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View Full Version : Source for inespensive thin laserable plastic



Allen Jeter
03-16-2009, 1:33 PM
Hello All,

Well I finally took the plunge and bought a laser system I went ahead and splurged on a new epilog mini 18 35 watt. I have been making focus masks for telescopes and selling them online which has been working out.

I make the masks right now out of 1/32" rowmark black ADA alternative. By my math I am paying $1.60 a square inch. That seems like an awful lot for what it is but maybe I am just being cheap :eek:.

So I was wondering is this expensive because it is being sold specifically for laser engraving? Is there a regular old thin black plastic that would cut well on the laser that's not so spendy? Or is this is cheap as it gets? A broader question though is what makes a plastic laserable? I know pvc is out but what specific things do you look for in a plastic that make it ideal?

Cheers, Allen

Scott Shepherd
03-16-2009, 1:49 PM
Hello All,

Well I finally took the plunge and bought a laser system I went ahead and splurged on a new epilog mini 18 35 watt. I have been making focus masks for telescopes and selling them online which has been working out.

I make the masks right now out of 1/32" rowmark black ADA alternative. By my math I am paying $1.60 a square inch. That seems like an awful lot for what it is but maybe I am just being cheap :eek:.

So I was wondering is this expensive because it is being sold specifically for laser engraving? Is there a regular old thin black plastic that would cut well on the laser that's not so spendy? Or is this is cheap as it gets? A broader question though is what makes a plastic laserable? I know pvc is out but what specific things do you look for in a plastic that make it ideal?

Cheers, Allen

So you pay $460 a for a sheet of 12" x 24"? It's 288 square inches in a 12" x 24" sheet and that material goes for about $9 a sheet or .03 cents a square inch.

Am I missing something?

Allen Jeter
03-16-2009, 2:02 PM
Bah your right my math was way off not sure how I even came up with that.:o

So I am paying $30.38 for a 24x48 sheet which is 1152 square inches divided by the sheet cost is ~2.6 cents a square inch which is much cheaper than I was thinking so I guess never mind.

Scott Shepherd
03-16-2009, 2:16 PM
You thought you were making money with your current prices, think how much more profitable you just became ;)

Dan Hintz
03-16-2009, 3:13 PM
You thought you were making money with your current prices, think how much more profitable you just became ;)
Wow, a those markups I'm making about $1000 per 6x6 granite tile I make. Sweet! :D

Margaret Turco
03-16-2009, 7:38 PM
Isn't the core material on Rowmark just ABS plastic? I think when I have bought sheets that it always has a haircell texture on one side, but it might be an alternative.