Hello! I was wondering if anyone has tried using Yupo paper in the Glowforge? Both for cutting and etching. If yes, then what settings did you use and would you consider it a success?
Yupo is a plastic paper, and I know there are certain nasty chemicals if certain plastic is burned.
I found some info from their site.
What are the environmental characteristics of YUPO?
As an especially durable synthetic, YUPO normally enters the waste stream at a far slower rate than conventional papers. A polypropylene (PP) plastic film, it is fully recyclable and will remain inert in any approved landfill. Safely incinerated in a modern incinerator with an atmosphere of excess oxygen it will yield only water, carbon dioxide, and ash.
I haven’t done yupo, but I have cut a different synthetic (blanking out on the brand). Worked great.
Paper companies. But they usually require pretty large quantities to purchase. There are some companies like papermill.com that will sell you smaller quantities. I work. With big printers and sometimes I can snag some leftovers from some of their larger print jobs.
Hi! I am a yupo expert of sorts… I have been working with it exclusively since 2012.
Before the glowforge came into my life I was cutting it at Nextfab, a makers space in Philly.
I used a Trotec 500 to cut yupo with the settings they had for Duralar, which is another kind of synthetic paper. Using their settings the yupo cuts beautifully with very little melt and great details.
With the Glowforge I am still trying to hone in on the perfect settings. Right now I am cutting at .070 with a speed of 415 and a power of 40. There is definitely significant melting for details which is why I came to the forum today, to ask if anybody has found a better approach to cutting it. @dan I wish I could send in some of my yupo material to have you guys calibrate the perfect settings. I would pay for this service. I have done signifiant testing but still not quite there and it would be a huge boon to my art business to get the settings dialed in. Should I do two passes at a lower power? I am just not sure what else to try.
Here is what I have done with these settings, which is pretty good, but I really want to get better detail! Please help us!
Also, if anybody wants to buy yupo paper, I may offer it on my website soon. Let me know if you are interested. I have a master roll!
If you want to see what else I am doing with laser cut yupo you can also check out my instagram!
I have been doing Color Flow workshops with my ink on yupo techniques and then letting people laser cut something out of their paintings when they come in to pick up their pieces. The pineapple in the image is an example of one done by somebody from my last workshop.
Hope this helps and I hope we can get better answers!
i think that would be a great offering. i’m guessing the 12x20 would be the sweet spot. not sure how many people would do the rolls, but i’m sure someone would find it useful. i’m not a pro user, so…
Sorry for the loooooog delay in an update. My first test did not go well, as it just melted the paper in a bad way. I’m not the best at understanding all of the settings yet, so it could have been my settings. I don’t recall what settings I tried. If I try it again at some point, I’ll post any successful results. Sorry again for not posting an update in a timely fashion!
