Hello, newbie here. If I am wanting to cut on cardboard first to make sure that my designs are correct and not waste my Proofgrade material, can I use the 1/8" corrugated cardboard that automatically comes up in the search or do I need to put in the specs?
You can use the cardboard that comes up in the search. You should carefully watch the print to make sure nothing catches fire, and may need to adjust settings if they don’t cut all the way through, but most likely it’ll just work fine.
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Make sure to measure the cardboard and use the correct one. You should have some decent digital calipers and micrometer as both are not expensive and you will be using them a lot.
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Thank you!
Thank you so much!
Fire is the biggest hazard here with cardboard. NEVER leave the GF alone when using cardboard. I know that goes for all materials, but cardboard fires (I think) has killed more GF’s than anything.
Actually ignored acrylic engraving has probably killed more machines than ignoring cardboard, but in any case not a competition anyone wants to become a part of. Then of course the total number of acrylic engravings is far greater.
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Thank you!
Didn’t think about that. Regardless - don’t leave the machine!
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Yes! not watching the machine is the common thread. There have been a few that simply shifted their attention and the fire did not spread over the whole machine but still did a lot of damage to the head and gantry. 
Thank you for your help!!
I’ve come close, twice on wood actually. Totally weird too as I was cutting some 1/8" thick walnut for a few coaster holders I Was building. Had the wood masked with blue tape and no idea if it was the tape or wood that first caught but glad I was there as POOF. So weird.
It’s kinda why I don’t do engraves (that and the time it takes to do engraves)…
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I have had a couple of pieces of “walnut” that acted almost like zebrawood in terms of flammability. Both were thick (3/8) and I was doing a deep engraving so the downwind edge of the engraving got the “wash” well after the area was cut, and eventually became a burning coal that ruined the piece. They feel lighter than normal walnut and definitely did not cut the same as other walnut as been amazing being the most impervious of all the wood I have tested for that sort of thing.
Thanks for the input!
I get the thinner walnut from my local Rockler and the thicker stuff from Austin Hardwoods. They sell some thinner stuff, but it’s not finished on all sides. Both have always had good quality hardwoods and I’ve never had a problem with their stuff before.
I’ve cut bocote, zebra wood, paduk, and ebony all with no issues (1/8") before. It was a lighter spot of walnut, so perhaps it was more toward the sapwood and cambian layers thus less mature wood.
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Of those only Zebrawood has given me fits. Mahogany (or what is sold as mahogany) is all over the map as it could be of many species and different growth. I suspect that “farmed” wood will have a better life and faster growth than old-growth forests so it is very much mixed feelings about the differences in the result, but that could have been part of the difference as well.
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