Hello. I was just checking to see if generally plywood from Home Depot is safe to laser. I have a sheet of 1/4 plywood that I purchased a while back. It is birch I believe and has a wood layer core. I don’t want to damage my machine. I vent outside. Thanks for any input. Thanks
Mike
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Generally, yes although it doesn’t always cut cleanly.
Like anything make sure your ventilation is good.
You also didn’t really specify which kind of plywood because Home Depot carries a lot of different types. I would suggest looking through the mini threads that mention Home Depot plywood on the forum and maybe search for the specific product line to see if anybody’s brought it up before.
https://community.glowforge.com/search?q=Home%20Depot%20plywood
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Thank you. I just checked and there is a sticker on it but I don’t know how to look it up by barcode. It is 1/4 birch.
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One common gotcha with big box store plywood is that the voids in the internal ply range from not filled at all through to the use of a Bondo-like putty that is impossible to cut… Testing is your friend, as well as shining a bright light through the material to find and avoid the voids.
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Thank you. I was just going to use it for my window for the dryer tube to go out. I have been using cardboard and just looking for something more sturdy. I was just concerned about it causing an issue with the machine.
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I’ve personally never had much luck with the generic plywood they sell in box-box stores. I’ve managed to use it but never cared to repeat it. For your application, it might work fine, just have to deal with multiple cuts or voids as mentioned.
Home Depot does sell some really nice ply from Columbia Forest - if you search for GlowForge on their site, it will come up. It’s my most-used material (5/32" maple ply)…
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If that’s he case it’s just a rectangle with a circle cut out. Maybe get it cut to size and the trace a 4” circle on the board and cut out with a jigsaw?
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Birch plywood from HD was the first non-proofgrade I had ever used, and by far the worst I have ever used as the glue was just about laserproof. Someone just wiped a brush and every place was blocked. For just its “whatever” birch plywood the might be several suppliers bidding for low price but that stuff was awful.
Real Baltic Birch has a legal definition due to safety concerns if you build an airplane or boat with it, and most of that comes from Finland. Other Birch Plywood has a sawdust core that has several issues that I will not use, but many prefer it. I have purchased Oak Plywood that was dirty to cut and rare gaps, and there are branded stuff like Revolution Ply that has a few issues but is inexpensive with few gaps but not as strong as others and one good side so often my “testing” material.
My first try at birch, burned out the small stuff but could not get through the glue fill
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