CNC Laser Cutting and Engraving Half Inch (12.7 mm) MDF
CNCROi.com has a powerful 110 W CO2 laser source, what this means is that we are able to cut through half-inch MDF in one pass relatively easily.
Like many materials, the thicker it is, the more of a challenge it is for a laser to cut through it. Why? Because of focal length. The “heat” from the point where the laser is in absolute focus on a laser is like an inverse cone, the more out of that singular point you are, the more power is required to cut at the same speed. Have a far enough distance, and you end-up not going through your material as you simply don’t have enough power to offset the loss of focus above and below the focal point.
This is why CNCROi.com purchased a 110 W CO2 with a 30 W fiber (both tubes in one machine) so that we would have more than enough power to cut just about anything out there. Our Austrian industrial wide-format CNC laser has a number of features making it unique in Canada – we were the first to acquire this machine – and that includes a gas kit to push compressed air downwards onto the work piece and a vacuum table with extraction above and below the piece. What does this mean to you? Dramatically less “burn stains” along the edges of your pieces and finer quality cuts and engraving overall.
In this case, I put the 1/2 inch MDF and decided to cut two identical (yes, 100% identical due to Austrian engineering!) maple leafs with our CNCROi.com engraved and line cut tag line. Basically, one piece of 12.7 mm MDF showcasing three different processes. We had just finished a project on MDF so I figured I’d make a sample to give to a few other clients.
The last process was cutting out the outlines so we could liberate our sample from the stock 1/2 inch MDF. Generally, we mask our work (top surface and sometimes bottom too!) so that the smoke stains you see on this work aren’t there but in this case, I wanted to show you, the reader, how little stains there actually are if you have a proper set-up.
Looking at the engraving, you can clearly see that it’s completely consistent, this is because, generally, MDF is a very consistent material. Our CNC laser is the most precise and consistent laser source on the market due to its ceramic core (not steel or glass) which produces even power outputs. This is very important to us as we want to provide our customers with the absolute best laser engraving and cutting.
Taking a look at the line cutting below CNCROi.com, you’ll notice the letters are sharp (even if the focus on our camera isn’t) and the cut quality is precise even on something this thick. The amount of material vaporized out of the half-inch MDF is less than a mm all the way around, meaning if you add vaporization to the left and vaporization to the right, it will equal less than a mm. This means we created a friction fit. It looks darker in the photo due to wood staining and the fact that an inverse code vaporizes more above it than below… so more is vaporized at the surface and less on the back.
The line quality is so fine that you’ll notice a sliver of material, cut on both sides, along the bottom left of the photo above. We can literally cut out slivers of just about any material fractions of a mm thick with our laser… consistently, repeatedly and actually, this happens quite frequently as we optimize our processes for as little waste as possible.
Looking at both parts together, you can see how identical they really are, there is a slightly different smoke pattern as the extraction is different depending on where the piece is on the bed but otherwise, we can easily interchange either parts from these two quite easily. This is where absolute repeatability come to play, if you have a thousand parts that need to be identical to a specific spec, we can actually do it!
If you are looking for an awesome custom CNC shop to do your next project, whether it’s cutting out acrylic jewelry or large MDF signage – regardless of application – contact us and we’ll make your cutting and engraving aspirations a reality for your project.
