A Bad Idea?

[Liesl Dexheimer]

I had someone email me asking if I could laser cut Formica veneer. Sounds like a bad idea to me. Could be caustic to my laser and lungs. What are your thoughts?

[Jerome Stanek]

I don't think you could cut it as the back is made of the same material as brake shoes

[Tony Joyce]

The word Formica refers to the company's classic product: a heat-resistant, wipe-clean laminate (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminate) of paper (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper) or textile (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile) with melamine resin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melamine_resin).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formica_%28plastic%29

[Rob Damon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoRdcQgXeyc

On a trotec speedy 300.
One of the comments in the video says:

For our 80W laser tube the settings are:
Power: 50, speed:0.80 and freq: 100Hz.

[Liesl Dexheimer]

Wow, thanks for posting Rob! I had my doubts but I guess I was wrong. The only thing I'm concerned about is that I only have a 35 watt laser and Trotec used an 80 watt. I suppose I could try multiple passes if a slower speed doesn't work...