Laser Materials and Settings

Narwhal Labs Laser Material and Settings Library

A library of known materials and laser settings that have been tested to work at Narwhal Labs on a Thunder Laser Nova 35 100W CO2 Laser Cutter and Engraver. Settings are not guaranteed to work and should be considered a baseline. Please add to or update this page if you test a new known material. Please obey all safety protocols listed on our main laser information page.

Never Ever Cut These Things

Material	Also Known As	Reason
PVC	Poly Vinyl Chloride, Sintra, Oracal Vinyl, Pleather	Emits deadly chlorine gas, corrodes machine internals
Rubber		Smells like a tire fire. Potential cyanide gas.
Polypropylene		Melty plastic mess
Carbon Plate		Melty mess
Unknown	Anything you don't know the composition of	Risk of fire, damage, injury or death.

Wood

Material	Thickness	Cut/Fill/Image	Power (%)	Speed (mm/s)	Passes	Notes
Ozark Trail Tumbler	NA	Image	40	300	1	Requires clean up
Baltic Birch Plywood	6mm	Fill	25	100	1	Dark/deep image. Can dial back.
Baltic Birch Plywood	6mm	Line	60	15	2	Mostly cut through with some areas that need to be trimmed with a razor
Baltic Birch Plywood	6mm	Line	20	200	1	Good quality line engraving
Baltic Birch Plywood	9	Line	95	10	1	Should be a complete cut with proper focus. Work piece should be a few mm closer to the cutting head than auto focus distance.
Glass	NA	Fill	20	300	1	Shallow engraving, clear image
Glass	NA		50	800	1	Shallow engraving, clear image
Paper Micarta	4.45mm	Cut	60	15	1	Complete cut. Residue at cut edge can be cleaned easily with acetone / alcohol mix.

Plastics

Other