Archive of materials and settings I've used on the Full Spectrum 5th Gen Hobby Laser.
1/4" 5 Ply Plywood
Two thin layers of veneer with 3 ply core. Had a large sheet laying around in my garage. Only cut through with 2 passes at 14S/100P and 3 passes at 28S/100P. 4 Passes at 40S/100P worked okay but the wood is VERY charred in the center. Not good for cutting, okay for engraving.
1/8 in. x 2 ft. x 4 ft. MDF Wood from Home Depot
This stuff comes from Home Depot and is pretty cheap, $4/sheet. Power 80-90 Speed 30 works well. Engraves nicely as well. This is what I use for most prototyping.
Sidenote: to get a tight slot fitting with two pieces of this MDF, use a line with a width of 8.072pt or 2.848mm for the notch.
Jessup Skateboard Grip Tape
I cut on the paper backing side and Power 60+ Speed 100 seemed to work well. I tried to cut from the front and just cut the front grip and not through the paper backing but no such luck. Regardless it comes out well and is easy to peel afterwards.
Ripstop Nylon sticky back
Didn't write down the settings but I believe it was Power 10-15 and Speed 100. Enough to melt/cut the nylon but not go all the way through the paper backing. No Photos.
1/32″ or .9mm thick ABS plastic sheeting
It’s textured on one side and shiny on the other and cuts well at about Power 100 Speed 80-90 from either the textured or shiny side. Though it does warp if you do a lot of very close cuts quickly as you can see in the test grid.
1/4" x 2 ft. x 4 ft. Birch Project Panel Plywood from Home Depot
Here's some results from 1/4" x 2 ft. x 4 ft. Birch Project Panel Plywood that I picked up at Home Depot. It's got Birch veneer with "whitewood" core, which you can see in the first photo. Second photo is of the cut and raster tests. After that I ran a quick 3D Raster Engrave test.
For cutting with 1 pass, it looks like Power 50 Speed 14 or so works well. Rasters are also nice.
3mm-1/8" x 24" x 30" Baltic Birch Plywood from WoodCraft
The WoodCraft near my house has 3 sizes of 3mm/1/8" 3-ply Birch Plywood... the largest of which is a 24" x 30" sheet for $7.89. Not cheap but not horrible I guess. Haven't found much comparable. I've been cutting it at Power 90 Speed 42-50.
UPDATE: I've found a local wood supplier that can order 5' x 5' sheets of 3mm Birch ply and has much better quality and MUCH lower cost than I was getting from Woodcraft. 5' x 5' sheets are $9 compared to the 24" x 30" for $8 from Woodcraft. Much better. The last 3 sheets I got from Woodcraft were flakey and had so many knots in the center ply that I was using a flashlight in the dark to see the knots and try and cut around them as the laser wouldn't make it through many of them.
3mm (1/8") Acrylic from Inventables.com
I ordered a few sheets of 12x24", 1/8" thick acrylic from Inventables.com. It has paper backing on both sides and cuts extremely well. I've been cutting it at Power 90 Speed 32.
Suction Cup Tape from Inventables.com
A friend has an IndieGoGo campaign going called The Air Dock and needed some of this cut for his prototypes... so I cut about 50 mounts out for him from this pretty amazing material called Suction Cup Tape. It cuts great and with a fairly clean non melted edge at Power 70 Speed 100. Doesn't smell great however... the website says it's acrylic based so I didn't sweat it too much though I let if offgas overnight in the cutter with the suction on low.
Walnut Veneer from Inventables.com
I ordered some .03" walnut veneer with sticky back from Inventables. I'm sure not the cheapest but they are fast and reliable quality wise so just for a couple of test sheets... they'll do.
After a few test cuts and engraving it's looking like it cuts nicely at Speed 90 Power 60 and engraves well at 1000 DPI at Speed 100 Power 30.
