This showed up as a gift during the holiday season! I don’t think I have seen much discussion about matboard cutting and etching yet. A quick internet search brought up some pretty amazing results for laser cut matboard. Really excited to try it both for framing art/photos in exotic ways but also in other applications.
Sheet size is 16x20. In the photo I have already resized them to 12x20 and will use the scraps for smaller projects and testing. $36.27 prime.
Another gift I received! This is a 45 sheet pack of 12"x12"x1/8" Baltic birch plywood. A look around all the cut edges of the stack shows no voids and only a few very small knots. I am hoping they prove to cut well. $50 prime.
The mat board is a brilliant idea. It’s worth noting that this Amazon selection is for white-core mat only. Black core, of course is another option is likely to be more fun for engraving purposes (colored paper stays in some areas, while black is in the engraved parts). Either one would be a good, cheap option to test designs you’re planning on running in two-color acrylic.
Also, art supply stores usually have a bin of mat scraps beside their whole sheets, ones that are cheap and nicely GF-sized.
Thanks to @lcuellar63 for this suggestion! I ordered two packs of Kraft-Tex from Amazon but with some shipping mix up received two of each color. I like the stuff so much I decided to keep it all. The package is labeled as 19"x54", Amazon says 18"x54", but my rolls measure just shy of 20". I have cut two of the rolls down to size and left the other two full length should we want to make longer straps or something larger than the basic Glowforge can deal with.
The stuff is amazingly tough! It comes in a number of colors too. About $12 prime depending on color/supplier.
I purchased this for a non-Glowforge project, but will save the leftovers for the laser. It is really interesting stuff and I thought I would post a couple photos of it here.
The selection of mat boards you recieved @chevalier_jeanpaul looks different than the image shown in the link. Was there an option to select certain packages or was out the luck of the draw? I like the idea of cutting mat with the Glowforge. I prefer the tapered cut layering mats with straight cuts can look nice. I made this for my brother in law several years back, a laser wound have saved me a lot of time.
Reading the reviews, it seems its luck of the draw. Some people complained that the colors they received were not to their liking. I am quite pleased with the colors that I received. I suspect if you have a specific project in mind, it would be best to get exactly what you need.
A lot of great posts here from you @chevalier_jeanpaul! I ordered my Craft-tex from Joanne’s, they only had ‘stone’ & ‘chocolate’, picked up some glass etching cream as well. Soon I’ll have to start re-sawing some of the 1500+ board feet of hardwood that I have, to fit in the GF.
Just this past weekend I spent some time experimenting with resawing on the band saw. Mainly just to see how consistent I could get to 1/8" with various types of wood. The results were quite promising! The largest piece I tried was three inches, but even that maintained 1/8" pretty well.
These look very nice! I started my own Mathias Wandel bandsaw last week. Four layers glued. Main application will be resawing walnut and ash that I have. What do you have to finish the surface? I figured a drum thickness sander would be important. Although hand planes might be easy depending on how much you are working with in terms of number of pieces and evenness of final board.
I have a number of sizes of belt sanders, disk sanders, hand sanders, manual and electric hand planers. What I don’t have are any thickness sanders/planers. I never really got into dimensioning my own lumber as I am only a hobbyist. With the high cost of dimensioned lumber, epically the 1/8" and 1/4" stuff that will be really handy in the Glowforge, I might need to look into something specific to the task.
I think for now, the rough cut 1/8" or 1/4" is consistent enough for what I have in mind. The surface can be finish sanded or planed with what tools I have on hand.
Also, the exotic wood shop in town will resaw what they sell for $40 an hour. They said they can cut a lot of wood in an hour! It might be a good option for some larger stuff that I can’t deal with on my tools.
Good luck with your band saw build! That looks like a really interesting project for sure…
I bought my GF to make things, but also to become a materials supplier to other owners. I run a specialty lumberyard, focusing mainly on reclaimed lumber. We have an industrial size bandsaw and planers, sanders, etc. My question: based on the GF capabilities/capacities and maker typical uses, what would be the best few sizes to make my own “Sample Paks” to make to sell? I have the ability to make things from scratch, or we generate gobs of lumber remnants that I have been saving for a rainy day, that i will re-manufacture as needed to meets the needs of makers. Until mine arrives, I’m not sure what will be best typical raw material, hence this post. any advise would appreciated!
I’d look at D & D Hardwoods and Ocooch Hardwoods as they seem to offer the appropriate selection of new hardwoods resawn to the appropriate thicknesses for ideas. As you specialize in reclaimed lumber that should certainly have its draws. Until we get our units it’s a lot of speculation. Owning a glowforge you will have the advantage of being able to recommend cutting speeds and power settings to try.
The other thing you may want to look at is cutting down anything that comes in a sheet to a 20" width. 12x20 for Basic owners and 20xWhatever for the pass through slot in the pro. There are plenty of posters here with their own shops, but I think a lot of people will like the idea of not “wasting” material and a lot of owners will wonder how to cut down a larger sheet.
I have never had access to a laser so I can’t answer the question “best typical raw material”.
For size, I would for sure have a 20" length if you are marketing towards the Glowforge Basic market. I have not seen any 20" planks yet, so I have been sizing mine after receiving. I would shoot for 20" by whatever the width of your reclaimed lumber is as long as its 12" or under. I would love some 20"x12" by 1/8" or 1/4" sheets of solid wood. There will be plenty of applications for ply or fiber, but solid wood has its place for sure. You could offer longer lengths for those who have the Pro model too.
I would also say it would be fun to offer various grades of wood. I can see applications for a nice knot, split or insect holes. I have seen some really cool uses where the knot becomes part of the artwork or where various inlays were used in the natural imperfections in the wood. This should be well suited to the reclaimed nature.
Hmmmm. If you are working with reclaimed wood I’m guessing you were thinking much smaller sizes in width. 12" planks of anything other than maybe pine is pretty difficult to come by. What maximum widths are you expecting ?
