Ortur Laser - Recipe For Cutting Corrugated Cardboard (Part 1)!

In this episode, we will be testing recipes for cutting 4.1mm corrugated cardboard which is notoriously hard to cut without burning or starting on fire. Many shipping form places like Amazon use this size of box and I am interested in creating up-cycling opportunities for the many boxes which show up on my doorsteps!
Update: Since filming this video, I have come to discover more in my journey to effectively "cut" corrugated cardboard and that is the thickness of the "component" material itself. For this test piece it was rather thick. As the top and bottom layers measured 0.3mm (each along with corrugation) so together they made up up 0.9mm of the 4.1mm total. When using this "recipe" on another 4mm piece of corrugated cardboard I found it to be way over-kill. In measuring the top & bottom I found that they where a mere 0.1mm or 0.3mm (top/bottom and corrugation) of the total 4mm thickness. Here we could step down to 20 passes from 40 (a 50 percent reduction) on a ~60% decrease in thickness. Here a clear mathematics relationship emerges and we will be doing a follow up video (Part 2).
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[@JustPlainRob]

Thanks for this video, it was a great starting point. I have the XTool D1 Pro, and even with the 5W (smallest) laser module on it I can cleanly cut through 5mm industrial cardboard at 50% power and 10mm/s. It leaves very little burnt area, even when focused on the top face. If I do 75% power there's more burning but nothing that detracts from the part quality, and it will go through to where the part falls out on its own after 5 passes. Really, just try to get the power and passes as low as you can. The speed at 10mm/s is fine on this device.

[@norwoodaerialimaging9795]

I had similar results to you. 60 percent power, 12mm/s and 4 passes on the 5w d1 pro. First pass at 90 and 4mm/s ended up with the water hose being needed haha.

[@sannyassi73]

That's a lot of passes for cardboard. I've found with my 10 watt diode just focus a few mm closer than normal, run it 100% and bump the speed up and it cuts super clean on one pass. I haven't done your level of experimenting, though I've cut quite a bit of cardboard. Luckily cardboard goes so fast that I usually just babysit it.

[@tonyliechty2100]

Thanks for putting this together! I tried cutting cardboard yesterday and it barily did anything with a 7.5W laser and 17mm/sec. Now I know from this video, I must do many more passes (40). I did not realize how hard cardboard is to cut. I thought it would go like butter. Not good for production I suppose, but good to do something once or a handful of times. Thanks again for sharing the experiments!

[@the1anonymouse]

Just cut some cardboard with your numbers. Worked like a charm! Good stuff

[@MichealWeinfurtner]

Fun with lasers! Cannot think of a better way to spend my days. Thanks for the tips.

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

I have been having a LOT of fun with this little machine!

[@fluxcapacitor]

Great, but a pity you never did Part 2 with the announced mathematical relationship of speed & power with respect to sheet thickness w/o corrugation. It would had been super useful.

[@kesor6]

I was using 225mm/min & 60% power in LightBurn, which makes it "flame" the cardboard much less - especially when small holes are concerned, like 3mm by 15mm and it would be enough to just go for 3-4 passes at this speed to cut cleanly through, making a clean cut without burning.

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Interesting as at the setting I shared i did not see flamming however I don't think it was far off. Also please check out my air assist video as that solve the flame issue...

[@imagineengine]

thanks for the in depth video. From what Ive gathered and heard its not a good thing to ever run your laser at 100% power, ever! They say it can cause it to burn out early. And if making that many passes as some have stated here it seems like that would be even worse for the diode laser.

[@lajuanaandzthompsonandsand5937]

Have you used chipboard. I like 2mm chipboard. Cut cleanly and I had no problem doing a slowly speed with full power. I sometimes had to do 2 passes. I have an xtool mq so my configuration is P 100@5 speed 2 passes or 4 speed 1 pass. No burning with air assist.

[@mariajohnston2147]

How long does it take to cut 30mm/s with 40 passes How long did it take to do your happiness cutout?

[@N2AIE]

30mm/se for 40 passes @100% on Neje master 2-20w worked perfectly..! now to find a way to make the boxes..

[@flyinghighoveryou4872]

Great video. I have the 20w ortur laser master 2. I still haven’t been able to get a good cut with the laser power at 100. Still trying to get a clean cut. Seems like I’m going to have to turn it way down. I did 2000 mm speed at 60 power for 40 passes it cut all the way but burned to much. When I focus my laser looks more like a line than a dot. Thanks for any help you guys may have. Love the idea of using up the amazon boxes.

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Looking like a line is correct, as technically it is square however the short side is the "fast' while the long is slow (long story in explaining semiconductor photonics). Also not sure the issues you are having as for corrugated cardboard.100% is good and the more passes is also at higher speeds is good. Also for 3mm thick board be sure to focus on the bottom and not the top... Also thanks for the kind comments!

[@indrebutku]

Is it possible to work with corrugated cardboard that has been used and is not perfectly flat to the surface?

[@madskills692003]

This was helpful. Have you done a video on a recipe for cutting 1/8” plywood?

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Not yet, started it but have not been have success :-(

[@ericraupp]

7 passes at 300 mm/m with 85% cut super clean

[@gkellett]

This is great! Thank you so much for sharing such thorough and valuable research. Do you have any sense of what the best recipe might be for cutting the same cardboard with a 20W Ortur laser?

[@gkellett]

Also curious about how you focus the beam as you mentioned... I'm obviously a noob and super excited to learn from those with more expertise.

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Pretty much the same, the only difference is you can likely bump up the speed by 10% or so. Keep in mind the power gain is not linear as you increase power, you also increase lens loss lets say 15 is 5.5 output x 88% =4.84 whereas 20 is 7.5 x 88%= 6.6 So you lose 0.24 more watts

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

As far focusing, check out the Ortur playlist as I did a video on that :-)

[@IronMan-yg4qw]

what about coroplast? show this process please.

[@pieciek]

40 passes? In this option i prefer use scissors, or knife

[@EducereLudendo]

Hi have you any kind of experience about cutting 3mm compressed cardboard? Do you think it could be possible with 20W version?

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Sort of and you mean cardboard and not pressboard (as pressboard is no) with cardboard of this thickness you will need to use air asisst to keep it from starting on fire as you will have large krefs in the material and I would set the focus at the mid point (1.5mm)

[@EducereLudendo]

@@DIY3DTECHcom i think the English Thermal Coud be press board. Is the materiale used to make boards of board game

[@EducereLudendo]

Why press board is not possible to be laser cut? It should be possible at higher laser power?

[@greggonzales2311]

Are you using mm/s or mm/min? mm/s shows good for Co2 Thanks

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

I use mm/sec across the board...

[@osdw88]

my recipe for cardboard is 23 passes speed 2300mm/m power 100 i have the ortur laser master 2 20W

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

I am surprised at the number of passes you are using as the 15 watt input with the G8 Lens 8mm/s 15 typically will work nicely.

[@55418und]

what laser is best to cur sheep skin? No fur, just the hide.

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Depend how think, if around 2mm even 3mm a 7.5 output (not input) should work preferably with a G2 lens

[@laharl2k]

My suggestion: Get an air-assist

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Have mixed feeling about that, have it on both k40's and have seen people add them to these with mixed results.

[@laharl2k]

@@DIY3DTECHcom at least in my 50W K40-ish laser ive always found that i get better results going slower than faster with more passes. At least with the air assist your cardboard wont catch fire for going too slow. in my experience faster than 15mm/s just adds more backlash artifacts and ringing.

[@flyinghighoveryou4872]

So how do you like the k40? Still looks like you can get one for less than $600. I really want to get a higher power that can cut wood easier.

[@laharl2k]

@@flyinghighoveryou4872 I have one of the bigger 50W 40x40 variations, its mostly the same but "better quality". I have no problem cutting a 10mm random wood plank (i thin its a piece of wall or roof) at about 20% power. and 5mm/s irrc. The main issue with thise K40's is the main board. Its a M2-Mini which is crap, works in inches (belts are MXL) doesnt have microstepping nor acceleration control nor laser power control either. Your best upgrade is to change it for a mks sgen_l or some other 32bits board and wire it so you can control the laser power in software. The M2 board basically disables acceleration during cutting so if you exceed the maximum "jerk" you miss steps which is really stupid. One should never be able to instruct a machine to fail if properly configured. Also ringing is awful above 20mm/s and really shows at plain sight. My recommendation is buy a K40, learn how it works, the principles of a co2 laser, and then grab your 3d printer and build yourself a better laser, maybe recycle your K40 into the new machine. Size is only an artificial limitation with CO2 lasers, so make yourself the biggest that makes sense to you. There are a few videos on youtube about CO2 lasers built with 30x60 aluminum profiles. (of course you need to be good at building machines so it wont end all crooked and misaligned)

[@eaman11]

Place one 2-3mm thick wood piece under the frame as a shim Calibrate your laser to engrave on the surface with the thinnest line When you need to cut some 4-6mm material remove the shims Man 20 passes for cardboard are nonsense! Just make a few passes with ~100mm/minute and get an air assist.

[@bedandbreakfastfan7088]

I'd rather go slower at less power to preserve the life of my diode.