When we first started laser cutting, we quickly realized how important it is to test new materials before diving into a project. Skipping this step often leads to wasted material, lost time, and plenty of frustration. We also discovered that even if two materials have the same name, their ideal settings can vary depending on who you bought it from.

At first, we tried saving cutouts of our test pieces, thinking they would serve as handy references for future projects. However, this method turned out to be impractical. The test pieces took up too much space, and unless we meticulously labeled each one with details like material type, supplier, and settings used, they weren’t very useful.

To solve this problem, I created a simple, organized spreadsheet to keep all our material settings in one place. This digital reference makes it easy to track and update the ideal laser settings for different materials. Below is a screenshot of what it looks like.