Laser Cut Foam?

[JulietKiloMike]

Hi All,
I'm working on a school project and was wondering if anyone has the laser settings necessary to cut 3/16" Dollar Tree Foam. I've done some research online but have had trouble finding the necessary settings for cutting / scoring foam. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! We are using an Epilog Helix laser cutter.

Thanks!
John

 

[Tritium]

Epilog usually come with support and they should be able to recommend a power setting for their product to cut foam board.

Thurmond

 

[JulietKiloMike]

Thanks Thurmond! I'll ask about that.

I do know there are a couple people on the forums who use laser cutters to cut / score foam board, and am wondering what works best for them. It would be really nice if the FT team did an episode on laser cutting, too--they've definitely got it figured out.

 

[bpw823]

I also use a laser cutter at our school. We started at the recommended default settings that came with it, then we did some test pieces to get it refined. I also think FT should do an episode on cutting, possibly in a development line video of design, production, testing, and manufacturing?

 

[PHugger]

You could also check with the Mesa Foam Fighters.
This is a school program and I believe they do laser cutting.
The are quite active here on FT in the Articles section.



Best regards,
PCH

 

[JulietKiloMike]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys! We ended up using the settings for matte board and fine-tuning from there to get close to the results we wanted. It seems to have worked pretty well! Our build thread is over on RCgroups: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2334070

-John

 

[Balu]

Austin once mentioned that each of their lasers has different settings. They usually start at half power and play with the speed to get the best results.

You could post your settings to help others that are looking

I'm not allowed to cut foam board in the design faculty, because they don't know the material and are afraid of fire and fumes, even though they have a massive filter in a second room.

 

[JulietKiloMike]

That's a bummer that they don't allow you to cut foam We have an air assist and a vacuum line on our laser cutter, so we haven't had a problem with the DTF foam at all.

These are our laser cutter settings for the 100W Epilog Helix:
Laser Cutter Settings (% Speed / % Power / Frequency in Hz)
Scoring: 70/12/500
Cutting: 70/30/500

The cutting setting singes the paper a little, so it could use some adjusting...plus, these settings don't necessarily correspond to other brands / power levels of laser cutters...but maybe these will help someone out regardless!

-John