Metals
With metals the right machine is everything: you don't cut steel with a hobby diode laser, and you don't mill titanium as casually as aluminium. Feasibility depends on the technology far more than on willpower.
How to read the table
Laser — for most metals cutting is “No” on hobby machines (CO2/diode); a fibre laser is needed, and surface marking is a different thing from cutting. CNC — “Yes” or “With limits” depending on hardness: the limits are coolant, rigidity and wear, not impossibility. 3D printing — “No” in the maker context: metal printing is an industrial process, not a desktop one.
Steel
A broad family, from mild steels to stainless. Cutting and engraving require a fibre laser (CO2 and diode don't cut); milling needs a rigid machine, low speeds and proper tooling. Stainless adds corrosion resistance but is tougher to work.
| Material | Laser | CNC | 3D printing | Food safe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corten Steel (weathering) | With limitations | Yes | No | No |
| Structural Steel (S355) | With limitations | Yes | No | No |
| Mild Steel (Fe360 / S235) | With limitations | Yes | No | No |
| AISI 304 stainless steel | With limitations | Yes | No | Yes |
| AISI 316 stainless steel | With limitations | Yes | No | Yes |
| AISI 430 stainless steel | With limitations | Yes | No | Yes |
Aluminium and alloys
The maker's friendliest metal in milling: it works well even on amateur CNCs, but wants coolant or lubricant so it doesn't weld to the cutting edge. It isn't cut by CO2/diode lasers; surface marking is possible with dedicated compounds or a fibre laser.
| Material | Laser | CNC | 3D printing | Food safe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aluminum 1050 (commercially pure) | With limitations | Yes | No | Finished only |
| Aluminum 5052 (AlMg2.5) | With limitations | Yes | No | Finished only |
| Aluminum 6061-T6 | With limitations | Yes | No | Finished only |
| Aluminum 6082-T6 | With limitations | Yes | No | Finished only |
| Aluminum 7075-T6 | With limitations | Yes | No | No |
| Anticorodal (Al 6082) | With limitations | Yes | No | Finished only |
| Ergal (Al 7075) | With limitations | Yes | No | No |
Copper and alloys
Copper, brass and bronze: excellent in milling and turning, brass in particular is very machinable. Copper is highly reflective and conductive, so it's awkward for many lasers too; fine engraving is traditionally entrusted to cutters or a fibre laser.
| Material | Laser | CNC | 3D printing | Food safe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze (Cu-Sn) | With limitations | Yes | No | No |
| Brass CW508L (CuZn37) | With limitations | Yes | No | No |
| Brass CW614N (CuZn39Pb3) | With limitations | Yes | No | No |
| Electrolytic copper (Cu-ETP) | No | Yes | No | No |
Light metals and special alloys
Titanium, magnesium and special alloys: high performance but demanding to work. Magnesium as fine powder and chips is flammable and must be handled with great care; titanium requires specific tools and parameters. More advanced than entry-level.
Precious and semi-precious metals
Silver, gold and jewellery alloys. Soft and costly materials, worked mainly with goldsmithing techniques (casting, chasing, micro-milling) and marked with a fibre laser. Scrap is recovered: managing the chips is part of the job.
Working with Metals: what to know
On the laser there's a sharp distinction that causes half of beginners' disappointments. CO2 and benchtop diode lasers don't cut metal: at most, with a marking spray or paste, they leave a dark mark on the surface. Cutting and engraving bare metal is the domain of fibre lasers, which work by absorption at the right wavelength. If the spec sheet says “laser: no” for cutting, it almost always refers to the machines a maker has in the garage.
In CNC milling the dividing line is hardness and machine rigidity. Aluminium and brass machine well even on amateur CNCs, but aluminium wants coolant or lubricant so it doesn't “weld” to the cutting edge; steel needs a rigid machine, low speeds and proper tooling. Metal chips (swarf) are sharp and hot: they must be managed, not gathered with bare hands.
Metal 3D printing (SLM, DMLS, sintering) is an industrial world: there's no desktop version today. When a sheet lists 3D printing as possible for a metal, it means external services, not the home FDM printer.
On safety, beyond the chips, watch out for cutting fluids and the fine dusts of some alloys during polishing: ventilation and protection are the norm, not the exception.