Laser Cutter question

[Paul Weig]

I have been trying to cut a plywood lampshade on the laser over at the St Paul Library.  For some reason the thing only etches, it doesn't cut.  The librarian who knows the most about it thought the lines were too close and the laser was limiting itself to avoid burning?!? 

Do you think the laser at hackfactory could cut the files on this instructable?   

http://www.instructables.com/id/Laser-cut-hanging-lamp/

[Mark Holden]

Especially if you are using a high grade plywood, there is a strong chance that the glue used to laminate it is fire resistant. So you can cut through only the surface ply and body further. I've run into that with nicer stuff from Rockler.

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[Scott Hill]

The nasty kinds of plywood for laser cutting:

* Cheap/low-grade exterior plywood. It tends to have knots and voids, and blobby glue application.

* Expensive/high-grade plywood. Tends to be made with fire-resistant glues, which really don’t want to vaporize when hit with the laser.

* MDF-core plywood. The outer veneer looks nice, but the interior tends to be really low-grade MDF that needs high power/low speed to cut.

Most of these can be cut, eventually, with some experimenting with power and speed. You might also be better off doing two or more passes at lower power/higher speed, rather than trying to just blast your way through in one go.

[Kelly Murphy]

Marks correct, I've run into glue issues before with the laser cutter, however I don't believe that's your issue as you say it's only etching, and not cutting.

If I understand the question correctly, your seeing that the laser will scan back and forth like an inkjet printer and burn in your cut lines instead of following your lines in a smooth fashion. 

If that's the case, Most likely the line's you want to cut are too thick, I'm not familiar with the laser cutter in the Library, so I don't know the it's limitations and such. I can saw that the laser cutter at the hack factory requires very thin lines to cut. if they are too thick the laser will only etch them and not trace the lines.

Hope that helps.

Kelly Murphy