What is the thickest wood you can cut
What is the thickest material that Glowforge can cut?
Glowforge performs well with many materials 1/4" and less on a single pass. It can accommodate material as thick as 1/2", but may require multiple passes or flipping the material over. For engraving, you can remove the tray and insert objects as thick as 2ā. It can then engrave the surface up to 0.5ā, depending on the material.
2 Likes
This is pretty thickā¦
5 Likes
Where is OSHA 
Notice a couple guys were barefoot, another smoking while pouring gasoline, and they all must be deaf as a rock. Wonder how many arms, legs or lives have been lost.
Still a cool process though.
1 Like
Yes. but can you get them to cut out some at 1/8" thick and 20 inch wide strips? 
How thick you can cut on the Glowforge depends a lot on the species of wood. Try to cut regular plywood (as I did before I knew better) and you will end up with a charred mess and still not get through, but try 1/2" hard Maple at 120, full power and you can cut it in one pass without a charred mess.
Maple, Paduk, and Walnut are pretty resistant and can be deep cut. Cherry a bit less so, If it goes in as Zebrawood it will come out as ash without some extreme action. It all depends on if small coal will go out quickly or propagate and spread and the hardness alone is not a predictor. (zebrawood is very hard)
As Mahogany is not actually one species, it can be worse than Zebrawood or almost like cherry and only testing will tell.
2 Likes
Thereās some 1/2" wood you may be able to cut through with multiple passes, but it depends a lot on the specific species of wood.
1 Like
The thicker the wood the more noticeable the not-vertical kerf will be along the edges. Also, the more energy you need to get through the wood (the thicker, the more energy required) the more charred the edges will be.
For the types of stuff I have done 3/16 - 1/4 inch material is the upper limit. I can cut thicker, but the drawbacks are too obvious.