First try at Cutting Craft Felt

Here’s a tip from the card making experts out there: place your neodymium flat disc magnets in the middle of a piece of masking tape on the sticky side, and fold over the tape so you have a little flag of extra tape hanging off the side. You can pick up the magnet by grabbing the flag and it’s much easier than trying to get it up with your fingernails.

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Except you need to keep the flag from hitting the head. Shouldn’t hurt it it does but…

I use that technique for the Redsail because I have it run the test path outline before I run the job so I know where the head is going to go.

For the GF I have a 3/8" hex head bolt. I put it on top of the small magnets and can then just tilt it which releases the magnet from the bed. Can just swoop it over all of the magnets and then stick the whole stack on the metal bench. When I want a magnet it’s easy enough to slide them off the stack.

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Thank you for this. I picked up some tape backed felt from Michael’s (For another project) and was wondering what kind of settings to used. I just needed a slight modification on speed, 130 instead of 140 to cut the few single strands that didn’t get cut. Saved me some time, instead of running numbers myself.

I helped someone make tree ornaments this season, using synthetic craft felt:

My settings were 1% power, 200 speed, and 3 passes. The key step was running multiple passes - that allowed me to lower rate of energy delivery to the felt while still clearing out all the single strands that would have been left behind with just a single pass. Yes, it takes three times longer to “print”, but I wanted quality over speed and it was still over 10x faster than cutting by hand.

I wish the power settings had more resolution (and accuracy!) at the lowest settings. There’s a world of cutting-by-melting out there, that would be easier to access without having to use workarounds like increasing the movement speed and running multiple passes. Despite the clumsiness of this method, I was able to eliminate any burning or discoloration with a remarkably narrow kerf and ease of extraction out of the sheet.

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that’s super cute!

Aw, it is cute! What a great ornament for a seamstress. :grinning:

That’s really adorable looks like you’re having fun cutting felt

Just tried the settings recommended here by @bill_laba (S140 / P1) on some felt I picked up from Hobby Lobby. Thanks Bill!

It was the blue adhesive back 9"x12" felt (fairly stiff compared to their other felts) with a measured sheet thickness of .040". These setting worked like a charm; a very good clean cut; No flame or wilting of the felt. The cut went through the felt but not all the way through the backing paper, which I think I may prefer as it will keep the cut piece from being affected by the air assist. The backing was a bit perforated it seemed when I was pealing the felt from the sheet, so if u wanted to remove the piece with the backing then you could do so but the backing won’t be as clean cut. For me this wasn’t a problem as I was cutting the felt for the bottom of coasters I am making so there was no need for the backing to stay attached to my felt on removal.

So if your felt measures at .040 then you may bump your power to 2 or slow it down just a smidge should you want the backing cut all the way through.

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I was thinking about ordering this felt on amazon to test out felt cutting. It’s 30% wool and 70% rayon.

So, I looked at the list on the link @lorna posted and didn’t find Rayon anywhere… did some searching and apparently,

Unlike most man-made fibers, rayon is not synthetic. It is made from wood pulp, a naturally-occurring, cellulose-based raw material. [source]

Has anyone tried cutting this type of felt? I assume 1) It’s safe because we’re not looking at any synthetic materials and 2) I’m going to run into some stinkiness factors here…

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The stinkiness will only be 30% burning hair, so could be worse. I’ve cut polyester felt (self-adhesive) with no adverse affects that I’ve noticed. It’s not very soft, but I’ve only used it on the bottom of things for scratch prevention. I’ll go with real stuff, or flocking, if I ever line something like a box.

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I’ve cut it loads of times…cuts like butter…lol

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So you can use the ray on rayon?
(Sorry, the :smiling_imp: made me do it.)

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Back in the early 2000’s I worked for an architectural firm that had a model shop with a 36"x48" laser cutter. Every year I’d use it to cut the felt for the 1st Communion banners!

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yes, but not on the rayoff. that just doesn’t work.

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I’ve been experimenting with 1mm felt (0.04") on my pro but I keep getting charred edges. 500/1/6 (speed/power/passes). I’d really like it to be a bit less charred. Even on the engrave. The white pieces you show are perfect…? ?

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