Is this adhesive velvet draw liner safe to laser?

[thanksfortheride]

Amazon.com: Mesheshe 2PCS Self Adhesive Felt Fabric, Soft Velvet Drawer Liner,...

Making a jewelry box for my girlfriend, cutting it by hand is a nightmare haha.

[timjedwards]

If it’s truly nylon, that’s laser safe, so you’re probably fine. The material safety data sheet for the product has the official answer, since marketing text can simplify/lie to the consumer.

You’re looking for bad ingredients on that sheet. Chlorine gas (from PVC for example) can harm your machine (and you!), and chemicals like formaldehyde are not good to breathe. The latter shows up in some fabric like materials.

[eflyguy]

Do a flame test on a sample. When the SDS is not readily available, it’s the best way to check.

[beerfaced]

Here is the self test method explained:

Procedure

Use a copper wire thick enough not to melt too quickly (e.g., I2- or 14-gauge copper wire, stripped of its insulation, that is used for wiring houses). Heat the copper wire to glowing red in the flame of a Bunsen burner or propane torch.

Continue heating until no colour (other than the nearly invisible, slightly blue torch flame) is visible. There should be no green colour in the flame. Wash the wire intermittently with water and dilute nitric acid (10%) to remove materials that cause unwanted colouration. If washing fails, try a new wire. Once it is clean, take care to avoid touching the wire with fingers or objects other than the test material. When the flame is colourless, the test can proceed.

The test is best carried out in subdued lighting so that the colour of the flame can be seen easily. Vapours, fumes, or smoke from the sample must envelop the hot copper wire in the flame so that reactions between the tested material and the hot copper can occur. This can be accomplished in several ways:

1. Heat the wire to red-hot, then quickly touch a fragment of the sample to it and immediately return the wire to the flame. A plume of green is a positive test for the presence of chlorine. Do not touch the entire sample with the hot wire. Some plastics (e.g., cellulose nitrate, Celluloid) may burst into flame. (This reaction is usually considered a positive test for cellulose nitrate.)
2. With the wire red-hot and still at the edge of the flame, bring a fragment of the sample near the flame in the vicinity of the wire until the fragment chars and the smoke produced envelops the wire. A green flame is a positive test for the presence of chlorine.
3. With the red-hot wire in the flame, place a fragment of the sample near or into the flame until it starts to char. Quickly move the smoking sample to the air intake at the base of the burner so that the smoke is drawn in with air and is intimately mixed with the flame gases. A green flame surrounding the copper wire is a positive test for chlorine.
4. Heat the wire to red-hot. Then immediately touch the wire with a piece of the sample held beside the air intake at the base of the burner or torch, so that some of the fumes produced are drawn into the flame. A green flame is a positive test for chlorine.