What is Draftboard and how can I buy it in the E.U.?

I love draftboard. I wish I could get it sent to me in Scandanavia, but there’s no international shipping on materials. I buy my own wood and cut it myself, and use masking tape when necessary to keep the smoke off.

I’d love to find draftboard equivalent here overseas. But what it is it and more importantly how do I ask for it? Found an earlier thread that discussed “Draftboard— Exactly what is it?” but this failed to give enough answers to be able to find it. Does anyone know? Perhaps someone on staff at Glowforge can be so kind as to answer?

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MDF: Wikipedia

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It’s like MDF… but with laser safe glues and consistent. I hope you do find something with similar properties… or even the same stuff.

More accurately, I’d say that it is MDF, but certified laser safe. If you procure your own, you’ll need to research the burn safety yourself.

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It’s also a particular repeatable density of MDF. Whatever you settle on, try to standardize not only on the shop but the manufacturer and variety if possible. (Or get enough panels and cut them down to last for the foreseeable future. :wink: )

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Make sure you really like them! The best MDF shouldn’t burn “ashy”, but have smooth brown cut edges and pleasant smelling smoke.

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Thanks! My local wood dealer has mdf that is a dark brown that Glowforge’s. It seems to cut fine, but engraving is not as good because of the darker background material. I’ll keep looking for some lighter mdf.

Is it perhaps tempered hardboard? I like that for some applications, but it’s definitely not great for score or engrave detail, unless perhaps you were to paint it first.

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Sorry, I meant to write “darkER” brown. Well, without the capital letters in there. The mdf is the color of corrugated cardboard.

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Good thought.

A lot of times you’ll run into nomenclature issues in what products are called in the US vs overseas.

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