[Staff edit: vinyl is not safe for you or for your Glowforge. Don’t cut anything that might be vinyl; even one print can destroy your machine. This was flagged for staff attention and rather than remove it, I added this warning. --dan]
2 Likes
Have you checked with the seller to see what it’s made from? Generally speaking we can’t cut vinyl as it will damage our machines and our lungs.
5 Likes
Noooo! Most vinyl is UNSAFE to cut in a laser. Burning it can produce chlorine gas which is not only toxic, it’s highly corrosive to the metals in the machine. Continuing to burn it in the laser will void your warranty and possibly damage the machine.
And I see Martha beat me to it. Stay away from vinyl unless you KNOW it is made of polyester and contains no chlorine. (There are some that are laser-safe. Make sure you know the content.)
5 Likes
By definition, all “Vinyl” that you can buy commercially is Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) and therefore is 100% not recommended for use in your machine and as stated Will damage your machine (and your lungs with enough exposure) and most likely could result in your warranty being voided.
1 Like
ok good info i was looking at getting a vinyl cutter soon.
a little sad they actually came out perfect
1 Like
ok i ordered a cricut cutter for doing vinyl just now .
i wont do it on the laser any more.
i really appreciate the feedback. im a newb. and i definitely dont want to ruin this pretty expensive machine
5 Likes
No problem…that’s what we’re here for! 
Would you mind editing your first post to remove the settings information? (Just in case someone else comes along and only sees that and tries to cut vinyl without reading the rest of the comments.)
You can edit the post by clicking on the little pencil at the bottom. 
This is false. Lots of people use the blanket term “vinyl” when they are in fact polyurethane or polyester or other polymers.
While I agree it isn’t looking great and it might well be PVC, the only people who can tell you that are the sellers. I’d ask for the msds before I turned my back.
6 Likes
Welcome to the forum, @peteb! One of the wonderful things here is that the other forum members have each others’ back. In this case, with the critical information about vinyl being unsafe.
Someone flagged this for attention so I added a disclaimer to the first post. If you’d rather I delete the thread, just let me know by replying and I’ll do that as well.
Thanks so much for being a customer and for joining the forum!
4 Likes
Hi Pete,
I have the Circut Maker and use that just for vinyl. I have been really happy with it the few months I have had it.
2 Likes
Bring on the body bags!
3 Likes
I think it’s a good idea to leave the post and that was someone else searching for vinyl settings will see all the warnings.
2 Likes
You have to be in the “brand new never even considered searching” category to miss them. They’re on just about every vinyl thread.
That being said, searching for “vinyl alternative” may be helpful.
clicking your link doesn’t give results. Suggest they just type in “vinyl alternative” into the search field.
I wish I were that clever. Discourse stinks, pasting search links doesn’t always work. Oh well that’s what I get for being helpful. Yeah what @rpegg said.
1 Like
done ty
1 Like
i deleted the settings on the post
2 Likes
There are Vinyls that do not contain chlorine, the settings were and are good for them… Just need to be hyper-aware of what you put in your Forge.
2 Likes
You can do a search for “PU vinyl” and come up with quite a few places that have polyurethane vinyl. I think most, if not all, are heat transfer vinyls for clothing and such, but those SHOULD be safe. Still need to verify that there is no PVC in them before trying though.
2 Likes
Thank you for leaving this post up. I have a piece of PVC vinyl sticker in my GF right now, but didn’t want to cut it until I did some research. Saved me big time.
14 Likes