Cardboard and Chipboard Laser Cutting Settings (5W–40W)
Cardboard is the easiest material for a diode laser — even a 5W machine cuts corrugated card in 1–2 passes. The main challenge is fire, not power: cardboard ignites quickly at slow speeds. A 20W machine cuts corrugated cardboard at 4,500 mm/min at 48% power in 2 passes. Chipboard (2–3mm) needs more passes but cuts cleanly. Settings by material type and wattage are below.
Cardboard Types and What Changes Between Them
Not all cardboard cuts the same way, and understanding the difference saves a lot of test-cutting time:
- Corrugated cardboard (the kind that comes in shipping boxes) — three layers: two flat kraft paper liners and a wavy fluted core. Very easy to cut, but the hollow fluted core means each pass needs to cut through two liner layers with an air gap between them. Low power, high speed, 1–2 passes.
- Plain card / cover stock (250–400 gsm single sheet) — thin and uniform. Cuts in a single pass at even lower settings than corrugated. Common for paper crafts, stencils, invitations.
- Chipboard / greyboard / bookboard (1.5–3mm compressed grey paperboard) — much denser than corrugated. Used for book covers, gift boxes, architectural models. Needs more passes and higher EI than corrugated. Cuts cleanly and with minimal char when settings are right.
- Foamcore — not covered here. The polystyrene foam core releases styrene fumes that should be vented aggressively, and the foam melts rather than cuts cleanly.
Corrugated Cardboard Cutting Settings
Source: Bonny Creations xTool D1 Pro 20W settings library (bonnycreations.com/settings) for the 20W settings. Other wattages normalized using the energy index formula (source type C — calculated starting points). Note: corrugated cardboard data comes from a single published source; treat as provisional starting points and test on your specific cardboard before relying on these numbers for production work.
| Machine class | Speed (mm/min) | Speed (mm/s) | Power % | Passes | EI (J/mm) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5W | 1,100 | 18.3 | 48% | 2–3 | 0.131 | Derived (20W) |
| 10W | 2,250 | 37.5 | 48% | 2 | 0.128 | Derived (20W) |
| 20W | 4,500 | 75.0 | 48% | 2 | 0.128 | Bonny Creations |
| 33W | 4,500 | 75.0 | 29% | 1–2 | 0.130 | Derived (20W) |
| 40W | 4,500 | 75.0 | 24% | 1 | 0.128 | Derived (20W) |
For plain card (250–400 gsm single sheet), reduce power by 30–40% or increase speed by 50% relative to the corrugated settings above — you're cutting through 0.3–0.5mm of paper rather than the double-liner of corrugated card.
Chipboard (2mm) Cutting Settings
Chipboard is denser than corrugated cardboard and needs settings closer to thin plywood. The settings below are for 2mm greyboard/chipboard. Source: Bonny Creations xTool D1 Pro 20W settings library for the 20W values; others derived. Single-source — verify with a test cut.
| Machine class | Speed (mm/min) | Speed (mm/s) | Power % | Passes | EI (J/mm) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5W | 440 | 7.3 | 75% | 2–3 | 0.511 | Derived. Supervised fire watch required at this speed. |
| 10W | 875 | 14.6 | 75% | 1–2 | 0.514 | Derived from 20W. |
| 20W | 3,250 | 54.2 | 75% | 1–2 | 0.277 | Bonny Creations D1 Pro 20W: 3,000–3,500 mm/min, 65–85%. Mid-range values here. |
| 33W | 3,250 | 54.2 | 45% | 1 | 0.277 | Derived (Rule 1 from 20W). |
| 40W | 3,250 | 54.2 | 37% | 1 | 0.277 | Derived (Rule 1 from 20W). |
Getting Clean Cardboard Cuts
Use pins or weights to hold cardboard flat. Corrugated cardboard bows and warps easily. Even a 0.5mm height change matters for cut quality, since focus depth is shallow on most diode modules. A few strips of low-tack masking tape or small neodymium magnets on the corners hold the workpiece flat without blocking the cut path.
Tape the top surface. Blue painter's tape or transfer tape on the top face of the cardboard reduces scorch marks and prevents the fluting from catching light. Peel it off after cutting — the cut edges stay much cleaner.
Use a vector cut, not a fill. For cutting (as opposed to engraving a pattern onto the surface), use your software's vector cut layer (line mode in LightBurn, not fill). Running the laser along the cut path once per pass is far more effective than a raster fill scan for cutting through the material.
2 faster passes vs 1 slow pass. For corrugated cardboard, 2 passes at moderate speed almost always gives cleaner results and less char than 1 pass at half the speed. The faster each pass, the less time the paper has to absorb heat laterally from the kerf.
Cardboard Engraving
For engraving logos, text, or designs onto corrugated cardboard, settings are very low. Source: Bonny Creations D1 Pro 20W: 8,000 mm/min at 15–20% power, 1 pass. At these speeds, corrugated cardboard engraves with a light brown mark. Heavy engraving is generally not done on corrugated (the texture makes fine detail look muddy); plain card or chipboard engraves more cleanly.
Confirm Before You Cut
Generate a material test grid with your power range set to ±30% of the table values and speed range at ±30%. For cardboard, the right cell shows a clean through-cut with slightly brown but not charred edges. If the edges are completely black and crumbling, increase speed or reduce power. If cuts are not complete, reduce speed or add a pass.