Hey guy I’m looking for a brass-like material I can cut filigree and book plates out of and I know the Glowforge can’t cut metal. I did come across this these brushed metallic acrylic sheet that might do the job. Has anyone had any experience with these?
The website said it’s acrylic so in theory the Glowforge should be able to cut it right?
Yes, you can cut them, and I think I have a couple of samples around here, but I haven’t decided what to do with them yet. (I’d start with Proofgrade acrylic settings for similar thickness.)
I have cut a couple sheets of the brushed aluminum into myriad little pieces while developing a project (that I will post eventually, no really). It cuts and engraves just like any other acrylic. I have optimized settings for it in my spreadsheet that I think are basically the same as medium Proofgrade acrylic. This is the wrong forum category for sharing them but, can do it in a linked thread, if you like.
I also have some of the copper stuff that I have a plan for but, haven’t got to yet.
They pass pretty well for their nominal metal equivalents visually.
The acrylic seems kind of thick for bookplates.
While paper stock surfaced with foil doesn’t cut well, there are metallic stocks that do. For example, Neenah Paper Stardream in Copper, Bronze, Antique Gold, Venus 2.0 or Saturn 2.0. It’s available in 105lb cover stock, which is pretty rigid.
I am not sure how practical it would be for your application but, you could also paint something after cutting. Molotow’s chrome is a dead ringer for a polished silver metal finish, for example. It comes in a pen but, you can open the pen and, put the paint in an airbrush or other applicator. They also make a gold (which I haven’t tried) that you might be able to blend with something (like green) to get a brass.
And one additional option is to use Oracal 352 film which is polyester based and therefore laser cuttable. You can apply it to any flat stock you would normally use in your laser and tweak the settings a little for the additional thickness. Oracal 352 comes in lots of metallic finishes.
Rub-n-buff on MDF/proofgrade works brilliantly to produce certain metal effects too. Kind of depends what you are after.
See my metal work on this:
I didn’t know this existed. I’ll be going down this rabbit hole now. 
I completely forgot about that vinyl not being “vinyl”! I’m going to have to bring some home from the old shop I worked at and try it. Thanks!
Similar to Oracal 352 LaserFoil that can be purchased from Johnson Plastics.
Just used that same material for a fake brass nameplate on my wife’s horse show tack box. Cut perfectly (Used proofgrade settings) and looks great.
Thanks for all the advice guys! Gonna grab some sheets and run a few test cuts to see if it’ll work. I’ll check out the foil and rub-n-buff too.
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