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Allan Wright
12-15-2009, 2:03 PM
First, I apologize if this has been covered before, but a search hit so many threads, none of which had an obviously matching subject line.

My wife is interested in having me laser some felted wool for her on the laser for a craft project she's going to be working on, and hoping to eventually sell. For those familiar with cloth products, felted wool is different than the typical 'hobby felt' that most of us think of when we think of 'felt'. I've cut some samples of hobby felt (a mostly synthetic product I think) with decent success, but I'm waiting for my wife to produce some sample pieces of the felted wool (which I think is made from actual natural wool fibers).

So my question is, has anyone had any experience with cutting felted wool? If so what settings did you use, or better yet, which settings on a 35-watt laser would you recommend? Also, air assist or not? I'm thinking not since it will be a fibrous product and I want to minimize the chance of setting it alight.

Thanks for your answers in advance!
Allan Wright

Bjorn storoien
12-15-2009, 2:43 PM
Hi
yes i have tried and given it up because of the smell left in the woolproducts after cutting
its really bad but i havent tried to wash the smell out because these things shrink if you use hot water .

That burnt hair smell is hard to get rid off

Bjorn

Allan Wright
12-15-2009, 3:39 PM
Hmmm that is disappointing, but thank you for the quick response. I'll tell the boss!

Joe Pelonio
12-15-2009, 9:51 PM
One fabric that works really well is polar fleece, I wonder if that might be used instead of the wool felt?

Allan Wright
12-15-2009, 9:54 PM
I'll recommend that to the boss. Thanks for the suggestion.

Sarah Holbrook
12-16-2009, 12:53 AM
I'll second Bjorn's comment. I've cut 100% wool as well as a 60/40% blend and they both gave off a terrible smell. Not only will your machine stink for a while but the burnt hair smell doesn't leave the felt for a very long time. FWIW, I did not need to use air assist and I ended up with 36 power/100 speed/180 ppi on a 50W Universal 4.60. After a lot of experimenting the lower ppi gave the best cut with the least amount of burnt edge.

Andrea Weissenseel
12-16-2009, 3:03 AM
I also experimented quite a bit to cut felt (wool) the results were not too good. As already mentioned before, the smell will stick to the felt for some time plus the burned edges you get. What helps a little bit is brushing the burned edges off with i.e. a tooth brush. Polyester felt is cutting real good, the edges don't burn - but they melt - which is not too good either because it leaves them scratchy.

Andrea

Allan Wright
12-16-2009, 9:16 AM
Thanks everyone!