Engraving and cutting 3mm Poplar plywood

Community Laser Talk
1

Hi,
I have done lots of engraving and cutting using 3mm Birch ply and know what I can expect especially with engraving.
I intend trying some 3mm poplar ply and wondered how it compares to Birch. Is the surface harder, smoother for example. Does it engrave as dark as Birch ply for the same parameters?

Thanks for any feedback.

2

Poplar wood is generally a relatively light and soft type of wood. It is used a lot in model building where there are no special requirements for the static properties. When working with poplar wood or poplar plywood, I run as little energy as possible as quickly as possible. It gives a very bright and nice cutting surface. When engraving, it is also important to keep the energy low so that you do not burn the surface too much. Use a piece of waste wood and do a material test, it gives you an overview of your materials and you can save a test sample in your material library.

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3

Hi Bernd

Thanks for the advice. I’ve wondered about this for a while. The cost is a little higher for Poplar over here in UK but I will be trying it.
Thanks again

4

I like engraving and cutting Poplar. Even with my Diode Laser I can cut it easily even at thicknesses that would make it balk normally. Has a nice dark engrave to it, laquer, varnish, even oil is nice on it.

5

I look forward to giving it a try :+1:

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