User:Ssstephen/lasercutting-paper
This is a table of laser cutting tests with paper in the WDKA digital lab. Paper is really temperamental so the power and speed settings really need to be fine tuned. Also its generally better to cut one sheet at a time or else you will go on fire.
Best starting point:
If you have never used the laser cutter at all read this page first: https://static.mywdka.nl/materialstation/lasercutter/
When you're ready to test your paper, copy the settings from LS025 below for cutting and etching paper around 150gms. Then tweak it to suit your paper better, the aim is to get a good cut/etch but not take too long. It you are looking for a more specific paper maybe it is somewhere else in the table. And if you like add your tests here to make it easier for the next person :)
| Test ID | Machine | Material | Settings | Cut | Etch | Runtime | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thickness | Power | Speed | PPI | Z-axis | Flow | Power | Speed | PPI | Z-axis | Flow | ||||
| LS025 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Cream paper from college (final bookmarks) | 0.5mm | 50% | 40% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | 20% | 100% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | 00:08:49 |
All the tests
| Test ID | Date | Machine | Material | File | Settings | Cut | Kisscut | Etch | Runtime | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thickness | Used | Power | Speed | PPI | Z-axis | Flow | Result | Used | Power | Speed | PPI | Z-axis | Flow | Result | Used | Power | Speed | PPI | Z-axis | Flow | Result | ||||||
| LS001 | 20221115 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Paperpicks A3 160gsm Coloured Card Red | perforation1.svg | 0.5mm | y | 35% | 80% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Didnt cut through. Alignment on printer is not in the corner, but right and down a little | y | 20% | 50% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Quite faint but consistent, no gaps | n | 45% | 100% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | ||
| LS002 | 20221115 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Paperpicks A3 160gsm Coloured Card Red | perforation1.svg | 1mm | y | 35% | 80% | 500 | 1mm | 100% | Still didnt cut through, not much noticable difference from LS001 | y | 20% | 50% | 500 | 1mm | 100% | Quite faint but consistent, no gaps, not noticably different from ls001 | n | 45% | 100% | 500 | 1mm | 100% | ||
| LS003 | 20221115 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Paperpicks A3 160gsm Coloured Card Red | perforation2.svg | 3mm | y | 35% | 80% | 500 | 3mm | 100% | Same as LS001 and LS0002, thickness is not the answer. Better svg file though | y | 20% | 50% | 500 | 3mm | 100% | Same as LS001 and LS0002, thickness is not the answer. Better svg file though | n | 45% | 100% | 500 | 3mm | 100% | ||
| LS004 | 20221115 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Paperpicks A3 160gsm Coloured Card Red | perforation4.svg | 0.5mm | y | 70% | 80% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | These cuts were soooo much better than LS001 to LS003. Much better file too as it is way faster, with less perforation marks. Some small areas not cut the whole way through | y | 70% | 80% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | A little too heavy, some cut through in parts of the bed | n | 45% | 100% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | 00:05:39 | |
| LS005 | 20221115 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Paperpicks A3 160gsm Coloured Card Green | perforation3.svg | 0.5mm | y | 70% | 80% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Aligned flush left and 2mm from top, that was not compensated enough. maybe 4mm down and 2mm to the right next time. This file is fast in the cutting part and very pretty/efficient | y | 40% | 50% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Pretty good, dark contrast no cut through | y | 45% | 100% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Really consistent, no cut through, but a bit light it would be nicer if it burned for contrast | 00:04:04 |
| LS006 | 20221115 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Paperpicks A3 160gsm Coloured Card Green | perforation3a.svg | 0.5mm | y | 90% | 80% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Alignment still wrong, 4mm and 2mm. Next time will try 3mm 1.5 and if that doesnt work switch to file 4. Cut was good but a lot of burning on the back | y | 40% | 50% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Same as LS005 | y | 60% | 100% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Like LS005 quite light but nice quality | 00:03:03 |
| LS007 | 20221115 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Paperpicks A3 160gsm Coloured Card Green | perforation3a.svg | 0.5mm | y | 70% | 60% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Alignment good I thing thats 3mm from the top and -1mm from the left (according to the rulers). Cut better than LS006 but still a small bit of burning | y | 40% | 50% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Same as LS006 | y | 80% | 100% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Heavier than LS006 and darker, better | 00:03:03 |
| LS008 | 20221115 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Paperpicks A3 160gsm Coloured Card Yellow | perforation3a.svg | 0.5mm | y | 60% | 50% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Alignment could have been 0.2mm to the right. Try -0.3mm. Cut was very similar to LS007, still burned through | y | 40% | 50% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Same as before. Looks good on the yellow paper | y | 100% | 100% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Etch was too heavy lots of show through. Also starts to get a little blurry | 00:03:03 |
| LS009 | 20221115 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Paperpicks A3 160gsm Coloured Card Yellow | perforation3a.svg | 0.5mm | y | 50% | 40% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Good alignment, -0.5mm from the left, 3mm from the top, using rulers | y | 40% | 50% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | y | 90% | 100% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Still some cut through | 00:03:03 | |
| LS010 | 20221115 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Paperpicks A3 160gsm Coloured Card Orange | perforation4.svg | 0.5mm | y | 50% | 40% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Same settings as LS009 but with a different file, only etch changed | y | 40% | 50% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | n | 80% | 100% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | 00:05:39 | ||
| LS011 | 20221116 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Windsor Newton Tints Pastel grained surface 160gsm Brown, striped side up | perforation3a.svg | 0.5mm | y | 50% | 40% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Maybe the best cut so far, very little burning. Like everything previously, there is a lot more burning in the bottom right corner, maybe this is to do with focus? Maybe the print bed is dirty? | y | 40% | 50% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Looks lovely on this paper which browns well, but a little too strong as it came through in a few places (very few! much closer than the etching for example) | y | 80% | 100% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Like the kisscut, looks great on this paper. Cut through in quite a few places though so needs to be gentler | 00:03:03 |
| LS012 | 20221116 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Windsor Newton Tints Pastel grained surface 160gsm Cream, hammered side up | perforation3a.svg | 0.5mm | y | 50% | 40% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | This light paper burns really dark and looks great, even on the edges. Again burn marks bottom right like LS011 and previous | y | 40% | 50% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | A few holes, so slightly too strong. Also the colour of the cut varies on the front, as this paper goes black when exposed to the laser for longer (or multiple times?) | y | 80% | 100% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | The etch is visible from the back, but no holes. I think this was quite successful | 00:03:03 |
| LS013 | 20221116 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Acetate and brown waxed paper (two sheets, i think the brown was the back of the acetate pad) | perforation3a.svg | 0.5mm | y | 50% | 40% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | The acetate melted rather than burnt, looks really cool. The paper is so light that I needed to pause the cutter and put some weights along the edges (offcuts from the bin). Watch the heights of the weights, as the laser comes down close to the page. The brown page underneath didnt cut through very consistently, but I wonder if it helped the acetate to cut well somehow. | y | 40% | 50% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Looks great, but mostly because it actually cut the whole way through in most places. | y | 80% | 100% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Doesnt look nice, but this is mostly because this corner of the page lifted off the print bed and I think the laser was out of focus. Although maybe interesting because the paper bubbled in weird ways. | 00:03:03 |
| LS014 | 20221116 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Found card: corrugated shoe box from www.sacha.shoes, white on one side black on the other. Approx 1.5mm deep. White side up. | perforation5-20mm-squares.svg | 3mm (used digilab corrugated card preset, need to check details of this) | y | Quite close to correct, maybe needs to be slightly stronger because some cuts didnt quite make it through the bottom layer (paper printed black) | n | n | 00:10:00 | |||||||||||||||||
| LS015 | 20221123 | VLS 6.6 (big cutter) | Found paper: jazz festival poster, printed side down | perforation5-20mm-squares.svg | 0.5mm | y | 50% | 40% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Smells really bad after I took it out. Problem with found paper you dont know what's in it. | n | n | 00:17:04 | ||||||||||||
| LS016 | 20221123 | VLS 6.6 (big cutter) | Found paper: jazz festival poster, printed side down | perforation5-20mm-squares.svg | 0.5mm | y | 50% | 60% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Still a bit stinky but not as bad | n | 00:17:04 | |||||||||||||
| LS017 | 20221123 | VLS 6.6 (big cutter) | Found paper: jazz festival poster, printed side up | perforation5-20mm-squares.svg | 0.5mm | y | 50% | 100% | 250 | 0.5mm | 100% | Why is the speed the same for all of these? | n | 00:17:04 | |||||||||||||
| LS018 | 20221123 | VLS 6.6 (big cutter) | Found paper: jazz festival poster, printed side down | perforation5-20mm-squares.svg | 0.5mm (throughput +3) | y | 50% | 100% | 250 | 0.5mm | 100% | n | 00:17:04 | ||||||||||||||
| LS019 | 20221123 | VLS 6.6 (big cutter) | Windsor Newton Tints Pastel grained surface 160gsm brown, hammered side up | perforation6- bookmarks.svg | various | y | various | various | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | n | disaster. | unfinished | |||||||||||||
| LS020 | 20221123 | VLS 6.6 (big cutter) | Windsor Newton Tints Pastel grained surface 160gsm white, hammered side up | perforation6- bookmarks.svg | various | y | 40% | 80% | 500 | 0.1mm | poifecto nearly, very few burn marks | n | y | 30% | 100% | 500 | 0.1mm | Really nice on all text except the bold titles, not clear enough font for this | |||||||||
| LS021 | 20221123 | VLS 6.6 (big cutter) | The Plague by Albert Camus | moss.svg | 12mm | y | 40% I think | 60% I think | 500 | 12mm | Worked pretty well, had to lower the platten. The cover wasnt completely flat so some focus issues. Alignment a bit tricky too. A test on the back that was too strong went through a lot of pages which was interesting | ||||||||||||||||
| LS022 | 20221205 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Blue and green a4 copier paper | perforation7-bookmarks.svg | 0.5mm | y | 30% | 100% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Cool, needs to be so gentle for such thin paper | n | y | 5% | 100% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | I think anything would cut this paper. Very little burning especially on the blue | unfinished | ||||||
| LS023 | 20221205 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Cream paper from college (final bookmarks) | perforation7-bookmarks.svg | 0.5mm | y | 75% | 40% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | too strong lots of burn marks. Did need to be a lot stronger than above | n | y | 20% | 100% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Nice, needed to be stronger than above | unfinished | ||||||
| LS024 | 20221205 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Cream paper from college (final bookmarks) | perforation7-bookmarks.svg | 0.5mm | y | 50% | 40% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | n | y | 20% | 100% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | 00:18:03 | ||||||||
| LS025 | 20221205 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Cream paper from college (final bookmarks) | perforation8-bookmarks.svg | 0.5mm | y | 50% | 40% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | This is hopefully a faster cut because it has less raster | n | y | 20% | 100% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | 00:08:49 | |||||||
| LS026 | 20221205 | PLS 4.75 (small cutter) | Cream paper from college (final bookmarks) | perforation8-bookmarks.svg (kiss only) | 0.5mm | y | 50% | 40% | 500 | 0.5mm | 100% | Just kiss cut for speed | n | n | 00:08:49 | ||||||||||||
| LS027 | 202303 | (publication station cutter) | Sulphate paper 250gsm | laser22.svg | 0.5mm | 100% | 20% | great stuff |