I have some cork left over from a building project. 12" x 12" squares .2174 thick. It was used for covering a wall.
Seems just perfect for a coaster.
It engraves fine with Speed 1000 and power 12.
I can not seem to cut it. I have tryed:
150 /100 makes a campfire but still does not cut it
500 / 30 make a nice clean score but only 1/10 inch deep
tried focusing down in the material some after the first cut . huge burn marks and LOTS of smoke
Several other tries.
Thinking of doing a bunch of concentric circle vectors to cut down a ways then repeating ata lower level ut there seems like that is a better way that I am missing.
Or maybe this just will not work !
2 inches thick? I don’t think you have much of any chance of cutting it. (a) it would need many, many passes and (b) the bottom edge is going to be pretty far out of focus no matter what. Perhaps someday when we get the magic 2-sided cutting software upgrade.
I’ve done lots of etchings with that same cork (underlayment on a roll?) but I’ve had no joy cutting it.
But it cuts like butter with an xacto knife. If you are doing coasters with a simple shape, just score the outline and cut it with an xacto freehand, you’ll be amazed at how easily it cuts and how well the xacto blade follows the score kerf.
It also cuts like butter with a router, so if you’re going into full production mode, make a template with thick draftboard, stack up a bunch of coasters on top, and zip around them with a flush trim router bit.
Cork is notoriously difficult to cut. There are lots of posts if you search. I had luck cutting AVSKILD placemats from IKEA, but they are about half as thick as you describe.