Laser Cutting Bed material

Hi there
I did do a search, and could not find an answer, so I thought I'd ask. I've made a bracket to turn my homebrew 3d printer into a laser cutter. I've a 5w laser and wiring all set, I just need to know what is safe to cut over. Currently, there is a Ultrabase by anycubic, which I believe would probably be destroyed by the laser - I would most likely need to put some felt down and clamp something else onto it to cut on.

So far, I can only imagine a ceramic tile would work but could be heavy and cause some distortion in the y-axis belt. I an concerned aluminium may reflect the laser back into the material? I would only be cutting balsa, to begin with.

Are there any other ideas for bedding material for a 5w laser cutter?

Many thanks
Kevin

... I'm using an iron-sheet for the diode-lasers (and even for fiberlasers!) - biggest advantage is the use of magnets to fix the parts

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Thanks, VDX - that sounds like a great idea. Do you have any specific coating on it? Zincalume? Galvanised?

... no special coatings (they will be oxidized/removed anyway) - simply something found in my scrapery or toolstore ...


*** EDIT ***
... here a "common" setup with the remarks from previous "through-cuts":



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2019 07:22AM by VDX.

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]