I thought I would start a thread specifically on materials and supplies. I (we) have been collecting while waiting for the Glowforge. Some of these are already out there on the form under various topics but it might be nice to have a more consolidated list.
I welcome anyone to post in this thread. I was thinking I would post what it is, where it was obtained and how much it cost. I plan to also include a photo or two.
I will start it off with this:
I was searching for mirrored acrylic for a few projects I am planning. I was finding that it was quite expensive and often was in rather large sheets. Since my plan does not call for large sections I did a quick search for acrylic scraps and came up with many hits. This might be a good resource for all sorts of acrylic verities but it turned out that I found just what I was looking for, mirrored scraps.
The ebay seller is: stoneedaze | eBay Stores
If you search his ebay store for scraps (or ebay in general), you will get plenty of hits.
I ordered four colors of mirrored and he sent all that is in the photo below as well as a bunch of opaque black as a bonus. All sections have plastic or paper protective layers still in place. I paid $45 including shipping. For a scale reference, the flat rate shipping boxes are 5.375"x8.625"x1.625". He shipped them all in one box and gave me a $10 discount on shipping.
Fun item of note, I noticed that these were laser cut! You can see in the second photo the tell tail smoke trails.
Inventables.com is a great source for material, including both laser-friendly acrylic & wood.
Another good source that I’ve found for wood is the Thin Boards shop on Etsy. Both Amazon & Rockler have deals on packs of baltic birch ply too.
I wanted some bamboo cutting boards for engraving. Came across these on Amazon for $10 prime. Quality seems fine. They are 9 ½” x 13 3/8” and 8 ½” x 11” and both 3/8” thick.
I also ordered these bamboo kitchen tools to play with. The quality is not as good as the cutting boards however. The ends of the handles are not finished consistently and they are a little rough at the working end. They should still be fun to throw under the laser, however not really gift quality. $6.50 prime.
Last one for today. I will have quite a few more coming another time.
I think someone might have posted about e-plastics on the forum. Anyway, I ordered three of their sample sets to have some nice color swatches on hand for inspiration. I really like these and I figure I can laser off a good 3/4s of the plastic and use it while keeping the identification tags and a section for reference. Each one is 4"x6".
I ordered the Acrylic Transparent Color Samples, Acrylic Sign Colors and Acrylic Bronze and Gray Samples. Total came to $47 with shipping.
I have visited this same site and have put one or two of these sample packages on my Christmas wish list. I could be wrong, but I believe there is already another thread that was created for materials. In fact, I can see it in the list right now…it’s titled “Favourite materials”. Maybe there would be some way the two threads could be combined.
Linking to another thread regarding materials. Leather and bamboo cutting boards are two materials I have purchased. In cleaning out my shop last week I found a bucket of 4 mil walnut strips that I got from the estate of the carpenter I used to work for as a kid.
is this starting to feel like laser cuttable supplies porn to anyone else?
Throw this in the docs, man. Or open an issue asking to throw this in the docs and assign to me.
G
e: in fact throw all of this in the docs 
I was thinking more of a “free on-line database” type of thing.
I will work on it. I have to carve out some time to attend to the manual. With the beta test invite yesterday I spent the evening working on my submission. Been spending a lot of time thinking about materials and getting my workshop redone so I can have some wood to work on. Should be able to focus on the documentation and do a push or a pull, whatever, sorry I’m still learning. My nephew-in-law to be sent me some links to assist in working with git. He’s really pushing me and thinks this is the way to go. Once I get a handle on this, I feel fairly confident I can get a more detailed outline and a in introductory paragraph for each heading and sub heading going. Getting it from my notes and bookmarks to one doc is what I need to do.
I have been gathering these every time we shop at Costco. Our Costco has a cardboard recycling area and there are almost always these flat sheets back there. Have quite a stash and no cutting to size needed. Free!
Anodized aluminum tags of various shapes and sizes. Purchased 40 of them for $54 shipped. Note, these have a clear plastic film to protect the finished surface. They are not scratched as it might appear in the photo.
Last one for today…
Split vegetable tanned leather. Good sizes for the Glowforge. $22 prime.
not bad, this makes me wonder if any of the local crafters would have some scraps for me.
I guess I’m spoiled in a sense that we go through such a large qty of various materials at our shop that material acquisition was never really an issue that crossed my mind. Based on what I’m seeing for “sample” size packs and their ridiculous prices- there may be a pretty good market to supply sized material (12x20) at a more reasonable rate then a lot of the other sellers i see on Ebay and Amazon.
I am not sure. Let me checkout this entire forum and get back to you.
One of my hobbies is coffee roasting. Before green coffee was easily available to the masses, we used to order in bulk (100 to 150lbs). One of us would then distribute to the others in the user group that had bought into the order. Maybe something like that could be done for laser consumables too?
I am currently just trying to collect a nice cross section of materials that I know (assume) will work and have a huge selection to choose from when the Glowforge arrives. I am sure favorites will arise and things like thin MDF and plywood will be the “go to” for cheap and cardboard for free.
I am posting the costs of the various materials for everyone’s reference as well as the hope that someone can find a better/cheaper source too. Please share if you have any great leads.
Had a window of time to document a few more…
Here is an order from http://www.inventables.com
There is not too much to see here with the film still on, but this is the two color acrylic sheets. Brushed Silver on Black, Brushed Copper on Black, Blue on Bright White, Grey on White and Matte Black on Gold. $54 delivered.
Excited to try this stuff!
This is a veneer variety pack. Quite a lot of species and there is so much of it I could not fit it all in one photo. $28 Prime.
