You may already know that cardboard is multi-purpose, but it is far beyond the scope of corrugated paper. There are many types of cardboard there, some of which you may not even know. In the video after the break, [Eric Strebel] analyzed all these problems and compared each problem with his air assisted 50 Watt water-cooled laser, which provided a good reference for himself in this process.
The purpose of this gun battle is to use a free power and speed file to find the best speed and power settings for each material. [Eric] almost always operates in the power range of 10% to 50%, so this is the range represented here. He is looking for two things: the setting that leaves the least incision (forms the thinnest cutting line) and the cleanest cutting without producing a large amount of residue.
[Eric] divided the contestants into three weight levels, the heaviest of which are butter board, chip board, backing board and illustration board, all of which are greater than 1mm. On the middleweight roster, you have railway plates, 4-layer Bristol plates and template plates, all of which are less than 1mm thick. Finally, we have light Yupu paper and 300 series Bristol paperboard, both of which are less than ½ Mm.
To test their modeling ability, [Eric] made a cube of each material. Once the glue dried, he took off the artist’s tape and analyzed the pros and cons one by one. Be sure to check it after rest.
Of course, you don’t have to go to the art store to play with cardboard – just go to your recycling box and mix some cardboard pulp for carving and molding.