Hi,
Anyone have experience using 1/8" birch plywood with the glowforge? I’d like to use this machine to cut projects made from this material. I would really appreciate any help on this.
Best,
Kenny
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Should be a fair amount of settings listed in #beyond-the-manual. I’ve been cutting 1/4” Baltic birch like butter.
YMMV as compositions can vary. Baltic birch has standards so it cuts pretty consistently.
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Yes, search is your friend…
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Thank you for your help. A sales rep from Full Spectrum Laser told me that the glowforge would have a difficult time cutting through that material and that he would recommend a 90watt laser from them. Obviously he’s trying to make a sale so you can’t believe everything they say. Thanks again!
I’ve been cutting 1/8 birch plywood all weekend. To be honest I just use the settings for proofgrade maple plywood and it cuts like butter. Here’s a piece after cutting out a ton of stuff:
FYI - the hold down pins are too big to fit in the crumb tray. When I get to the end of a piece, I use all available space left to try and maximize what I can get out of the material. The “clouds” on the right are a design I made in CAD for my daughter that holds up a painted rainbow.
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You should send him this and ask him how it was possible… 
(I guess for clarity, I should mention that the left puzzle is 1/4" baltic birch and the right piece is .08" chipboard)
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wow, thanks! I really appreciate your help
haha wow thanks for the photos. I can’t wait to get my glowforge.
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LMAO! 1/8" Baltic Birch has been the go-to laser material for CO2 lasers from 30W up forever
90W is a pretty hefty machine. Ought to be able to do 1/2" with a couple of passes.
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Exactly… a 90-watt will get the job done faster. But saying it would have “trouble?” Not quite.
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So a follow up to this - I would like to cut 1/2 material - would just doing a double pass at full power accomplish that? Not so concerned with the burn marks, but obviously I don’t want to start a fire!
Full Spectrum is a liar-liar-pants-on-fire. Because 1/8th baltic birch plywood is pretty much all I cut. Even though I have a bunch of other stuff I should be playing with. Just keeping going back to it.
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No, I don’t think so. 1/2 inch is 4 pieces of 1/8 inch thick. I cut 1/8 inch in one pass of full power (at 200-225 speed. Though, I havent experimented with that as much as I should. It was the first thing I tried, and it worked, so I just default to it. There are probably better settings). I dont think 2 passes would get you through 1/2 inch.
Maybe I’m wrong, though.
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One pass should do 1/4 inch stuff - I’ll try tonight. And I can always try.
I have some 3/4 baltic birch I would LOVE to cut with this. I’m probably just going to have to up my laser at some point… 
Wow–that reflects really poorly on Full Spectrum. Talk about an egregious lie.
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And incredibly obviously a lie. Their own 40W lasers are advertised as being able to cut through 1/8" BB. The guy should read his own literature.
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I’m using 150 speed/Full Power on a pro to cut 1/4 Baltic birch. That’s with glue and .01” thick photo paper.
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To be fair, we don’t know the original question posed. If a question were more geared towards a production environment, recommending a 90-watt would make considerably more sense.
I do 2 or 3 passes with 1/4" material – basswood, in this case – simply to minimize the charring on the edge of the cut. 3 passes @ 250 cuts cleanly and leaves the edge brown, not black. 2 passes @ 200 or so gets through, too.
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