Are typical Big Box store wood products called or known as “Particle board” and “OSB/waffer board” safe to laser cut? I know certain bonding resins/glues are not safe but I don’t know what the resins in these products are nor if they are safe to cut due to toxic gasses from the bonding agents.
Depends on what is in the glue/bonding agents. As they are meant to be cut mechanically, any SDS you can retrieve will be geared towards that use. In theory this shouldn’t matter, but in practice it may.
Even if they used the most laser safe glue ever, the laser will be cutting through a very non-uniform material. This is the opposite of what you want for laser cutting. Look for sheets of MDF, mdf core plywoods and plywood materials. Home Depot carries (it may be deliver to store only) plywood targeted at the glowforge (it is not proofgrade.) If you are in the Midwest, I’ve found Menard’s birch plywood to be very consistent and they carry mdf-core, hardwood plywoods in store and a wider variety delivered to store. If you are around Atlanta, there is a supplier that sells true Baltic Birch at a very reasonable price.
Search Everything Else and Beyond the Manual in the forums for materials - there are a lot of threads.
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Not sure about safe but likely won’t cut or won’t cut well. The glues are awful for lasering. (At least the OSB and particle board here in CT.) Even the MDF can be a crapshoot - some of it is great and some won’t cut at all.
Also OSB & particle board tend to be thicker than the GF can cut even on a good day.
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