Special material (1/16" wood sheet)

Can Pololu laser cut 1/16" wood sheet? The thinnest sheet on the material list is 1/8".

Hello,

Thank you for your interest in our laser cutting. Yes, we can cut 1/16" wood sheets (we can cut thinner material also, such as a sheet of paper). Here are some issues with laser cutting and laser-cut wood to keep in mind:

  • We stock a variety of plastics, but we currently stock only birch plywood (in 1/16", 1/8" and 1/4" thicknesses). If you prefer a different type of wood, you would have to ship us some, have a supplier ship directly to us, or have us order it for you. Please contact us to discuss what you are looking for before sending any material.
  • Depending on the wood type and quality, there can be different degrees of charring, which can often be sanded away.
  • The back side of laser-cut wood tends to have more markings than the top due to the laser bouncing off of the metal cutting grid and hitting the back of the material, and from residues from previously cut material on the laser cutting bed getting on the back of the wood.
  • If you prefer to minimize char marks and laser bounce-back marks, we can try masking the wood with a low-tack masking paper, which might help a bit (but could add to your cost depending on the job size).
  • If the wood has knots in it some of the parts might not get cut through properly if the knots are much denser than the rest of the wood. Also, thin wood tends not to lay very flat, so the laser cannot stay in focus, which might cause problems with yield as well. So, if you ship us your material we will ask you to send some extra, and if we order it for you, we will order extra just in case.
  • Here is a page you should read about our capabilities and limitations: https://www.pololu.com/docs/0J24/4
  • That above page is part of our laser cutting guide, which you can see at: https://www.pololu.com/docs/0J24
  • You can see some examples of wood laser cutting on our web site:
    https://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/749/pictures
    https://www.pololu.com/docs/0J24/6.b
    https://www.pololu.com/docs/0J30/2

If you do not have experience with wood laser cutting please do give us a call to talk to a laser cutting representative about what you are looking for.

I hope this helps!

- Candice

1 Like

Great! birch ply works for me. I just specify this on the quote page?

Yes; please go to the “Material Selection” table at https://www.pololu.com/laserquote/new and select the material for which the “Notes” column reads: 1/16" baltic birch plywood; 24" x 12" sheet size stocked in small quantities.

(A bug in our system causes the thickness of that wood to be listed as 0.06", but to confirm, our supplier sells the wood as 1/16" nominal, NOT 0.06".)

- Candice