Are there any discussions on what types of felt are and are not laserable? I don’t know what the synthetic felts are made of, and it would be awesome if there’s already a post on good resources.
I chose wool felt because I figured that the worse thing that would happen is my things would smell like burnt hair (they did a bit). Synthetic wool seems to be made from polyester which a quick search of the internet seems laser safe. I’d love to hear other’s experiences.
I get that from Michael’s and use it as backing on a lot of living hinge boxes. Gives a nice interior and helps keep the living hinges from distorting. Kind of like fabric backers on book spines.
Fake (non-wool) felt can be made from a few types of plastics, but polyester is by far the most common in my experience. If it’s not labeled, it’s usually polyester.
I’d be somewhat surprised to see any made from anything not laser-safe. (PVC felt seems unlikely.)
FWIW, Ground Packing Felt is something entirely different from crafting felt. It is used when putting down a gravel base like for a driveway or a road to prevent your fill from driving too deeply down into the ground (and requiring even more fill on top).
Is rayon safe for lasering? I’m really cautious about anything with any plastics of any kind other than acrylic from a trusted source because of the potential to create chemicals that harm the GF.
Thanks @konkers! I used the settings for a tiny felt project I’m working on. I didn’t realize the felt would shrink during the cut, but it sealed the edges nicely. I ended up bumping the power to 50 because the pointed areas didn’t quite cut all the way (I need these for the negative space, so the bottom right image is the final).
Top is first try, bottom is second. This saved me an hour of cutting felt and cussing; these are only about 1.5 inches high. Total glowforge time was 20 seconds