Lasering wood is extremely popular in 2020. Laser engraving machines for wood are becoming easier to operate. This ensures that the infinite possibilities of the laser become available to more and more people without prior knowledge or special skills. For example, you can create, edit and personalize all kinds of beautiful products with a laser. This includes laser engraving and/or cutting of Art, Toys, Promotional items, Cutting boards, Handles, Models, Christmas decorations, School projects, prototypes, Marquetry, Decoration, Interior decorations, Advertising signs, Promotional gifts, Photo frames, Furniture, Handles and much more.

What types of wood can I laser cut and engrave?

In principle, you can laser cut and laser engraves any type of wood. The effect that a laser machine has on the wood depends on the type of wood, the thickness of the wood and any processing. The thicker the wood, the more energy it takes to cut through the wood. This means that thicker wood needs a stronger laser source with a higher wattage. The thicker the material, the longer the laser beam is in contact with the wood. This prolonged contact can cause soot formation and combustion of the wood. Also when engraving wood, the reaction of the laser differs per type of wood and the depth of the engraving. Curious about the effect of the laser on your material? We are happy to test this for you in our test center.

Commonly used woods for lasering – Best Wood for Laser Engraving

  • Bamboo
  • Birch plywood
  • Els
  • Maple
  • Veneer
  • HDF
  • Cork
  • Solid wood
  • MDF
  • plywood
  • Natural wood
  • chipboard
  • lumber
  • Walnut

It is important to realize that not every 100-watt laser is equally powerful and therefore has a different effect on the wood. For example, a distinction can be made between a glass tube and a metal tube laser source. The cheaper glass tube laser source has a less concentrated laser beam, making the beam wider and less powerful than the metal tube variant. Besides the fact that the metal tube is more powerful, it also has a smaller spot size, which means that laser cutting gives a thinner cutting line and engravings are even more detailed.

Advantages of laser engraving and cutting of wood

Lasering wood has a number of advantages over other techniques

  • Highly accurate – Laser engravers are extremely accurate. This makes the machine perfect for the smallest details and repeat jobs
  • Contactless – The lasering is completely contactless, this ensures fewer mistakes or breaking of the wood
  • Fast – Engraving and cutting wood is relatively fast
  • Tight cutting lines – Burning the wood creates tight cutting lines and engravings, eliminating the need for post-processing
  • Beautiful effect – Because the engraving or cutting line is burned into the wood, a rustic and luxurious look is created in the material
  • Easy to use – The laser is easy to control from your favorite graphics software without additional knowledge or skills

Safety

A laser is a very powerful machine that must be handled with care. To be able to work safely with the lasers, the machines in our range are equipped with the most advanced safety systems. This makes the machine safe for you and your employees to use. In addition to a fully enclosed machine, warning systems, a large emergency button and a laser cut-off when the machine is opened, the GCC and Calormark machines are equipped with excellent airflow. This means that any smoke and harmful particles from the wood are directly sucked up by the extraction system .

What type of laser for cutting and engraving wood?

Which type of laser best suits your business operations or projects depends entirely on the result you want to achieve in combination with the type of wood and the thickness of the wood. Because there are so many applications and types of wood, it is almost impossible to immediately indicate what the best machine is. In order to be able to select the best machine for you, we test your product or material completely free of charge for the best possible result.

In addition, it is important to take into account the maximum working area of ​​the laser. For example, you can often handle relatively small products such as cutting boards with the A3 work surface of the GCC C180† When there is a need for engraving and cutting large-sized wooden boards, GCC’s tabletop models are very attractive. These have a feed-through flap at both the front and the back so that you can feed infinitely long materials such as doors or advertising signs.

XY laser plotter vs. galvo laser

We can currently distinguish between two types of laser machines for engraving and cutting wood.

The most common laser engraving machine is the so-called XY laser plotter. With these lasers, the laser head moves along an X and Y axes over the entire working plane. The great advantage of this technique is the possibility to transfer the full power of the laser concentrated to the wood. This makes this type of laser very suitable for cutting wood.

The second technique is a Co2 galvo laser. The laser head in this machine is stationary, which saves a lot of time when lasering. This makes this technique many times faster in engraving wood than traditional XY laser plotters. However, Galvo Co2 lasers are less suitable for cutting wood.

Wood cutting and printing

Cutting and printing wood is a very powerful combination that is gaining popularity. With this combination you not only determine the shape of the wood, but also the finish with a beautiful photo or image! A piece of cut wood can easily be printed with a UV printer or printed by means of sublimation.