Cutting Heavy Grey 1195gsm - Newbie

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Hi guys! I’m just new to the laser world and I’m wondering if someone knows the settings to cut heavy board.

I’ve been reading some topics about cardboard and the fire hazard made me really afraid to try it without some help.

Thank you

I use chipboard a lot but it’s not commonly sold by weight here. How thick is what you have?

The stuff I have works out to about 800g/m² (I calculated it) and is close to 1.5mm. I use 1000/Full (pro)/Dots/225lpi to engrave, and 175/100 to cut.

Also - I’ve never had an issue with it flaring up, but of course I never leave it unattended.

Here’s one example using chipboard:

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I’m sorry I don’t have an exact answer for you but I do have a good generic answer.

Now is as good as ever to start learning to make your own profiles. Start fast and lower power and work your way up till you are just cutting through everywhere. Slower speeds are the same as more power but as a rule you want to be at full power before slowing down.

Don’t be afraid of this stuff, but do keep an eye on it as you should with all materials.
Your biggest fire hazard is not from too much power but from a lot of cuts close together like small fingers. cutting circles and such there is not a lot of fire hazard.

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It looks interesting but I would watch it like a hawk. You need also to see that there is no plastic involved. What it looks like mostly is recycled paper and not as tightly packed as regular paper, In any case you cannot cut anything thicker than a half inch (if you did not start a fire trying that) and can only engrave anything thicker.

In any case I would start with a test piece with low settings and work up 5% power at a time at 500 speed and then lower the speed as needed till you get a reliable cut. That will also give you ballpark estimates of the range of engraving settings.

Personally I have not even done box cardboard as yet over flame concerns.

Yes what others typed faster than me said :upside_down_face:

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It says 1900 microns, 1.9mm?

So you can use my settings as a starting point. Engrave should give similar results but you’ll need to slow it down for cutting, even more if you don’t have a Pro.

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I feel like this board is slightly different from chipboard but here in Europe material names are totally different.

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These are my chipboard notes. Stuff we get here is sold by thickness, not weight.

.030" / 0.762 mm
Speed 500 power 95
Flashback almost nil but reverse sides should still be hidden if possible.

Thin Chipboard/Soda Box
Speed 500, Power 70

.050 black Grafix (AKA “medium” or “50 point”) / 1.27 mm
CUT Speed 300 power 100 x1.

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Here I go again: don’t listen to anyone who tries to give you settings. They won’t work for you, your materials and machine are different enough that you just need to learn how to test materials.

It takes less time to test than it takes to explain how to do it, so I won’t explain it here… luckily it’s been written up before:

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Might not work… but could be a good starting point for their own testing…

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That said… I have done some about the same thickness, but yours looks odd… I always start with 100% power (not full power) and then look at speed and just guess. I’ve been pretty spot on with my guesses with my machine, but mileage may vary of course. I would run that stuff around 190 speed… maybe a little slower.

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Thank you guys, I’ll test and return here with the results. I don’t have GF Pro.

Fingers crossed :grimacing:

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Glowforge said it would take 42 minutes but In the first cut almost burned and I stopped.

Used 190 speed and 100 power

SETTINGS

300 speed
100 power

It does cut without burning but takes long time.

I think I also saved the file as a raster instead of a vector.

Thank you guys!

Your settings were spot on now that I figured out that I was engraving instead of cutting.

I used 180/100 (Basic GF) to cut and it did the work, only problem is the black dust all over the heavy board.

Thank you!

180 with the basic! Thank you :slight_smile:

Get yourself a tub and put a bunch of salt in it. Throw your cut pieces in the tub and shake the @$#% out of it. The char will mostly go away in the tub with the agitation.

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Thank you so much! I’ll try it!

Thank you so much guys!

Final Settings
170/100

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Very close to my settings, looks clean. :+1:

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