Laser cutting is an amazing technology that’s widely used today to make precise cuts on flat materials. It cuts, marks, or engraves materials like wood, acrylic, and metal by emitting a concentrated beam of light through a movable head.
This subtractive machining process is great for cutting simple to intricate designs into flat sheets of material. While there are some laser cutters that can cut material as thick as 20 mm, most machines work on materials closer to 0.5-12 mm thick, depending on what’s being cut.
This article will focus on cutting wood with laser cutters, but if you want to cut wood thicker than 20 mm, it’s best to consider using a CNC router. That’s because it will take multiple passes for a laser to cut through thick materials and won’t produce a clean cut. A CNC router can easily handle thicker materials, but it’ll produce a larger kerf (width) in exchange. (CNC routers also have the ability to carve wood while laser cutters engrave wood.)
When cutting wood with a laser, there are two primary options to choose from: CO2 and diode lasers. After providing an overview of these two types of lasers, we’ll go over safety concerns before getting into more details about lasers, what they can cut, and how much they cost. Then, we’ll talk a bit about different kinds of woods that you can cut, some pre- and post-processing information, and finally, some services that you can use if you don’t have a laser cutter.
With that, let’s jump into the lasers!
