Looking for Material

[Steve Clarkson]

There are a ton of different materials out there that I have yet to try, so I was hoping someone might know of a material that I'm looking for.

Basically I'm looking for something very similar to Alumamark......very light, very thin, very shiny, comes in multiple colors........but that can be cut with the laser. Cutting shapes with it is significantly more important than marking or engraving it.

Does anyone know if there is a material like that available somewhere?

[Margaret Turco]

Hi Steve, I've been wanting to try this but haven't yet. This is fantastic looking material. I have a sample that I got years ago and the website says it's PET, like Mylar. It will probably melt quite a bit on the edges so it would have to be experimented with.
http://www.spectratek.net/productlines/holographic/applications/index.html

You might also check here
http://www.optigrafix.com/Reflective.htm

[Steve Clarkson]

Thanks Margaret.....those DO look nice. But I guess I forgot to mention the "firmness" or "strength".....I want it as THIN as alumamark or paper or film (1/32 OR 1/64 ???).....but strong, firm, or as hard as the alumamark.....ie. so it won't bend in half when you hold it up with one hand, like a piece of paper would. Does that make sense?

[Margaret Turco]

Do you need to be able to vector cut it? You could laminate those films to 1/32 acrylic or something, or have aluminum cut to size for you.

[Scott Shepherd]

Stephen, what's the application (you don't have to say)? It might help us know more about what you are trying to accomplish, which will help us help more. What about plastics? IPI and Rowmark both have thin products and both have a polishes silver that looks like a mirror, plus so many other colors.

If you don't have their sample kits, it's really well worth getting. IPI's book cost about $35 or $40, and Rowmark's is about $65-70. Not sure why we have to pay for a product sample book that helps us buy from them, but I have yet to find anyone willing to give them away for free to customers.

Loads and loads of materials in both books. Outside of plastics, I'm not sure what else it around that's so thin and strong.

[Joe Pelonio]

For sign plotter cutting there are laserable metalized poly films, that come in brushed or mirror gold and silver. You can apply these to any laserable plastic such as styrene, ABS, or even thin polycarbonate.

[Steve Clarkson]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I'm trying to make a wind chime for someone, so that's why it needs to be very light and thin. I would love to use acrylic, since I have no problem working with that and it comes in a variety of colors.....but all I have is 1/8" and I think that's too thick.

I'm trying to mimic some wind chimes that I saw in the mall.....they were made out of a very thin and light metal.....almost like anodized aluminum. And all I have is the laser.....so I'm kind of limited.....and the shapes that I'm thinking of are too intricate to cut with shears.

Alumamark would be perfect......if I could cut it.....

Light, colorful, thin and able to be cut with a laser.........

[Angus Hines]

Acrylite Radiant...."R-50" is the number. Might work for you come in 1/16 and up.

[Tim Bateson]

Wow :eek: That's expensive stuff :eek: :
0.125 R-50 48 X 96 $528.26

[Steve Clarkson]

Hmmmm.....maybe I should have put a dollar limit on what I was requesting.......

[Scott Shepherd]

Beauty has a price :)

Sounds like a lot, but the price per sq. foot isn't THAT bad. $16.50 a sq.ft. Rowmark can be $7-8 a square foot, with some of the more expensive sheets going into the $12-14 a sq.ft. range.