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View Full Version : Lasering Different Types of Wood - Anyone use Luan?



Garrick Crocker
11-14-2008, 9:00 AM
I recently ordered a bunch of different types of wood from Sloan's Woodshop that are all 1/8" thick.

I ordered some Baltic Birch, some Cherry, some Maple and some Red Oak. Mainly, I just wanted to try them out and see the coloring. I will probably order some designs from Laserbuzz soon also.

I have an Accuris PowerSharp 16 with a 30W laser. I have been practicing with scraps of wood around the house and have found that there are a lot of different settings that work fine, but I'm not sure what is ideal for wood. In order to cut through the wood, I can make multiple passes, or slow things down or different power settings. There is also resolution differences.

Question 1
What settings would you suggest I start at to cut 1/8 baltic birch?

Question 2
Would these settings be pretty much standard on the other types of wood that I mentioned (Cherry, Maple and Red Oak)?

Question 3
I have a supplier who will deliver from Jacksonville every day of the week that has 1/8" Luan very reasonably priced. The minimums are high, but if it works it may be the right thing for us to look at. Does anyone know anything about luan?

Last note, I have been reading posts on Sawmill for about 2 years with the hope of purchasing a laser engraver some day. I appreciate watching all of the conversations. Thanks to each of you for all of your insights. Hopefully, as I learn, I will be a source of information rather than just a consumer of others knowledge.

I used to own a sign shop so I am pretty familiar with many substrates. I'm also pretty good with vector and raster images (with Coreldraw). My learning curve is coming from how the laser works with the materials. Plus, there are so many different materials to work with (where to start?).

My wife and I are also doing this as a home based business. My other learning curve is trying to figure out how we should specialize and market products.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,

Garrick Crocker
Gainesville, Florida

Wil Lambert
11-14-2008, 9:52 AM
One of my customers has us make luan signs for them. They are from 1/4 luan. Engraving is fine but vector cutting does not work. I tried many a times to vector cut the stuff. All I got was a fire each time. The CNC does a much better job at cutting the profile of the signs.

Wil

Joe Pelonio
11-14-2008, 11:00 AM
One of my customers has us make luan signs for them. They are from 1/4 luan. Engraving is fine but vector cutting does not work. I tried many a times to vector cut the stuff. All I got was a fire each time. The CNC does a much better job at cutting the profile of the signs.

Wil
Same here, it's like most mahogany, and will light up and burn rather than cutting.

Cindy Rhoades
11-14-2008, 6:12 PM
Your best marketing is friends and family especially if they like you. Then depending on what direction you want to go start contacting local businesses.

Eric Fuller
11-14-2008, 8:37 PM
Luan , AKA Phillipene Mahogany, doesn't cut at all well. My theory is that the voids in the wood running along the grain diffracts the laser...I notice that it cross cuts poorly, and cuts with the grain extremely poorly.

Some affordable and excellent domestics include cherry, maple, walnut and alder. All cut very nicely in my laser (80W chinese import).

Garrick Crocker
11-16-2008, 6:29 PM
Thanks for the info.

sal shepherd
11-16-2008, 8:52 PM
Hi Garrick,

I cut 1/4 & 1/8 luan all the time, I have played with my settings and have good results. I have cut 900 peices of 1/8" into benfit tokens with rope border . With the luan the only problem is the glue and your vector settings to keep from charring the edges.

George M. Perzel
11-16-2008, 10:19 PM
Hi Garrick;
As I have said before on this forum, there is luan and then there is luan and also luan-point being that there are many versions of this mass produced economy ply. I use a lot of 1/4" and 1/8" for both engraving and cutting applications. I have no trouble cutting most 1/4" at 3% speed and 95% power with a 60 watt Mercury-obviously the 1/8" cuts faster. I do get some charring on the edges but its not a factor for my applications.
Most Luan engraves beautifully but look for the stuff that has a very thin top and bottom veneer layer separated by a brown composite core. If the core is light, don't buy it for engraving as the contrast will be lousy.
Solid luan mahogany engraves very well-I use it for many high end photos such as that attached.
Best regards;
George
LaserArts

Eric Fuller
11-17-2008, 11:48 PM
Sorry; I should have specified. My post was regarding solid luan which I bought rough and milled myself. However, I have noted the same problem trying to cut 3ply veneer with a luan core.

Frank Corker
11-18-2008, 4:57 AM
George, great job on that engraving, nice and dark too. So much better when you have a quality photograph.