Garolite

[Sandy Henry]

I'm unfamiliar with garolite material. Customer uses it for electronic eyelet boards. He wants me to cut it into 3 x 5" pieces. Doe's anyone know if it is laser friendly?
Thanks, Sandy

[Mike Null]

Here's some info. http://www.jjorly.com/g10_fr4_sheets_fabricator.htm

I have phenolic material on hand and engrave it with a rotary engraver. If the material your customer wants you to cut is not copper clad you can cut it with the laser. It will char so it may not be a satisfactory way to cut the material.

The material I have is Norplex so it is not the same as you are inquiring about but both have the characteristics of Micarta which would not be considered laser friendly.

Ask him for a sample.

[Dan Hintz]

You will never see satisfactory results cutting FR4/Garolite with a low-power laser... you'll want to use a mechanical cutter or a waterjet. FR4 (which stands for Flame Resistant class 4, or sometimes Flame Retardant) is specifically designed to resist fire damage, so it chars heavily rather than vaporizing. The epoxy binding the fibers contains a halogen (usually Bromine) to give it the fire-resistant property, so the off-gases are quite nasty.

[Sandy Henry]

Thanks Mike & Dan. Sounds similar to laser cutting my g-10. I'll step away from this one & not even bother taking a test cut. Thanks again, Sandy