Wooden dowels

[sallystaz]

Hi everyone, is the glowforge able to cut through wooden dowels? They are small, like 1/4 in and 1/3 inch diameter. I have a Pro, but so far have only used the Proofgrade materials. Thanks!

[eflyguy]

Yes.

[ekla]

You may need multiple passes at those sizes but yes

[evansd2]

^^ What they said with a caveat:

The cutoff won’t be purely flat and 90 degrees. The laser always cuts with a slight angle. Not sure what you’re doing with the dowels, but if that’s important then you’ll need to think of ways around it.

[rbtdanforth]

@sallystaz

like 1/4 in

I use bamboo skewers as they have great strength where most needed for hinges etc. At 1/8" - 1/4" size they are more easily cut with a razor or jewelers saw.

[sallystaz]

That’ll be ok, they’ll just be used as spacers between 2 wood pieces. But thanks for the added info, good to know!

[eflyguy]

Where do you get 1/8-1/4" bamboo skewers?

[dwardio]

Who knew?!?!?

https://www.amazon.com/10-3mm-Bamboo-Round-Skewer/dp/B00BQ3D7RI

https://www.amazon.com/KingSeal-Natural-Bamboo-Skewers-Diameter/dp/B08QYWHFZW

[deirdrebeth]

Definitely

I broke my dowels so they were shorter than the 20" width of the bed, but longer than the 12" I needed for my project.
Then taped them to the crumb tray with masking tape.
I then made a 1" line (it was only 3 dowels) in the GFUI, copied it, and used the ruler to move it to the exact same position but 12" over.
Hit print and they all cut through on the first pass (pretty sure I used the basswood plywood setting as that’s my default for most things!)

[bwente]

This will cut them just fine.

10 in. Japanese Style Double-Edge Saw

[sallystaz]

Thanks so much for the tips and tricks!

[eflyguy]

I have a nice Japanese (pull) saw with an extremely narrow kerf.

… but have laser, well, you should know how that goes!

[rbtdanforth]

I find a Japanese saw great to take that 12x20 sheet of scrap with that bit that is still useful down to the size of that bit that is still useful.

[trually]

That sounds much more effective than what I always end up resorting to - breaking it by hand. LOL