Laser Materials and Settings
Contents
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
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