Mylar stencil help

[chillyct3]

I’m trying to cut a stencil on 18mm mylar, and can not get it to work.. it stays in etch. any help is greatly appreciated. ty

[evansd2]

Hey welcome to the forum. I think maybe there’s some miscommunication happening here. Is it really 18 mm Mylar? That would be extremely thick.

Also, you need to tell us which machine you have.

At this point since you only asked the question I can only give you general advice. Check out number six for all of your questions about settings:

Common problems/questions

Hello! You’ve been referred to this post because you have a common problem or question. Check out the list below to see what this post can do for you. Just click on a topic that interests you. • 1: I’m new to Glowforge and really have no idea where to start • 1a: What other tools/materials should I buy to go with my Glowforge? • 1b: What are the overall best practices for my laser designs? • 2: All about masking/protecting your materials • 3: I want to design/make a box • 4: What materi…

You also say that you can’t cut, it may be that you’re trying to work with a JPEG/PNG, a.k.a. a Raster file. You will need to convert that to vector via some sort of trace. It’s really hard to know because you didn’t give us a lot of details and you’re asking what could potentially be a simple question with a complicated answer. Fill in some of the details and we’ll see if we can help.

[chillyct3]

hi, i have a glowforge aura. i ordered he mylar from walmart, description says 18mm.. its probably a little thicker than a piece of card stock. thanks for your help

[chillyct3]

i also converted to svg file. and i also masked the mylar, i hope this helps solve this question, thanks

[evansd2]

OK, it sounds like it’s 18 mils, not millimeters. It means eighteen thousandths of an inch. Mils are an unusual measurement often used with plastic sheets and bags.

With an Aura, if your mylar is transparent then you may be out of luck. Check out this discussion:

Mylar for Aura

Hi. Someone asked me to cut out some stencils for them on my Glowforge Aura using Mylar sheets from Amazon. I did an online search, and a search on the forum but I still cannot find out if Mylar is safe to use on my Aura. I know I can’t cut white or clear acrylic so I was assuming it would be the same problem but does anyone know for sure? Thank you!!

I don’t think anyone’s ever tried that black variant, maybe you’ll be the first?

[chillyct3]

i used green masking tape to cover the mylar. it does not seem to leave etch mode

[evansd2]

I think this is where we have a bit of a communication problem as well because there’s no such thing as a “etch mode”. If you can include screenshots or use official language from the website it might help.

[dklgood]

Welcome to the forum.

It sounds like you are trying to cut but the machine is engraving. Converting a file to svg format does not necessarily create a file that will cut. SVG files can contain both vector and raster elements. In order to cut, you need vectors.

Kindly share a screenshot of your interface showing the file on the material and your settings.