[POLL] The best material to laser is

Chuckle. I honestly don’t have a favorite. I like tile and plywood and fabric and paper and acrylic and leather. And cardboard.

Ohhh…I’m not real crazy about blue mirrored extruded acrylic…it smells like a burning dead skunk dipped in a vat of formaldehyde. And the smell when cutting through 3M tape is similar. But other than that…no issues.

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i’m kinda w/Jules on this. favorites differ by what i’m making. i like hardwood for boxes, different kinds of materials for ornaments based on which ornament it is, BB for some of the signs i’ve made… i’m all over the place.

BB is still the best bang for the buck, but not the best material for everything.

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Dang. I have some of that and haven’t used it yet. That’ll be fun.

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A: The one that suits your design & gives you the results you want…

Some images work better on different materials, of course, e.g. you can’t really get 3D designs to work on leather or tile, but can look great in wood.

Or by project, e,g, for business cards, I’m not going to use tile. But I have great cutting and etching results on card stock or veneered wood “cardstock”. But I’m not going to use those if I want to make a key tray or box!

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Tile is the perfect medium!

  • Very cheap
  • Doesn’t catch on fire
  • Doesn’t smell
  • Leaves no mess
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Psht you guys are way too levelheaded. Hardwoods rule, acrylics drool!

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:smile:

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Paper wasn’t on the list but I do more of that than anything else!

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It was a hard choice, but I looked at it plainly, and I get way more use out of my plywood. I agree that certain projects are better with different materials or even mixed, but that doesn’t mean I do those as often.

The next questionnaire should have subcategories: Cherry, walnut, maple etc. Cherry sweeps for me, clear acrylic is a beauty, especially when mixed with cherry :wink: and as for the other options, I like the veneer, but it’s difficult to remove the back if you’ve cut it a lot. I haven’t played with any leather, but the projects I see on here makes me want to!

Cardboard is fun, and so is paper. My wife made me throw out a lot of boxes that I was saving to cut up…still saved a few!

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Exactly. None are my favorite and none get more oohs and aaahs than another. I can (and do) wow people with chipboard as easily as acrylic or walnut.

The star of this show, my friends, is the MACHINE, and everything we know has gone into it.

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I expect a new made on a Glowforge thread to prove this! Pictures or if never happened :slight_smile:

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I agree that they all have their specific benefits and uses.

Maple plywood and Baltic Birch for living hinges
African Mahogany and Purple Heart hardwood for elegance.
Glass and acrylic for light effects.
Tile for crispness, durability and cost.
PG plywood for ready finishes and ease of repetitive, consistent uses.

I use real sail cloth for fun accents. Rather boring in that it cuts cleanly, but doesn’t discolor in a very useful way for engraving.

Want to try more paper cutting / layering and leather projects.

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In 57 years I still haven’t been able to settle on a favorite COLOR, and you want me to pick a favorite material out of things I’ve only been using for 8 months? Unpossible.

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I burn through so much MDF. It’s a great test material, but also I am selling so many finished pieces in MDF. Currently I’m using over 100 sheets a month on this that and the other.

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You’re really putting me in the spot…I’ll post some and tag you when I can!

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My current favorite is MDF. I bought some I love working with. It’s cheap, it cuts easily, and you can do so much with the surface.

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I really like plywood (especially Oak ply) as it is low in cost unlimited in scale and I can get it wet with alcohol and it does not warp. Proofgrade plywood just disintegrates as does the MDF so those arter at the bottom of my list. But I am liking hardwood more and more as I can get really nice finish to it, but still exploring the different colors and species.

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Judging by the poll, I guess I need to give PG plywood a try finally. I’ve never even touched it yet.

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Haha! Don’t think I’ve ever heard a more descriptive description! Love it!

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Skunks don’t smell bad, it is just things that annoy them that smell bad. I had a friend that had a whole family of guard skunks that kept the bears, mountain lions, and bobcats from getting too nosey around her place.

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