I’ve got 25 sq ft of .001" brass sheet. I’m wondering if there’s any chance the Glowforge can cut it. Has anyone tried something similar?
I don’t think it will work, as I understand we can’t even etch metals generally, but since I got my hands on this one-thousandth sheet I have to ask.
If you were to try, you’d desperately need to mask it with something to prevent reflection. Dry Moly Lube, which allows for engraving steel, might work on that. I would hesitate a little, though. Moly works on a reaction thing. Could try seeing if Cermark has something for brass. (I know, you are looking at cutting, and some of my steel tag results suggest that cutting through .001" should be possible. My first concern would still be protecting the laser.
I don’t think it will work, but let us know if it does.
Masking tape?
I’ve seen some other users use dry moly lube to mark brass beautifully. My main concern is protecting the laser - I won’t even try to cut it if there’s a chance it’ll mess up the laser.
If dry moly lube allows for marking of brass, then I’d blast the sucker. I’ve hit moly-coated stainless with full power, multi-pass. If it will cut .001" metal, that’s what will do it.
So have you been able to cut through the steel with multiple passes? How thick of steel?
Scissors. 
Indeed, if cutting doesn’t work I’ll just cut it with snips and stick to “etching” with moly. But if I can cut with the laser it would be more fun, to do something more interesting than rectangles.
Good reflector conversely means a poor absorber of the wavelength. Even at .001”, I’d say you’re out of luck on the cutting aspect.
Alright well once I get the moly, I’ll try some cuts and update this thread. I’ll also include my marking test results.
Not cut through steel, and I haven’t tried. I’m crazy, but maybe not quite that crazy. I have put an engraving into steel that had to have been more than .001" deep, though.
I was just about to buy a .063” or .125” aluminum square sheet from Amazon. I was hoping to cut out a short quote from it for a potential item I can sell.
I was looking for a material that wouldn’t take as long as wood to engrave and didn’t have as many fumes as wood/acrylic. I thought I had a good alternative with cutting 3-5 words out of aluminum instead of engraving.
Can someone please confirm this is only in my dreams?
Sorry to say, you’re correct. We can’t actually cut metal with these.
Burning stuff unfortunately makes fumes and dust pretty much no matter what the material. If you want to engrave faster have you considered using scores instead? It’s a ton faster if that look works for your artwork. Or, for word art , some people score the masking layer, weed out (peel) just the letters and spray paint before pulling off all the masking.