Custom Designed Laser Cut and Engraved Corkboard

All the details you need to create your own laser cut and engraved corkboard are below. Use the template provided as a guide, or customise the design to suit your needs. The choice is yours!

Preparation

Required material:

1 sheet of Cork, 6mm
1 sheet of MDF, 600x300mm, 6mm + adhesive tape
Cover material

Laser materials available in our webshop

Machine Used:

Speedy 360, 80 watts
2" lens
Aluminum cutting grid table

You can achieve the same great results using any laser in the Speedy laser engraver series to complete this project.

Tip:

You can use your laser to cut the corkboard to any desired shape. Corkboards are great for family noticeboards, wall planners, corporate office pinboards and more. Customise with your choice of image or even a logo.

Step by Step

Step 1: Design

You can import your own design, or edit the attached template to suit your preferences. Using relief mode, the two gray levels in the image can be engraved in two different tones in one go in the cork. Use the grayscale matrix to find the right shades of grey for your application.

We suggest the following JobControl settings:

Process mode	Resolution	Cut line
Relief	333dpi	none

Halftone	Others
Color	Enhanced geometries

Tip:

You can reduce laser engraving time by setting the DPI to 333. The corkboard is most likely going to viewed from a distance, and any increase in resolution quality may be lost in this application. The lower resolution will greatly speed up the process, while not greatly affecting engraving quality.

Step 2: Laser process the cork

Place the cork sheet flat on the laser table. Cover the rest of the table to increase vacuum. Select the large nose cone for this application. Adjust the settings below to suit your machine and power:

Laser Parameters: Engraving

Color	Process	Power %	Speed %	ppi/Hz
Black	Engrave CO2	50	70	500

Passes	Air Assist	Z- offset	Advanced
1	ON	0mm	High Quality

Laser Parameters: Scratching

Color	Process	Power %	Speed %	ppi/Hz
Red	Cut CO2	12	4	1,000

Passes	Air Assist	Z-offset	Advanced
1	ON	+9 mm	-

Laser Parameters: Cutting

Color	Process	Power %	Speed %	ppi/Hz
Blue	Cut CO2	50	0.8	1,000

Passes	Air Assist	Z- offset	Advanced
1	ON	0mm	-

Tip:

Covering the table when laser processing cork will help improve extraction and reduce the risk of fire.

Step 3: Laser-template MDF support plate

Laser cut a backing board made from MDF to help improve the rigidity of the cork sheet, and make it easy to attach to a wall. We suggest the following settings to laser cut a MDF backing board: