Laser cutting mat

[Brad Ports]

I thought I saw a company that was making a bed mat that you could cut on. It absorbed the laser beam. I am cutting white .040 polystyrene and using the cutting grid I am getting burn mark on the back side every time it crosses the grid and the material is too thin for a pin grid. Anybody know about them?

[Mike Null]

Brad

My experience trying to cut polystyrene has been all bad but I would use a grid and transfer paper on the back of the material. I don't know of a mat for cutting on a laser.

[Michael Hunter]

There are "sticky mats" for holding thin material flat, but these are not really intended to be lasered into - really just for engraving and kiss-cutting.
(The mats are very expensive, so you would not cut into them on purpose anyway).

As Mike Null says, tape on the back is the way to go - quick and inexpensive.

Another possibility is a sheet of anodised aluminium under the polystyrene. If you get the power right down so that it only JUST gets through the polystyrene, then little if any would get reflected back. (Anodised aluminium (any colour) is a very efficient absorber of power).