Materials for laser cutting, Materials we can laser cut – Pololu Custom Laser User Manual
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3. Materials for Laser Cutting
We can laser cut plastics, woods, rubbers, foams, papers, and thin metals as long as they do not contain chlorine.
Depending on the material, there is usually no limit to the thinnest sheet we can cut, and the thickest sheet we can cut
is typically 1" (24 mm). We stock some woods and various plastics including acrylic, ABS, Mylar, Delrin®, PETG,
and styrene, and you are welcome to mail us material or have suppliers ship us material directly. A complete list of
materials is available on the
.
Materials we can laser cut
We can cut the following materials. If you do not see your material listed, we would be happy to try cutting it as long
as it does not contain chlorine (please submit a quote request and provide details about your material in the special
instructions section of the quote request form).
• Plastics:
◦
ABS
(acrylonitrile butadiene styrene)
◦
Acrylic
(also known as Plexiglas, Lucite, PMMA)
◦
Delrin
(POM, acetal) – for a supplier, try
.
◦ High density polyethylene (HDPE) – melts badly
◦ Kapton tape (Polyimide)
◦ Mylar (polyester)
◦ Nylon – melts badly
◦
PETG
(polyethylene terephthalate glycol)
◦ Polyethylene (PE) – melts badly
◦ Polypropylene (PP) – melts somewhat
◦ Styrene
◦ Two-tone acrylic – top color different than core material, usually for custom instrumentation panels,
signs, and plaques.
• Thin metals:
◦ Stainless steel (up to 0.060")
◦ Spring steel (up to 0.060")
• Foam:
◦ Depron foam – often used for RC planes.
◦ EPM
◦ Gator foam – foam core gets burned and eaten away compared to the top and bottom hard shell.
• Other:
◦ Cloths (leather, suede, felt, hemp, cotton)
◦ Magnetic sheets
◦ Papers
◦ Rubbers (only if they do not contain chlorine) – for a supplier, try
◦ Teflon (PTFE, Polytetrafluoroethylene) – for a supplier, try
Custom Laser Cutting Guide
© 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation
3. Materials for Laser Cutting
Page 5 of 29