Cutting 1/8" birch plywood with a Glowforge

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… :slight_smile:

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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https://community.glowforge.com/t/settings-for-1-8-baltic-birch-engraving-and-cutting/16120

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. :slight_smile: 2 passes @ 200 or so gets through, too.

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Interesting. When I get home tonight I’ll post some pics of the edge of 1/4 poplar and 1/8 inch birch ply I cut for my Teardrop trailer. The edges were brown, not black. Perhaps the sap in the poplar protects when it’s cutting. There was a lot of sticky residue on the outside edges once cut. Nothing a sander won’t take off however!

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Oh and if you’re getting into baltic, it can be finicky stuff. This trick can save you some headaches where it doesn’t cut consistently:

https://community.glowforge.com/t/trick-for-inspecting-plywood/15168
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the only thing that can get you is the glue they use (and sometimes the filler). I’ve got a “bad” piece that cuts 99 percent of the pattern but I end up just snapping out the last little section and sanding smooth. No biggie, just something to watch for.

I didn’t see anybody mention how smokey/sooty the BB plywood can be too. I use it for a lot of prototyping because it’s cheap to burn :slight_smile: I end up cleaning a little more often too.

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Try the trick I mention above next time, I bet your 99% is more about internal inconsistency in the plies than the glue.

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I normally do. This was stuck in the pile and didn’t see it.

It has provided a lot of amusement though, just nothing usable for anything other than prototyping :slight_smile:

I’ve cut a lot of 1/8" BB. Around 200-225/Full works well. BB is real smokey, so you have to remember to clean your optics (including your lid camera) a little more often.

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Remember when using “full” you have to specify pro or basic. The numbers 1-100 translate between models but Full is a different ballgame. I do 220/full/1x on a pro and it works really well with minimal flashback.

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Here’s a puzzle piece that I just cut and pulled out… 1/4" baltic birch - the tail is about the thickness of a dime.

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Where do you buy the plywood? I’m having trouble finding 1/8" wood.

Where do you live? There are lots of places to get it but cost can vary widely. If you’re in the US, michaels has it, as do wal mart and woodcraft and even ace hardware sometimes.

There are cheaper options though, you can order it on amazon or a handful of other sites, and that’s better on cost.

By far the cheapest option is generally to find a local supplier and buy large sheets. Most lumber suppliers will also cut the sheets down to size for a small fee (or even sometimes free). Try searching for “hardwood supply” or “lumber supply” and so on in your area, google maps is your friend here.

My supplier sells 5’x5’ sheets for $15, cutting it down is officially supposed to cost $3 more but they haven’t charged me for it yet. 5x5 turns into 15 full size 12x20” pieces (disregarding kerf on their saw).

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I haven’t purchased anything from here but balticbirchply.com (wood workers resource ) seems to have reasonable prices and I’ve heard only good things.
Whatever thats worth.

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