Supplies for Laser Cutting..

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Alicia Testa

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Dec 5, 2014, 9:57:55 AM12/5/14
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Hi Everyone,

I was wondering where you purchase your supplies for the laser cutter?  I know of Blick art supplies that has matboard.  Anyplace else??


Thanks

Alicia 

Jeremy Sambuca

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Dec 5, 2014, 11:53:01 AM12/5/14
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Alicia,

I order a lot of our laser cutter supplies from Inventables. When items are in stock, they ship out fast.

Jeremy Sambuca
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Diego Fonstad

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Dec 5, 2014, 12:10:12 PM12/5/14
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The most economical source is to cut down 4'X8' sheets from a local hardware store to fit your laser bed.

We have tried Duron because it was recommended by some Stanford Students but I have never liked how it cuts... We have also tried MDF.  As with Duron, it is the most consistently flat product but it doesn't cut very cleanly and is hard to cut without a char.  I think Duron is basically an mdf impregnated with Linseed oil.

Traditional layered plywood is challenging because you can't be guaranteed a homogeneous layer and sometimes the laser hits a pocket of glue and can't cut through.  Places like Inventables and Woodcraft have nicer quality plywood but it gets pricy.  

My favorite product is the 5mm Purebond that can be purchased at Home Depot.  It cuts with an amber edge and is very consistent.  Purebond is also formaldehyde free (I've been told it is the same glue as Elmers glue but I haven't confirmed this) and the Home Depot version is FSC.



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Tatian Greenleaf

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Dec 5, 2014, 5:09:09 PM12/5/14
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Amazon.com usually has cheap chipboard: http://www.amazon.com/Grafix-Chipboard-12-Inch-Natural-25-Pack/dp/B0013JRFUA (about double the cost for white chipboard).

Tatian

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David Malpica

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Dec 7, 2014, 3:34:53 PM12/7/14
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I'd add that 5mm purebond will cut cleanly with a 60W epilog, but on a 40W epilog I get a black charred cut.


On Friday, December 5, 2014 9:10:12 AM UTC-8, Diego Fonstad wrote:
The most economical source is to cut down 4'X8' sheets from a local hardware store to fit your laser bed.

We have tried Duron because it was recommended by some Stanford Students but I have never liked how it cuts... We have also tried MDF.  As with Duron, it is the most consistently flat product but it doesn't cut very cleanly and is hard to cut without a char.  I think Duron is basically an mdf impregnated with Linseed oil.

Traditional layered plywood is challenging because you can't be guaranteed a homogeneous layer and sometimes the laser hits a pocket of glue and can't cut through.  Places like Inventables and Woodcraft have nicer quality plywood but it gets pricy.  

My favorite product is the 5mm Purebond that can be purchased at Home Depot.  It cuts with an amber edge and is very consistent.  Purebond is also formaldehyde free (I've been told it is the same glue as Elmers glue but I haven't confirmed this) and the Home Depot version is FSC.


On Fri, Dec 5, 2014 at 8:51 AM, Jeremy Sambuca <JSam...@hewittschool.org> wrote:
Alicia,

I order a lot of our laser cutter supplies from Inventables. When items are in stock, they ship out fast.

Jeremy Sambuca

On Dec 5, 2014, at 9:56 AM, Alicia Testa <alicia...@gmail.com<mailto:alicia...@gmail.com>> wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I was wondering where you purchase your supplies for the laser cutter?  I know of Blick art supplies that has matboard.  Anyplace else??


Thanks

Alicia

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Jason Mickelson

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Jun 6, 2015, 11:12:44 AM6/6/15
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Resurrecting an older thread to get some prices together for Fall. These are very helpful techniques for wood supplies for laser cutter. Where are you going for other materials like acrylic and paper/card? (Bay Area local or online?) It's been a while since I used acrylic on a laser but Inventables prices seem a little high to me.

Tatian Greenleaf

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Jun 7, 2015, 11:47:06 AM6/7/15
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Jason,

We purchase 24" x 36" cardboard from Uline and then cut them in half for our 24" x 18" laser cutter bed.  I usually buy chipboard from Amazon or Walmart.

Tatian

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Ryan Barnes

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Jun 7, 2015, 2:53:18 PM6/7/15
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Local acrylic suppliers are usually willing to give away scrap cuts. Here in Philly, Everything Plastic invited me to come by and dumpster dive but I never took them up on that this year. Summer adventure perhaps.

There is also this supplier on Amazon that sells packages of 12"x12" sheets that are pretty reasonable. 

Acrylic is pretty expensive no matter how you swing it, and produces much more volatile fumes than an untreated baltic birch plywood. I'm pretty happy with my $1/sheet 1/8" baltic birch from ebay. 

-Ryan

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Adam Singer

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Jun 7, 2015, 4:07:29 PM6/7/15
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In the Bay Area, your local Tap Plastic's scrap bin is a low cost gold mine. I just did a project involving thick acrylic with 25 kids for $2.

Jason Mickelson

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Jun 8, 2015, 2:37:51 AM6/8/15
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Admittedly, I will be close to Tap in SF next year. The nature of busy days/weeks/months I would rather have a good option for the stock to come to me (or pick it up only 1-3x a year). 

Love the Uline suggestion. There shipping is awesome. Totally didn't think of that for laser stock.


On Sunday, June 7, 2015 at 1:07:29 PM UTC-7, Adam Singer wrote:
In the Bay Area, your local Tap Plastic's scrap bin is a low cost gold mine. I just did a project involving thick acrylic with 25 kids for $2.

On Jun 7, 2015, at 11:53 AM, "Ryan Barnes" <ryanb...@drexel.edu> wrote:

Local acrylic suppliers are usually willing to give away scrap cuts. Here in Philly, Everything Plastic invited me to come by and dumpster dive but I never took them up on that this year. Summer adventure perhaps.

There is also this supplier on Amazon that sells packages of 12"x12" sheets that are pretty reasonable. 

Acrylic is pretty expensive no matter how you swing it, and produces much more volatile fumes than an untreated baltic birch plywood. I'm pretty happy with my $1/sheet 1/8" baltic birch from ebay. 

-Ryan
On Sun, Jun 7, 2015 at 11:46 AM, Tatian Greenleaf <tgree...@markdayschool.org> wrote:
Jason,

We purchase 24" x 36" cardboard from Uline and then cut them in half for our 24" x 18" laser cutter bed.  I usually buy chipboard from Amazon or Walmart.

Tatian
On Sat, Jun 6, 2015 at 8:12 AM, Jason Mickelson <jasonmi...@gmail.com> wrote:
Resurrecting an older thread to get some prices together for Fall. These are very helpful techniques for wood supplies for laser cutter. Where are you going for other materials like acrylic and paper/card? (Bay Area local or online?) It's been a while since I used acrylic on a laser but Inventables prices seem a little high to me.

On Friday, December 5, 2014 at 6:57:55 AM UTC-8, Alicia Testa wrote:
Hi Everyone,

I was wondering where you purchase your supplies for the laser cutter?  I know of Blick art supplies that has matboard.  Anyplace else??


Thanks

Alicia 

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Ryan Barnes
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David Malpica

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Jun 8, 2015, 2:45:42 PM6/8/15
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Ditto on TAP and ULINE.

I go to the Mountain View TAP near our school to get 1/8 and 1/4 acrylic.


I've also used taskboard which I order online but you'll need to cut it down to size. 

Wood has been the most difficult since our 40 watt laser has trouble cutting anything thicker than a 1/8th inch and warping is an issue like others have mentioned.

jumekubo

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Jun 8, 2015, 2:52:55 PM6/8/15
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While not cheap, I have had great results with this wood from Joann Fabrics:


My Full Spectrum has a 45W laser, and gets through 1/8" and 1/4" well. 

- john

Angi Chau

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Jun 8, 2015, 3:19:09 PM6/8/15
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+1 also on Uline (we buy our cardboard already precut to our laser cutter bed size 24"x18" from them) and TAP's scrap bin.

When needed for special purposes, we will order full nice sheets of acrylic from Inventables or McMaster-Carr. But a student or teacher has to give me a really convincing reason why we need this before I will agree to it. :)

If request is coming from a teacher, I usually tell him/her that we will need to split the cost with their department's budget, so they will need to get approval from their department head. Since cardboard and wood is free, this does help us manage requests for expensive acrylic and avoid wasting both the money and material when not absolutely needed.





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