How thick a material can a diode laser engraver cut?

There is no single answer: it depends on the optical power, the material, the focus, air assist and the number of passes. The useful figure is the maker’s own cutting claim — a thickness of a named material in a stated number of passes — which is a claim, not a guarantee.

Cutting depth is the question every laser listing seems to answer, and the answer is always conditional.

What decides the depth of a cut

Optical power, the light that actually reaches the material, not the module’s electrical rating. Spot size and focus, which set how concentrated that power is. Air assist, which clears smoke from the beam and blows molten or burnt material out of the cut. Speed and passes, the trade-off between one slow pass and several faster ones. The material, including glue, density and colour.

Reading a maker’s cutting claim

A claim such as a thickness of basswood or plywood in a number of passes is useful because it names conditions. It is still the maker’s claim under their settings, and it is reported here that way. A claim without a material or a pass count says very little.

Materials that behave differently

Clear and light-coloured acrylic lets much of a diode laser’s light through, so dark or opaque sheet is the usual choice for diode cutting. Metal is marked rather than cut by hobby diode lasers. Leather, card and felt cut readily and vary widely by thickness and finish.

A practical approach

Start from the maker’s published settings for a material, run a small test grid of speed and power on an offcut, and keep a record of what cut cleanly. That record is more reliable than any wattage comparison.

If this page and the manufacturer’s manual disagree, follow the manual. Every laser power, speed, build volume, resolution, temperature and safety rating on this page is taken from the maker’s own documentation, with its unit as published and its source named — none of it is measured here. A figure is written the way the maker states it and is not converted into another convention, because the converted value would be a different number. And the point repeated rather than assumed: a laser module’s electrical power and its optical power are two different figures. The first is what the module draws; the second is what leaves the lens and reaches the material, and it is smaller. This page says which figure the maker publishes and never presents one as the other.