Laser engrave carbon fibre

#1

Hey all

I’ve got some carbon fibre I’d love to try engraving. What’s everyone’s thoughts on this as a suitable material?

Doing some background reading - apparently CO2 lasers can’t cut carbon fibre, but they can engrave it if it’s not too densely fibered - as they can remove the resin, but not the fibres. My carbon fibre is not densely fibered - it’s RC helicopter style stock not stuff for heavy industry work. (Assuming laser is CO2 - if it’s not, that would be great - apparently fiber lasers are great for working with carbon fibre)

I don’t have a lot of jobs to do - think doing a logo 2*2cm on a piece, or drawing a few dots, not extensive work.

Cheers
Calum

#2

Also - is cutting leather now allowed? I have some vegetable tanned goatskin I’d love to do some stuff with, but couldn’t find a definitive answer on it searching discourse. Cheers

#3

Leather is fine, so long as the dye doesn’t contain hexavalent chromium. This is a common dye ingredient, so you should get confirmation of its abscence (rather than abscence of confirmation!)

#4

No one seems to have am opinion on trying carbon fibre engraving - is it OK then if I give it a very cautious go and watch it like a hawk? Was planning to go in tomorrow and have a small carbon fibre offcut I could try - or should I wait longer to see if any opinions come up? Cheers

#5

Cautious experimentation is ok by me.

@lasertechs ?

#6

Sounds reasonable. Providing the resin doesn’t have anything problematic in it, and if it’s a small area the extraction should be able to cope with it, right ?

#7

A quick google says your results may vary. The resin andn the fibre have very different vapourisation temps, so unless you restrict the engraving to the very top layer, you’ll get messy edges where the fibres intrude into the cut.