Standard FSC MDF
Our supply: Stock / special order material
Thickness: Available in 2mm, 3mm, 6mm, 9mm, 12mm, 15mm
Sheet sizes: 2400×1200mm, 1200×1200mm, 1200×600mm, 600×600mm
Your supply: You can also supply your own MDF up to 15mm in thickness and any sheet size up to 3000×1500mm
See more on laser cutting wood»
See more on laser engraving wood»
Material properties
FSC certified smooth surface wood board made from softwood fibres combined with wax and resin. Consistent density and heat tolerance makes MDF ideal for laser cutting
Typical applications
Art & sculpture, furniture and cabinet making, jewellry, models, retail display, signage, structural purposes, testing & prototyping, props & theatre.
Appearance
Because MDF is manufactured from natural softwood fibres, please be aware that the tone and density can vary from sheet to sheet.
Laser cutting
Compressed air (usually 4 bar of pressure) is used to keep flaming, scorching and charring on the top surface to a minimum. This gives a near clean result but you will sometimes get slight markings particularly when the laser first pierces the material at the start of a closed vector shape (laser tails.) You can get rid of these by sanding with a fine grit wet and dry paper.
Bottom surface
Because MDF is primarily a prototyping or structural material we DON’T use any protective backing on the reverse. (most people tend to spray / finish after use so burn marks aren’t usually an issue.) Heat from the laser causes residues on the laser bed to transfer back onto the material.
If you would like to cut use backing to prevent burn marks on the reverse of the material you’ll need to specify this in your job request.
Cut Edge
MDF laser cuts with brown / black edge which is darker the thicker the MDF being cut. The edge can get dirty and in some cases mark if in contact with another material surface.
Cut widths & Kerf
The average cutting kerf (how much the laser takes away) for MDF is 1-6mm thickness: + / – 0.1mm , 6-12mm thickness: + / -0.2mm, 12mm+ in thickness: + / -0.3mm.
As a benchmark, we recommend that minimum cut widths be no smaller than the corresponding thickness of the material. See more on min cut widths.
Raster & Vector engraving
MDF engraves with a pale orange brown colouration and with a good clarity. Our standard setting is a light surface scratching more for cosmetic purposes.
Variation in engraved finish
Please be aware that as a natural material, a slight variation in the tone of the engraved finish can occur from sheet to sheet from the same standard engrave settings. Tone of wood, density of softwood fibres and moisture content all have an impact on the engraving tone. Variation in tone can also be affected by power distribution if you have lots of pieces of artwork to engrave that vary in size.
Deeper engraving
If you would like your engraving to be deeper than our standard settings, you will need to specify this. Be aware that the the higher laser power and slower processing speeds required can causes more oils from the wood to be released and therefore mark the surface. The laser machine extraction can also pulls these oils / fumes over the top surface creating a scorched edge appearance to the engraving that is stronger the deeper the engraving. Some people like this effect but be aware if you want to keep a clean result, it’s best to stick with our optimised settings.
