get creative with ways to weigh your material down so the laser will cut or engrave evenly. Normally we use the magnets that are on the side of the laser cutter.
The cutting and engraving settings are different depending on the material, sometimes the mirrors need to be realigned, or the laser needs to be refocused. These are things that need to happen more often than you would think and usually takes a while so it’s good to set some time aside.
The Learning Repository 