Is cardboard or paper safe to cut in a laser cutter?

Question

Accepted Answer

Often allowed, but never safe to leave alone.

Often allowed, but never safe to leave alone. These are other schools’ lists, not approval for your machine. Paper and cardboard cut readily and university lists permit them, but they can burn. This applies to enclosed machines at Class 1 or Class 2 in the configuration you run. Paper and cardboard: during, flame, after Three columns. During the job: stay with the machine, keep the deck and area free of debris, use known documented stock. Any flame means stop: emergency stop or the switch you were trained to use, do not open the lid to look, move students away, follow the school's written fire procedure. After the job: keep the lid closed and exhaust running for the interval in your manual or program, look over the parts for glow, smoke, or smell without touch-testing for heat, and put warm paper in the cooling or non-combustible location, not ordinary trash. A band below says coated, laminated, or unidentified board is not cut without review. During the job Stay with the machine the whole job Keep the deck and area free of debris Known, documented stock only Any flame: stop Emergency stop, or the switch you were trained to use Do not open the lid to look Move students away Follow your school’s written fire procedure After the job Lid closed, exhaust running for the interval in your manual or program Look over the parts for glow, smoke, or smell No touch-testing for heat Warm paper goes to the cooling or non- combustible spot, not ordinary trash Coated, laminated, or unidentified board: not without review. Paper and cardboard cut readily and appear on other schools' lists, but they can burn, so the work is watching, stopping, and cooling down. The middle column is the same whatever the material: any flame means stop. The interval after the job is your manual's or program's figure, not ours. The University of Florida’s list says paper cuts well and should be watched for fires, and the University of Victoria’s acceptable list notes the potential for fires with cardboard, card stock, and paper. Harvard’s lab permits chipboard, mat board, and paper, and Georgetown approves cardboard and matboard. Stay with the machine the whole job. Any flame means stop: use the emergency stop or the switch you were trained to use, do not open the lid to look, move students away, and follow your school’s written fire procedure. Keep the cutting deck and area free of debris, since MIT calls regular vacuuming of the deck very important for preventing fires. After the job, keep the lid closed and the exhaust running for the interval in your manual or your program’s written figure, then look the parts over for glow, smoke, or smell without touch-testing for heat. Warm paper goes in the designated cooling or non-combustible location, not ordinary trash. Use known, documented stock; do not cut coated, laminated, or unidentified board without review. Open-frame, open-bed, pass-through, converted, or Class 3B or Class 4 machines are outside this answer and need a laser safety officer first.

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