I want to cut very delicate patterns into paper and cardboard, but I don’t want the edges to be blackened by burning. Is this possible with a laser cutter? Maybe with multiple passes?
Faster, with more power is better. You will almost always get discolouration however.
The goal is to vaporise the paper before the heat can spread to the edge and discolor or ignite the rest of the paper.
Basically, get your machine moving as fast as possible, without skipping etc. Then adjust the power to a bit above the ‘just cut’ power. You also want to make sure your focus is as good as possible, and your paper is as flat as possible. Good suction also helps remove the debris before it can spread the heat or defocus the beam.
Also check your alignment. The unfocused laser beam is remarkably wide. If any light is not on the proper path it can deflect weirdly. This creates secondary spots just of the main one. These normally don’t matter much, since they lack the power to melt acrylic etc. The can be strong enough to discolor paper however. You want the beam to hit the lense dead center at 90 degrees. Paper allows very little margin of error. Make sure your mirrors and lens are clean and unclouded. These can create the side scatter I mentioned.
I’ve not used it on card, but masking tape on the cut lines helps a LOT with plywood. The discoloration is ejected material falling back down. The masking tape catches it and can be peeled off later. Depending on your card and design, this could work.
Hope that data dump helps.
Not sure on your answer regarding laser cutting specifically, but they do make alternatives like a Cricut machine which uses a blade.
Second the cricut recommendation
Would it work if there’s a constant flow of intert gas like argon to displace the oxygen where the laser cuts? Same process is used to prevent oxidization during welding.
While this does prevent the oxidation of the molten weld metal it doesn’t prevent discoloration from the vapor deposition on and around the weld, or slight oxidation from the hot metal as it exits the shielding gas cloud. Paper is less prone to this kind of oxidation but even welding on a vacuum can still produce some discoloration from the vaporized material
Yes, but it would be expensive
Use black paper! Then you won’t notice it :)
