Endurance laser cutters and laser engravers can do a wide range of materials: wood, plywood, glass, stone, acrylic, felt, leather, cardboard, etc. Among this number there are some hazardous to either humans or the machine itself (Vinyl and PVC). That is why it is vital that any maker should have a list of those before choosing a material he has not worked with before.
Choosing between polycarbonate sheets (Lexan) and acrylic, pick up the latter, though they look, feel and smell like. Acrylic is one of the best materials to use with the laser. It cuts smoothly and cleanly, while polycarbonate easily catches fire producing soot that ruins the optics and messes up the machine. Its combustion products are very hazardous to the health of people nearby.
To be sure of your choice test the sample first. Acrylic is not very flexible, while polycarbonate is slightly bendable.
The latest laser cutting / engraving guide is available on our Google Drive.
If you want us to make any tests – let us know or add your parameters and parameters in the table below
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Fiber emitter Raycus 30W + Endurance DIY galvo machine
| Material | Speed mm/s | Power, % | Loops |
| Laser engraving | |||
| Acrylic 25 mm Engraved inside | 800 | 100 | 3 |
| Aluminum | 2000 | 100 | 1 |
| Laser cutting | |||
| Titanium 0.15 mm | 20 | 100 | 10 |
| Anodized aluminum 0.2mm | 20 | 100 | 5 |
| Copper 0.2 mm | 20 | 100 | 10 |
| Stainless steel 0.1 | 400 pouring 0.05 mm 8000 | 100 20 | 20 cycles |
Getting color engraving (YETI colors) on titanium plate
| Color | Speed mm/s | Power, % | Loops |
| Polishing | 1500 | 100 | 1 |
| 1 | 400 | 100 | 1 |
| 2 | 400 | 100 | 2 |
| 3 | 400 | 100 | 3 |
| 4 | 400 | 100 | 4 |
| 5 | 600 | 100 | 1 |
| 6 | 600 | 100 | 2 |
| 7 | 600 | 100 | 3 |
| 8 | 600 | 100 | 4 |
Endurance 4 watt DPSSL installed on a DIY galvo machine
| Material | Speed mm/s | Power, % | Loops |
| black PLA plastic | 1800 | 70 | 1 |
| Removing paint from wood | 1000 | 100 | 2 |
Endurance 10 watt DPSSL installed on a DIY galvo machine
| Material | Speed, mm/s | Power, % | Loops |
| Black PLA plastic | 1500 | 50 | 1 |
| granite | 250 | 100 | 1 |
| Engraving in 4 mm acrylic | 500 800 | 50 50 | 4 4 |
| black glass | 600 | 40 | 3 |
| Engraving on jewelry | 500 | 30 | 1 -2 |
| Removing toner from paper | 500 | 100 | 4+ |
An Endurance Co2 40W frame
| Material | Speed, mm/min | Power, % | Additionally |
| Cutting | |||
| Plywood 3mm | 350 | 100 | + airflow |
| Acrylic 3mm : cutting engraving | 380 10000 | 100 20 | +blowing +hood |
| Acrylic 6 mm Cutting engraving | 300 8000 | 100 45 | +blowing +hood |
| Glass Engraving Paint removal | 10000 | 25 | Frequency 0,1mm |
| Acrylic 4mm, surface-painted black | 500 | 100, on relay down | exhaust, airflow, painted layer up, focus 5mm |
| Acrylic 6mm | 70 | 100, on relay position down | Focus 5mm to surface Airflow to minimum |
| Engraving rubber for stamps | |||
Endurance 10W water cooled laser
| Material | Speed, mm/min | Power, % | Additionally |
| Plywood 3mm | 400 | 95% | 3 passes + airflow |
| Black acrylic | 300 | 95% | 4 passes |
| Purple acrylic | 300 | 95% | 4 passes |
Endurance 10 watt PLUS PRO laser
| Material | Speed, mm/min | Power, % | Additionally |
| Plywood 3mm | 300 | 99% | 3 passes + airflow |
| Stainless steel engraved | 10 | 99% | – |
| Wood 10mm | 300 | 99% | Long focus lens only. First 30 passes, then lower by 5mm and another 30 passes. |
Endurance 15 watt DIY DUOS
| Material | Speed, mm/min | Power, % | Additionally |
| Plywood 3mm | 200 | 95% | 2 passes + airflow |
Endurance 10 watt SE laser module
| Material | Speed, mm/min | Power, % | Additionally |
| Plywood 3mm | 200 | 95% | 2 passes + airflow |
Endurance laser beam combiner (5.5 watt SainSmart + 5.5 watt Ortur)
| Material | Speed, mm/min | Power, % |
| Laser cutting | ||
| Plywood 3mm density 0.7 g/cm3 | 280 x 3 repetitions | 100% |
| Leather 2mm | 600 | 100% |
| Craft paper | 1500 | 60% |
| Laser engraving | ||
| Plywood 3mm density 0.7 g/сm3 | 1500 | 36% |
| Leather 2mm | 1500 | 15% |
| Stainless steel | 180 | 100% |
Ortur laser master 2 (5.5 watt laser)
| Material | Speed, mm/min | Power, % |
| Plywood 3mm density 0.7 g/cm3 cutting | 100 x 4 repetitions | 100 |
| Leather 2mm cutting | 220 | 100 |
| Stainless steel engraving | 50 | 100 |
Endurance DPSS 2 laser beams: 1064 +532 nm
| Material | Speed, mm/min | Power, % |
| Stainless steel (unique marking) | 10 | 10% |
| Engraving on titanium color (out of focus) | from 500 to 1500 | from 10% to 100% |
Cardboard cutting
We recommend cutting these materials only if you have an industrial air ventilation system!
Cutting and engraving can be done only at the user’s risk.
WARNING: Because many plastics are dangerous to cut, it is important to know what kind you are planning to use.
| Material | DANGER! | Cause/Consequence |
| PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride)/vinyl/ pleather/artificial leather | Emits chlorine gas | The released chlorine gas will ruin the optics, the motion control system, causes the metal of the machine to corrode. |
| Thick ( >1mm ) Polycarbonate/ Lexan | Cuts very poorly, discolors, inflames | Polycarbonate absorbs infrared radiation! This is the frequency of light the laser cutter uses to cut materials, so it is very ineffective at cutting polycarbonate. |
| ABS | Melts / Cyanide | ABS does not cut well in a laser cutter. It tends to melt rather than vaporize, and has a higher chance of catching on fire and leaving behind melted gooey deposits on the vector cutting grid. It also does not engrave well (again, tends to melt). Cutting ABS plastic emits hydrogen cyanide, which is unsafe at any concentration. |
| HDPE/milk bottle plastic | Catches fire and melts | It melts. It gets gooey. It catches fire. |
| PolyStyrene Foam | Catches fire | It catches fire quickly, burns rapidly, it melts, and only thin pieces cut. This is the #1 material that causes laser fires!!! |
| PolyPropylene Foam | Catches fire | Like PolyStyrene, it melts, catches fire, and the melted drops continue to burn and turn into rock-hard drips and pebbles. |
| Epoxy | burn / smoke | Epoxy is an aliphatic resin, strongly cross-linked carbon chains. A CO2 laser can’t cut it, and the resulting burned mess creates toxic fumes ( like cyanide! ). Items coated in Epoxy, or cast Epoxy resins must not be used in the laser cutter. ( see Fiberglass ) |
| Fiberglass | Emits fumes | It’s a mix of two materials that cant’ be cut. Glass (etch, no cut) and epoxy resin (fumes) |
| Coated Carbon Fiber | Emits noxious fumes | A mix of two materials. Thin carbon fiber mat can be cut, with some fraying – but not when coated. |
| Any foodstuff ( such as meat, seaweed ‘nori’ sheets, cookie dough, bread, tortillas… ) | The laser is not designed to cut food, and people cut things that create poisonous/noxious substances such as wood smoke and acrylic smoke. | If you want to cut foodstuffs, consider sponsoring a food-only laser cutter for the space that is kept as clean as a commercial kitchen would require. |
| Material with Sticky Glue Backing | Coats lens, cracks lens | There are many normally laserable items such as thin wood laminates that you can purchase that become un-cuttable when the manufacturer adds a layer of peel-off glue on the bottom to attach them to surfaces. Examples include cork tiles, thin wood laminate, acrylic tiles, and paper stickers. Never cut these materials in the laser cutter if they have this backing. The glue will vaporize forming a coating on the lens that will coat it, cloud it, heat it, and then potentially crack the lens. The glue residue is worse than resin, and can’t be removed without risking damage to the lens … requiring a lens replacement. |
Safe & Unsafe Materials for the Laser Cutter
Safe Materials
The laser can cut or etch. The materials that the laser can cut materials like wood, paper, cork, and some kinds of plastics. Etching can be done on almost anything, wood, cardboard, aluminum, stainless steel, plastic, marble, stone, tile, and glass.
Cutting
| Material | Max thickness | Notes | WARNINGS! |
| Many woods | 1/4″ | Avoid oily/resinous woods | Be very careful about cutting oily woods, or very resinous woods as they also may catch fire. |
| Plywood/Composite woods | 1/4″ | These contain glue, and may not laser cut as well as solid wood. | |
| MDF/Engineered woods | 1/4″ | These are okay to use but may experience a higher amount of charring when cut. | |
| Paper, card stock | thin | Cuts very well on the laser cutter, and also very quickly. | |
| Cardboard, carton | thicker | Cuts well but may catch fire. | Watch for fire. |
| Cork | 1/8″ | Thin cork can be cut, but the quality of the cut depends on the thickness and quality of the cork. Engineered cork has a lot of glue in it, and may not cut as well. | Avoid cutting thicker cork (5mm). Engraves well, cuts poorly. |
| Acrylic/Lucite/Plexiglas/PMMA | 1/2″ | Cuts extremely well leaving a beautifully polished edge. | |
| Thin Polycarbonate Sheeting (<1mm) | <1mm | Very thin polycarbonate can be cut, but tends to discolor badly. Extremely thin sheets (0.5mm and less) may cut with yellowed/discolored edges. Polycarbonate absorbs IR strongly, and is a poor material to use in the laser cutter. | Watch for smoking/burning |
| Delrin (POM) | thin | Delrin comes in a number of shore strengths (hardness) and the harder Delrin tends to work better. Great for gears! | |
| Kapton tape (Polyimide) | 1/16″ | Works well, in thin sheets and strips like tape. | |
| Mylar | 1/16″ | Works well if it’s thin. Thick mylar has a tendency to warp, bubble, and curl | Gold coated mylar will not work. |
| Solid Styrene | 1/16″ | Smokes a lot when cut, but can be cut. | Keep it thin. |
| Depron foam | 1/4″ | Used a lot for hobby, RC aircraft, architectural models, and toys. 1/4″ cuts nicely, with a smooth edge. | Must be constantly monitored. |
| Gator foam | Foam core gets burned and eaten away compared to the top and bottom hard paper shell. | Not a fantastic thing to cut, but it can be cut if watched. | |
| Cloth/felt/hemp/cotton | They all cut well. Our lasers can be used in lace-making. | Not plastic coated or impregnated cloth! | |
| Leather/Suede | 1/8″ | Leather is very hard to cut, but can be if it’s thinner than a belt (call it 1/8″). Our “Advanced” laser training class covers this. | Real leather only! Not ‘pleather’ or other imitations .. they are made of PVC. |
| Magnetic Sheet | Cuts beautifully | ||
| NON-CHLORINE-containing rubber | Fine for cutting. | Beware chlorine-containing rubber! | |
| Teflon (PTFE) | thin | Cuts OK in thin sheets. See https://www.ulsinc.com/materials/teflon ; the issues listed in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer_fume_fever should not matter because our lasers are fully vented and exhausted. | |
| Carbon fiber mats/weave that has not had epoxy applied | Can be cut, very slowly. | You must not cut carbon fiber that has been coated!! | |
| Coroplast (‘corrugated plastic’) | 1/4″ | Difficult because of the vertical strips. Three passes at 80% power, 7% speed, and it will be slightly connected still at the bottom from the vertical strips. |
Etching
All the above “cuttable” materials can be etched, in some cases very deeply.
In addition, you can etch:
| Material | Notes | WARNINGS! |
| Glass | Green seems to work best…looks sandblasted. | Flat glass should be engraved in our cutter as we have no rotary device. Round or cylindrical objects like bottles or glasses will have distortion. |
| Ceramic tile | ||
| Anodized aluminum | Vaporizes the anodization away. | |
| Painted/coated metals | Vaporizes the paint away. | |
| Stone, Marble, Granite, Soapstone, Onyx. | Gets a white “textured” look when etched. | 100% power, 50% speed or less works well for etching. |
Laser Marking
Cermark is the brand name of a marking compound containing molybdenum that costs ~$50-100 for a 12oz spray can, which can be sprayed onto stainless steel, brass, aluminum, copper, nickel, glass or light-colored stone/tile before being etched to leave behind a permanent dark black mark. Some people have had some luck using dry moly lube spray to the same effect. It is thought that the molybdenum sulfate in the dry lube breaks down to molybdenum which either oxidizes or reacts with the underlying surface to create the mark.
was made based on https://cpl.org/ data
Cutting 15 mm dark foam (Eva-foam)
Read full laser cutting guidance (PDF)
Full guidance of laser cutting / engraving parameters (PDF)
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Florian Kelsh from Fizzle Grafix
Plywood laser cutting and making a nice piece of art using 10 watt Endurance laser
Learn more about wood and plywood cutting >>>
High-quality standard
Multi-level testing system.
Industrial components.
Ultra reliable
The guaranteed duration of the continuous operation ~48-72 hours.
True continuous power output
Our products have the rated power output as advertised – unlike Chinese analogues.
TTL mode
Can be turned on and off with 3.5-24V.
Variable power output.
Plug and play
Universal and compatible mount.
Compatible with most 3D printers and CNC machines.
Friendly return policy
Do not like the laser?
Simply return within 30 days and get a full refund.
Real-time advice
We assist and give advice by Phone / Email / Facebook messenger / Telegram / Whatsapp / Viber.
Professional support
We help to install and tune the laser. We offer qualified after-sales support.
Everything you need
We ship everything you need in one parcel to get started.
Immediate delivery
We ship all units within 4-24 hours. DHL express delivery allows you to get the package in 3-5 days.
Lifetime warranty
All our lasers are tested and could work up to 10000 hours.
Upgrade option
Do you have an old model? Upgrade your unit with more powerful one.
Video available upon request. Just email to gf@EnduranceRobots.com or text: 12393020053 [whatsapp, viber, telegram, wechat]
