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Glowforge settings for non-Proofgrade materials
Starting-point power, speed and pass settings for the Glowforge Basic, Plus and Pro, a 40–45 W CO2 machine. These are collected figures, not results from running the machine ourselves. Every machine and material batch differs — treat these as a fast start, then confirm with a material test grid.
Quick answer: on a Glowforge, non-Proofgrade 3 mm plywood cuts at 70% power / 12 / 1 pass, and 3 mm acrylic at 70% / 10 / 1 pass (5 mm at 85% / 6 / 1 pass). Wood and acrylic engraving both run at 25% power / 250 mm/s. Unlike a diode, the Glowforge's CO2 laser cuts clear and transparent acrylic cleanly with a flame-polished edge.
Price a job on the Glowforge →Glowforge settings (power % / speed mm/s / passes)
| Material | Job | Setting |
|---|---|---|
| Plywood 3 mm | Cut | 70% / 12 / 1 pass |
| MDF 3 mm | Cut | 75% / 10 / 1 pass |
| Acrylic 3 mm | Cut | 70% / 10 / 1 pass |
| Acrylic 5 mm | Cut | 85% / 6 / 1 pass |
| Leather 2 mm | Cut | 40% / 20 / 1 pass |
| Wood | Engrave | 25% / 250 mm/s |
| Acrylic | Engrave | 25% / 250 mm/s |
| Glass | Engrave | 30% / 200 mm/s |
Always: use air assist, focus for the exact thickness, and don't hold 100% power to force a cut — slow the speed or add a pass instead. Find your exact numbers with a material test grid.
Those numbers are in mm/s, the unit this site uses everywhere so machines can be compared. The Glowforge app has no mm/s field — it shows Speed on its own scale, and Glowforge publishes no conversion between the two. Use the rows above to judge what the machine should manage, and take the numbers you actually type from the app's Manual mode, or from the Glowforge-scale acrylic table further down.
All of these charts in one printable book: The Laser Settings Handbook — 18 machines, 11 material charts, the 15 fixes and a settings log in 168 pages. Read the free 13-page sample.
Get an exact price for the Glowforge
Settings give you the speed; the calculator turns your file's path length into machine time and cost, scaled to the Glowforge.
Open the Glowforge calculator →Materials that behave on a Glowforge
Proofgrade is convenient and expensive. These are the unbranded equivalents that cut at the same settings — the caveat is that thickness varies, so run a test square before a full sheet.
Basswood sheets 3 mm: Check price on Amazon ↗
Draftboard / MDF 3 mm: Check price on Amazon ↗
Cast acrylic sheets 3 mm: Check price on Amazon ↗
Hold-down pins and magnets: Check price on Amazon ↗
Cast acrylic, not extruded — extruded melts to a rough white edge and will not flame-polish.
Disclosure: some links are affiliate links — if you buy through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Prices are approximate list prices at the time of writing; always check the current offer.
Proofgrade vs non-Proofgrade, and why there is no single settings chart
Every Proofgrade sheet carries a QR code the Glowforge reads by itself, so Proofgrade never needs a chart: the machine picks the numbers. This page, and every chart like it, exists for the other case, a material the Glowforge does not recognise. Glowforge is blunt about that in its own support docs — it "can't provide settings guidance for non-Proofgrade materials" — because materials vary too much, even between two sheets with a similar name, for one number to be safe everywhere.
You can still read the Proofgrade numbers your own machine is about to use, which is a fair starting point for a look-alike material: open the design in the Glowforge app, choose the material and the operation, then switch to Manual to see the default Speed, Power and Passes before you print. Some makers deliberately pick the Proofgrade material closest to what is actually on the bed and use its settings as a manual starting point, which also rescues a sheet whose QR code is damaged. Glowforge's caveat still holds: those numbers were tuned for that exact sheet, so treat them as a first guess.
No data at all for your material? Glowforge's own advice is to run a small test piece at minimum power and raise it gradually until it cuts or engraves cleanly. A starting point repeated often on the owners' forum for non-Proofgrade birch ply or clear acrylic on a Pro is Full Power, Speed 150 — a community anecdote, not a Glowforge-published number.
What Speed, Power, Passes and LPI mean on a Glowforge
The Glowforge app does not use mm/s or mm/min. Speed is a number on its own scale, and Glowforge has never published a formula to convert it into a physical unit, which is why our speed converter refuses to invent one. Power is either a percentage or Full Power, which saves working out a number when you want everything the material can take.
- Passes. Glowforge's docs present this as the way to get through thick non-Proofgrade stock without re-running the whole print: add a pass rather than max the power. On an engrave, extra passes deepen the result much as higher LPI does, though one pass suits most engraves.
- LPI (lines per inch). How tightly the engrave lines are packed. Too low and the spots do not overlap, leaving stripes and jagged curves; higher LPI smooths the image and also deepens it, because the beam crosses the same spot more than once.
Change one thing at a time from a known-good starting point. A setting built from scratch involves enough separate parameters that moving several at once tells you nothing about which one helped.
Non-Proofgrade acrylic settings by thickness
The chart at the top of this page gives one acrylic cut setting per thickness. For finer steps, this is a published non-Proofgrade acrylic cutting chart from a Glowforge-focused acrylic supplier, in the Glowforge's own Speed scale rather than mm/s:
| Acrylic thickness | Job | Setting |
|---|---|---|
| 1.6 mm (1/16 in) | Cut | Full / 180 / 1 pass |
| 3.2 mm (1/8 in) | Cut | Full / 160 / 1 pass |
| 4.8 mm (3/16 in) | Cut | Full / 135 / 1 pass |
| 6.4 mm (1/4 in) | Cut | Full / 110 / 1 pass |
Focus height on that chart is just the material thickness in inches, or let Autofocus do it. Test-cut first either way: cast and extruded acrylic behave differently at the same thickness.
Bed size: what actually fits
The Glowforge Basic / Plus / Pro has a working area of 495 × 279 mm (14 cm²). That decides which stock sizes you can buy without cutting them down first — the single most annoying thing to discover after the delivery arrives.
| Common stock | Size | On this machine |
|---|---|---|
| A4 sheet | 297 × 210 mm | Fits |
| 300 × 300 mm craft ply | 300 × 300 mm | Does not fit — cut it down first |
| 400 × 400 mm sheet | 400 × 400 mm | Does not fit — cut it down first |
| 600 × 400 mm sheet | 600 × 400 mm | Does not fit — cut it down first |
| 600 × 300 mm sheet | 600 × 300 mm | Does not fit — cut it down first |
Fitting parts onto the sheet efficiently is where material cost is actually won or lost. Our nesting tool takes your file and this bed size and tells you parts per sheet; the sheet yield calculator does the same from plain dimensions.
What the Glowforge Basic / Plus / Pro cannot do
Knowing the hard limits saves more material than any settings tweak:
- No metal cutting. A CO2 laser marks coated and anodised metal, and cuts none of it. Bare metal needs a fiber laser.
- Tube power falls off with age. A tube several years in will not match the settings it cut cleanly on when new — re-run a test grid rather than raising power to compensate.
- Never PVC or vinyl. Chlorine gas corrodes the machine and is toxic. This is a hard no, not a quality issue.
Troubleshooting: symptom, cause, fix
| Symptom | Usual cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Cut does not go through, top looks fine | Focus off, lens dirty, or mirror alignment drifted | Clean the lens first — a resin film costs real power. Then re-focus and check alignment before touching settings. |
| Power seems lower than it used to be | Tube ageing, or optics needing a clean | Clean optics, then re-run a test grid and write down the new numbers. Do not compensate by holding 100%. |
| Acrylic edge frosted instead of glossy | Too much air assist on the cut | Reduce air pressure for acrylic. Low air gives the flame-polished edge; high air frosts it. |
| Engrave depth uneven across the bed | Bed not level, or focal distance varying across travel | Level the bed and check the material is flat — warped stock is the usual cause, not the machine. |
| Scorch marks around engraved areas | Smoke redepositing on the surface | Mask the surface with transfer tape, improve extraction, and wipe with a damp cloth after. |
If none of that helps, work through why won't my laser cut all the way through? or how to stop burn marks on wood.
Material cost per sheet
Settings tell you the time; material tells you the rest of the price. Typical cut speeds and prices per sheet for the materials this machine handles: Plywood 3 Mm · Plywood 6 Mm · Mdf 3 Mm · Plexiglass 3 Mm · Plexiglass 5 Mm · Leather 2 Mm.
To turn any of it into a quote, drop your file into the Glowforge Basic / Plus / Pro calculator — it applies this machine's speeds to your actual path length. For shop pricing, the hourly rate calculator works out what your machine time is really worth.
FAQ
What power and speed cuts 3 mm plywood on the Glowforge?
On the Glowforge (Basic / Plus / Pro), a starting point for 3 mm plywood is 70% power at 12 mm/s, 1 pass. Values are starting points — run a small test on the same sheet, and use air assist for a clean edge.
Can the Glowforge cut clear acrylic?
Yes. The Glowforge is a CO2 laser, which cuts clear acrylic cleanly with a flame-polished edge. Use one slower pass with gentle air assist for the glossiest edge.
How much does it cost to run the Glowforge?
Laser jobs are priced by machine time: cut length ÷ cutting speed × passes = time, then time × hourly rate + setup. Drop your file into the free calculator scaled to the Glowforge to get an exact time and price.
How do I find settings for a material that isn't Proofgrade?
Glowforge doesn't publish them: its own support docs say it "can't provide settings guidance for non-Proofgrade materials", because materials vary too much for one number to be safe across all of them. Start from a chart like this one, from a similar Proofgrade material's settings (visible in the app under Manual mode), or from a small test print at minimum power, raised gradually until it cuts or engraves cleanly.
What are the Glowforge settings for acrylic?
Non-Proofgrade acrylic 3 mm cuts at 70% power / 10 mm/s / 1 pass, and 5 mm at 85% / 6 mm/s / 1 pass. Engraving runs at 25% power / 250 mm/s. Use cast, not extruded, acrylic for the cleanest engrave and edge.
What are the Glowforge settings for plywood?
3 mm plywood cuts at 70% power / 12 mm/s / 1 pass on the Glowforge (Basic, Plus or Pro). Wood engraving runs at 25% power / 250 mm/s. These are non-Proofgrade starting points — confirm with a test cut.