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I bought some tool drawer foam where you cut out areas of one layer for your tools and then adhere it to a backing layer. All I could find on the type of material was that it is cross-link, closed-cell foam. Does anyone know if it would be safe to try to laser cut some of the outlines?
It's likely safe, but best to contact the manufacturer, who will know for sure.
Without a MSDS sheet it's hard to identify some materials. I have done Craft Foam but I'm sure that's a different type than what you have.
I've used the copper wire 'burn test' a couple time to rule out chlorine based materials. You can Google "Vinyl Burn Test" or "laser safe material burn test" and find instructions if you're not familiar with it. Even if it doesn't have chlorine it's still best to test out a small piece to make sure it isn't going to ignite.
As a side note, when I was active duty, we had to re shadow our tool boxes occasionally. One trick I learned was that if the tool was able to be heated, we would throw it in the oven for a few minutes, then place it on the foam, pull it out and peal off the melted foam. You had an instant perfect match of your too. This doesn't work on all foams. If you use multilayer foam, then I would think lasering would be ok as long as you had great ventilation.
The original reason I bought a Co2 laser is for one of our hobby businesses: UpperCutPads. We laser cut foam cheek pads for rifles and shotguns.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Vavricka
The thinner Denice hobby foam (2mm) cuts extremely well with 3 passes: One to engrave the outline depth to the self-adhesive backer, two to cut the backer and three to lightly engrave the logo on the pad. Of course ... air assist ON.
Using K40 Whisperer (30w Chinese K40 Laser):
First pass: 12 speed, 12.5 power engraves to the backer.
2nd pass: 18 speed, 12.5 power.
Logo engrave: 18 speed, 10 power.
I recently purchased a batch of foam pads that are 3mm and 4mm. A much "tougher" foam that resists tearing. The 3mm engraves/cuts the same, the 4mm requires about a 15% increase in power to cut/engrave the outline (The logo engrave is the same as the thinner material. The hobby foam doesn't smoke at the settings I use. The thicker, tougher foam smokes like crazy and really stinks, but cuts and engraves perfectly. I have to change the focus on the 4mm material otherwise the top edges will be slightly rounded... which I actually would like to achieve on the other materials.
Take care all!
Mike Tiehen