Laser cutter parameters cutting

These are the parameters to use when cutting various materials with my K40 laser. They have been discovered by trial and error.

Acrylic (3 mm) #

• Power: 40% (although 30% – 39% might work as well)
• Speed: 2 mm/s (you might get away with 2.5 mm/s but 3 mm/s is usually too much)

Chinese balsa wood (2 mm) #

Note: This stuff is very likely to start burning in the process. These values are not yet ideal, we might want to try going with lower power/speed and do two passes, which would be easier on the wood.

• Power: 15%
• Speed: 5 mm/s

bought from here, very fragile

Thin cardboard #

Note: This will leave some heavy soot on the material, it’s not exactly a clean cut.

• Power: 65%
• Speed: 25 mm/s
• Runs: 3

Corrugated cardboard (from Amazon boxes) #

• Power: 55%
• Speed: 25 mm/s

Paper #

• Power: 15%
• Speed: 30 mm/s

Wood #

Poplar plywood (4 mm) #

• Power: 80%
• Speed: 7 mm/s
• Air: yes
• Masking: yes