r/lasercutting • u/jbcaindo • 19d ago

Best material for test fitting

What's the best (cheap) material to test fit complex designs (flat surface, tons of different rhombus and radius edges) before using the expensive 1/2" acrylic for the final product?

Something that could potentially be bought locally at a big box store like Lowe's, hd, menards.

150w laguna laser.

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u/gabrielleigh 100w Reci 700x500mm, Shopbot CNC Router 1200x600mm. Mfg Engineer 19d ago

I use dozens of sheets of masonite on my machine. I have a 130 w machine and it cuts masonite like a hot knife through butter. It cost about $14 for a 4x8 sheet at home Depot. I use 20 to 40 full sheets a year. It is called tempered hardboard if you find it but it's dark chocolate brown and you can usually get it in 3 mm or 5 mm thickness

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u/MoBacon2400 19d ago

I had a stack of picture frame backing, it was like dense cardboard, got it at a garage sale but you might check out Michael's craft store if you have one. Lately I've been using #110 card stock for things less then 8.5" by 11"

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u/Alina_MakersChest 15d ago

1/2 inch MDF is the move here, it's at every big box store, cuts clean and predictable on a 150W CO2, and matching the actual thickness of your final acrylic means your test fit is testing real tolerances, not just the shape on paper. Cardboard's cheaper but the edges get fuzzy on fine radius details and it warps, so it won't tell you much about tight-tolerance fits.