One guide per material for laser engraving and cutting: what actually matters in the settings, the risks to know about, and how to finish the part. The numbers themselves come from settings published by the community, machine by machine.
A setting is only meaningful together with the machine, the laser source and the thickness it was tested on. A 10 W diode needs two or three passes where a 40 W CO2 goes through in one, and poplar plywood cuts faster than birch. Always start from a setting published for your exact machine, then validate it on a scrap piece.
The guides also cover materials that must never be lasered — PVC, raw ABS, PTFE, polycarbonate, carbon fibre, epoxy resin — and explain why no acceptable setting exists for them: hydrochloric acid, cyanide or chromium fumes, machine corrosion and fire risk.
Black and coloured acrylic: laser engraving and cutting — Unlike clear acrylic, black or coloured acrylic absorbs blue light: it therefore cuts with a diode as well as a CO2. It is the most versatile plastic in the workshop, and the one that gives the most legible engraving.
Solid oak: laser engraving and cutting — Oak is a hard, dense, high-contrast wood: engraving comes out deep brown, almost black. Its irregular grain and tannins, however, make it markedly less predictable than plywood.
Bamboo: laser engraving and cutting — Bamboo is the material of cutting boards, coasters and gift objects: very dense, pale, and giving a warm brown engraving contrast that people love. It needs a little more power than ordinary wood.
Felt and wool: laser cutting — Felt cuts with a sharpness scissors cannot match, and the edge is heat-sealed so it does not fray. Provided you can tell real wool from synthetic felt.
Cotton and denim: laser engraving and cutting — A laser does two very different things on cotton: cut pieces with clean edges, and above all bleach denim to create patterns — an effect impossible to achieve otherwise at this level of detail.
Corrugated cardboard: laser cutting — Corrugated cardboard is the prototyping material: free, available everywhere, it lets you validate a cut before committing plywood. It is also the most fire-prone.
Brass: laser marking — Brass marks with a fibre laser in very fine detail, ideal for plates, tags and watchmaking. It is also one of the most reflective metals: safety becomes very concrete here.
PVC and vinyl: why you must never laser them — PVC is the one material on this list with a definitive answer: you do not engrave it, you do not cut it, at any power on any machine. This is not a settings question but a chemical one.
Birch plywood: laser engraving and cutting — Birch plywood is the king of laser cutting: dense, regular and free of through-knots, it gives clean edges and high-contrast engraving. It is also the best starting point when learning to dial in a machine.
MDF: laser engraving and cutting — MDF is homogeneous, cheap and perfectly flat: ideal for jigs, models and anything that will be painted. In exchange, it is the material that dirties a machine the most and demands the best extraction.
Clear acrylic (PMMA): laser engraving and cutting — Cast acrylic is the material that gives the most beautiful CO2 laser results: a clear, glass-like polished edge with no finishing at all. But it demands the right source — and it does not cut with a blue diode.
Veg-tan leather: laser engraving and cutting — Veg-tan leather engraves beautifully: the laser darkens the grain without gouging it, giving a crisp, durable mark prized in leatherwork. Provided you pick the right hide.
Slate: laser engraving — Slate is the most forgiving material of all: engraving appears bright white on black with instant contrast and almost no way to get it wrong. Perfect for coasters, signs and personalised gifts.
Glass: laser engraving — Glass is CO2-laser engraved by frosting the surface: the result is a milky white finish, like sandblasting. It is a demanding material where almost every defect comes from too much energy.
Anodised aluminium: laser marking — Anodised aluminium is the easiest metal to mark: the laser removes the coloured anodised layer and reveals the bright aluminium beneath. A crisp, permanent mark, achievable even with a diode.
Stainless steel: laser marking — Stainless steel marks with a fibre laser at a precision no other process matches: deep engraving, black marking or even colour marking, depending on the energy applied. This is strictly 1064 nm territory.
Cork: laser engraving and cutting — Cork works fast and at low power: a pleasant material for coasters, pin boards and gaskets. Its low density is both its advantage and its main risk.
Cardstock: laser cutting and engraving — Cardstock is the material for fine cutting: invitations, templates, models, fretwork impossible by hand. It needs almost no power, but forgives very little.
Poplar plywood: laser engraving and cutting — Poplar plywood is the lightest and cheapest plywood: perfect for models, prototypes and large cuts. In exchange it is far less consistent than birch.
Okoume plywood: laser engraving and cutting — Okoume is an African exotic plywood: light, soft and very even-grained. It is the plywood of model makers and boat builders: it cuts more easily than birch at the same thickness, but it forgives focus errors less, because its surface marks immediately.
Mahogany: laser engraving and cutting — Mahogany is a dense exotic wood, red-brown, with a tight and even grain. It is one of the finest engraving supports: the dark laser contrast on the red tone gives a warmth that plywood cannot imitate. In exchange it is slower to cut than soft woods, and its price means testing on an offcut is mandatory.
Teak: laser engraving and cutting — Teak is the oiliest exotic wood in the workshop: it holds a natural oil that makes it rot-proof, and that completely changes how it behaves under a laser. Engraving looks superb and very contrasted, but the oil smokes, fouls the lens and demands serious extraction.
Solid bamboo: laser engraving and cutting — Solid bamboo sold as boards is not a wood: it is a grass, glued in strips to form a panel. It engraves beautifully — a very crisp dark brown on a light, even background — but it cuts poorly, because of its silica content and the glue joints between strips.
Beech: laser engraving and cutting — Beech is a hard wood with a very fine, even grain: the best solid wood for detailed engraving, especially on turned objects, handles and toys.
Walnut: laser engraving and cutting — Walnut is the premium wood of laser engraving: dark, dense, with an elegant grain. Its quirk is counter-intuitive — the darker the wood, the more carefully engraving must be planned to stay legible.
Balsa: laser cutting — Balsa is the modelling wood: ultra light, very soft, it cuts at tiny powers and high speed. It is also one of the most flammable materials in the workshop.
Marble and granite: laser engraving — Marble and granite engrave like slate, by flaking off a thin surface layer. On dark polished stone the result is a bright, very durable white — the technique used for memorial plaques.
Glazed ceramic: laser engraving — On glazed ceramic the laser does not engrave the clay: it acts on the glaze. The mark is crisp and permanent, ideal for tiles, mugs and decorative tableware.
Laser rubber for stamps: laser engraving — Laser rubber is designed for the laser: it carves cleanly in depth, letting you make a complete rubber stamp in a single operation. It is also the smelliest material there is.
Maple: laser engraving and cutting — Maple is the reference light wood for engraving: almost white, with a very fine and even grain, it gives the strongest contrast of all solid woods. It is the support of choice for plaques, signs and personalised gifts, but its hardness makes it slow to cut.
Cherry: laser engraving and cutting — Cherry is the wood of premium pieces: a pinkish tone that darkens with age, a fine grain, and a pleasant smell when cutting. It engraves with a medium but very elegant contrast, and works more easily than oak or maple.
Basswood: laser engraving and cutting — Basswood is the favourite wood of model makers and beginner engravers: soft, light, without pronounced grain and inexpensive. It cuts fast and engraves cleanly, which makes it the best wood to learn on.
Paulownia: laser engraving and cutting — Paulownia is the lightest wood available as standard boards: three times less dense than oak, very light in colour, with a straight grain. It cuts with very little power, which makes it an excellent choice for large parts and models, at the cost of a fragile surface.
Wood veneer: laser engraving and cutting — Veneer is a sheet of real wood from 0.6 to 1 mm, used for marquetry, wooden business cards and surface facing. Its thinness changes everything: the laser goes through almost instantly, and the difficulty is not power but holding the sheet flat.
HDF: laser engraving and cutting — HDF is high-density MDF: same material, compressed further. Harder, smoother and more consistent, it engraves with crisp contrast and cuts with very clean edges — at the cost of higher power needs and heavy smoke.
Polypropylene (PP): laser cutting — Polypropylene is the safe flexible plastic for laser work: chlorine-free, it cuts with a CO2 leaving a slightly melted, smooth edge. It is the right replacement for PVC in jigs, stencils and packaging.
Delrin / POM: laser cutting — Delrin (polyoxymethylene) is the engineering plastic of mechanisms: rigid, self-lubricating, precise. It cuts with a CO2 leaving a very clean edge, making it excellent for gears and living hinges.
EVA foam: laser cutting — EVA foam is the material of cosplay, tool inserts and game mats. It cuts very easily with a laser, with a smooth heat-sealed edge no knife can match.
Two-ply ABS plate (Gravoply): laser engraving — Two-ply plate is made for engraving: a coloured surface layer over a contrasting core. The laser removes the first and reveals the second — the material of door plates, labels and workshop signage.
Synthetic leather (PU): laser cutting — Synthetic leather cuts with a laser provided it is polyurethane (PU). If it is PVC — which is very common — it must never be lasered. That is the thing to check before any setting.
PVC-free adhesive vinyl: laser cutting — PVC-free adhesive films (polypropylene or polyester) let you cut stickers and stencils with a laser safely. The word "vinyl" on the label is not enough: you need the "PVC-free" statement.
PET-G: laser engraving and cutting — PET-G is the transparent plastic of guards, covers and displays. It cuts cleanly with a CO2 but not with a diode, and unlike acrylic it does not shatter: it bends. Its edge stays slightly milky, never polished like PMMA.
Mylar and PET film: laser-cut stencils — Mylar is a thin, translucent, flexible PET film used for painting, airbrush and sandblasting stencils. It cuts very fast with a CO2 and survives dozens of uses, which makes it the most cost-effective stencil support.
Corian and solid surface: laser engraving — Corian is a mineral solid surface (acrylic resin filled with aluminium trihydrate), used for worktops and signage. A laser does not cut it, but engraves it remarkably well: the engraved bottom turns matt white, highly legible on coloured Corian.
Mirror: laser engraving from the back — A mirror is laser engraved from the back: the beam attacks the silvering layer, which disappears where it passes. The design then shows through when seen from the front, with a sharpness that engraving the glass itself cannot match.
Silicone: laser engraving and cutting — Silicone cuts with a CO2 with clean, burr-free edges, which is hard to achieve mechanically on such a flexible material. It is the material of gaskets, moulds and technical mats. Careful: only pure silicone is suitable, not filled elastomers.
Titanium: laser marking — Titanium is the metal of colour marking: depending on the energy applied, the oxide layer that forms takes blue, purple, gold or brown hues. A spectacular result, reserved for fibre sources.
Painted or lacquered steel: laser marking — On painted steel the laser works the paint, not the metal: it removes the coating to reveal bright steel underneath. This is the one case where a blue diode gives a crisp result on metal.
Metal + marking spray: CO2 or diode laser marking — Marking spray is the way to mark bare metal without a fibre source: a thin coating on the part vitrifies under the beam and bonds permanently to the metal. A CO2 or a diode is then enough.
Copper: fibre laser marking and engraving — Copper is the hardest metal to laser mark: it reflects nearly 95% of the infrared beam and conducts heat almost instantly. A fibre source is mandatory, and even then copper needs more power and more passes than steel.
Mild steel: fibre laser marking and engraving — Mild steel is the easiest and cheapest metal to mark with a fibre: it absorbs the beam well, reacts at low power and accepts both black marking and deep engraving. It is the reference material for tooling, industrial plates and mechanical parts.
Bare aluminium: fibre laser marking and engraving — Bare, non-anodised aluminium only marks with a fibre: a diode or CO2 simply skims over it. It gives a very legible grey-to-white mark and clean recessed engraving, but it conducts heat so well that thin parts distort.
PTFE / Teflon in a laser: why it is forbidden — PTFE, known as Teflon, must not be engraved or cut with a laser. When heated it releases some of the most aggressive fluorinated compounds you can produce in a workshop.
Raw ABS in a laser: why it is forbidden — Raw ABS — the material of 3D prints, enclosures and technical sheets — must not be laser-cut. It does not vaporise: it melts, sticks and gives off acrid, toxic fumes.
Polycarbonate (Lexan) in a laser: why it does not work — Polycarbonate is acrylic's false friend: same transparent look, same thickness, same shelf in the shop — but it does not laser-cut. It absorbs infrared, yellows and burns instead of cutting.
Carbon fibre in a laser: why it is forbidden — A carbon fibre sheet is not carbon: it is a fibre + resin composite. A laser does not cut the fibres cleanly and burns the resin, with serious consequences for you and the machine.
Epoxy resin and fibreglass in a laser: why it is forbidden — Epoxy resin, alone or reinforced with fibreglass (laminate, FR4 circuit board), must not be laser-cut. The resin burns, the glass fibre does not cut, and the fumes are genuinely bad.
HDPE / polyethylene: why it does not belong in a laser — HDPE — jerrycans, plastic cutting boards, thick bags — cannot be laser cut. It does not vaporise: it melts, sticks, drips and catches fire. There is no acceptable setting, whatever the machine.
Chrome-tanned leather: why it is forbidden in a laser — The vast majority of commercial leather is chrome-tanned, including furniture and automotive offcuts. In a laser, that leather releases hexavalent chromium, a recognised carcinogen. No setting makes this acceptable.
Polyurethane foam: why it is forbidden in a laser — Polyurethane foams — seat foam, packing foam, soft packaging foam — release hydrogen cyanide when burning and ignite instantly under the beam. It is one of the most dangerous materials to put in a laser machine.