Can you cut Shadow Foam with a laser?

It’s one question we are asked all the time… can you cut Shadow Foam with a laser? The short answer is yes, however with all things like this, it’s really not that simple. Laser cutting a material that has been specifically designed to be hand cut could be fraught with challenges. So we put three different laser cutting tools and methods to the test, so you don’t have to!

Laser Cutting Shadow Foam versus hand cutting

From the outset we should say that this product has been specifically developed to be hand cut. So hand cutting using the tools and methods outlined in our guides is always our recommended way of working with the material, and delivers great results that are every bit comparable to machine cutting.

Laser cutting the product, in our experience does also take longer. Not only do you have to spend time creating the dxf file for the design, but then the by the time the laser has done it’s job you could probably have already hand cut it a couple of times over! However there are times when laser cutting really does come into it’s own. For example, when you have to cut many of the same item or same design into the foam.

What laser cutting tools did we try

In the interest of delivering a rounded picture of the options we put three lasers to the test. The first was a small handheld laser bought online that promised many great things. But did it actually deliver on any of them?! The second a small, compact and accessible XTools laser which had some incredible features that we loved. Finally, our tried, tested and much loved HPC Laser cutter. The latter which we often use for many other projects, but not for cutting our foam.

Check out our experience in the Youtube video below. See the results of our comparison, along with useful hints and tips for anyone who may be planning on trying this out themselves.