Always check materials list BEFORE attempting to cut/engrave a material. If unsure contact IW Staff.

Allowed Materials

Plastics:

• ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene)
• Acrylic (also known as Plexiglas, Lucite, PMMA)
• Delrin (POM, acetal) — Must use nitrogen assist when cutting delrin
• Kapton tape (Polyimide)
• Mylar (polyester)
• Nylon (melts badly)
• PDMS
• PETG (polyethylene terephthalate glycol)
• Polypropylene (PP) — melts somewhat
• Styrene
• Two-tone acrylic — top color different than core material

Foam:

• Depron foam (often used for RC planes)
• EPM
• Gator foam (foam core gets burned and eaten away compared to the top and bottom hard shell)

Other:

• Cloths (leather, suede, felt, hemp, cotton)
• Magnetic Sheets
• Papers
• Rubbers(neoprene, etc supplier try: ​mcmaster.com​)
• Woods(MDF, balsa, birch, poplar, red oak, cherry, holly, etc. supplier try: ​midwestproducts.com​)

Prohibited Material

• Metals​ (our laser cutters are not powerful enough nor setup to cut through metals and attempting to do so could damage the machine)
  • Metals (cannot be engraved however a certain type of paint/tape which chemically bonds with the metal may be used to mark materials)
• Polycarbonate​ (PC, Lexan) — Lexan creates large amounts of fumes
• Teflon​ (PTFE, Polytetrafluoroethylene) – cutting creates Fluorine gas
• Any material containing chlorine
  • PVC (Cintra) — contains chlorine
  • Vinyl — contains chlorine
• HDPE​: “milk bottle” plastic. It gets gooey, melts and catches on fire.
• Epoxy
• Glass​ — you can engrave glass, but trying to cut it will cause cracking or breakage
• Fiberglass
• Printed circuit board​ (FR4 and other material types)
• Carbon Fiber

Acrylic sheet, optically clear, from McMaster Carr: part number 8560K239
http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/119/3558/=molz4w

Cutting 1/8”, 100% power, 0.4 ipm, 2000 Hz, (Dave Bothman, 5/5/13 - clean cut)

Cutting 1/4”, 100% power, 0.15 ipm, 1000 Hz, z offset -.125, (Dave Bothman, 5/5/13 - clean cut)

250um PDMS with mylar backing on back side and removed from front

Cutting 42% power, 2.0 1ps, 5000Hz (Peter Mage, 5/9/13 - some flash and soot - recipe needs to be refined)

25% power, 3 ips

Gore Teflon Foam 1/16“ 15% power, 0.5% speed, 1000 Hz (DB 7/9/15)

Silicone Rubber sheet, 1/8” 100% power, 0.1% speed, 2000 Hz - use Nitrogen gas (DB 7/9/15)

1. 1/8 acrylic

-1/10 acrylic