Hello. I am beyond frustrated with not being able to find specific settings for paper products on the boards. Yes, I have found some. I’m very worried about fire/hurting the machine to just start testing myself. I bought the Glowforge to cut paper board products for making models for the theatre designs I do. I’ve had the machine since March and have not used it for that purpose yet. I have been cutting gifts out of the proof grade materials. That’s fine. In the video for the machine, the first thing you see is the globe made of cardboard being made but they don’t even have a proof grade cardboard to use.
Here is my specific question. I use cold press illustration board to make most of my models. I use both white and black board of the same thickness. I’m looking for a beginning setting for safely cutting through this material. I would be happy with even just a couple starting settings that I can start adjusting from. I have made clips for holding down the material. I just need a starting point to go from. Below is an image of the label on my material with the thickness. Any help would be greatly appreciated. If someone actually cuts this type of material often, I would love to talk to you about it.
180/65. Make sure you use a sticky mat (Seklema) or something similar if you are going to cut intricate bits…they will blow around if they are not stuck down and can mess up your exhaust fan. You need to anchor anything light weight.
Another thing to search on would be Mat board, although I would think the settings for the Canson board would work fine—it’s about the same thickness. I have cut loads of that, and really have had no trouble with it blowing around even with lots of tiny pieces, due to the thickness of the material holding it in place. You are more likely to lose bits down into the honeycomb tray.
Thank you all for you help. I played with some settings and I found what works for a black version of the board and the white. It takes two passes and the white needs a faster speed than the black. I did have some problems though. I’m cutting a large amount of pieces. When I did test runs with the setting on one piece I found settings that worked. When I began cutting a large amount of pieces in a group it did not cut all the way through. It did take two passes to make the initial cut so I suspect the wait time between the first and second cut with the larger amount somehow cools the pieces and it takes more to get through the material. I have been slowing the speed when cutting larger amounts at one time and that seems to get through all the pieces after the second pass.
Anyone have any other suggestions on this? Does anyone else find there to be a difference when cutting large amounts at one time with multiple passes compared to a smaller amount?
PS. Yes, the board it heavy enough to not fly around when cutting but I do pin down the edges so the board lays flatter.
