Just got 2 Laserpro Spirit 60w engravers

[Doug Walker]

I've been playing with one machine for the last week and think I
don't know how I could have lived without it. Anybody cut polystyrene
foam? How thick with 60 watts?

[Dee Gallo]

Welcome to the fun, Doug!

I don't have experience with polystyrene foam, but if you wait a minute, someone who knows what they are talking about will help you.

The Creek is a great place to learn more about your new toys.

cheers, dee

[Dan Hintz]

You shouldn't have too many issues with 1" once you get the settings tweaked...

[Robert Ray]

Don't leave polystyrene foam cutting un-attended for even a minute. I was cutting some 1" material for a diorama, and the phone rang. I came back a minute later to find a melted glob of black and blue goo on my vector grid.

Thank god I have downdraft exhaust, 40 feet of aluminum ductwork, and a 660 CFM blower. Did not even smoke up the lid on my engraver.

-Robert Ray

[Mitchell Andrus]

I know.... Great machine.

[Anthony Scira]

2 ? ? ?

Really ?


My wife only let me have one ;)

[Doug Walker]

Cut some vinyl today, wow these machines are amazing.

[Anthony Scira]

Ummmmmmmm might not want to cut vinyl. Fumes and all destroying machine, voiding warranty and what not.

[Rodne Gold]

I don't think kiss cutting sign vinyl is a serious issue , cutting thicker PVC or rastering sign vinyl will have some serious side effects tho

[Andrea Weissenseel]

Welcome to the Creek, Doug

On the GCC homepage they list Vinyl as cuttable/engravable material. I also asked my dealer and he said Vinyl is no problem - at least for the thin material. I must admit I was too chicken to try yet

I guess I just wait what happens to Doug's machine :D

[Dean Carpenter]

stay away from laser cutting PVC. If the highly toxic/corrosive fumes don't hurt you then for sure they'll hurt your machine/pocket.

Sign vinyl can be an exception but only in small quantities and then only if you have an adequate extract to atmosphere exhaust system

Dean

[Doug Walker]

I don't plan to cut it all the time, I'm working on building a fume
extractor with a scrubber.

[Dean Carpenter]

The problem is that even if you have a monster extractor it's impossible to prevent the fumes from coating the surraces of your machine components. PVC fumes act to corrode most materials.

At the least it will strip the coating off of your optics. At the worst it'll corrode the steel bearings, etc, within the motion system.

From a H&S (the most important) perspective, if you absolutely have to process PVC be sure to get professional advice from a fume extraction expert. If you email me I will send to you some people to contact.

regards

[Dave Johnson29]

The problem is that even if you have a monster extractor it's impossible to prevent the fumes from coating the surraces of your machine components.


Dean,

I disagree with this. If the extraction system is doing it's job there can be no way the fumes can wander around the cabinet.

My extraction system pulls the smoke horizontally from the laser beam point to the outlet port. The smoke stream is about 1/8" to 1/4" of an inch above the material. There is not way fumes are going to percolate around inside the cabinet.

[Mark Winlund]

I don't think kiss cutting sign vinyl is a serious issue , cutting thicker PVC or rastering sign vinyl will have some serious side effects tho


I agree.... there is a certain amount of hysteria about this subject. Whenever someone brings this up, two or three people will jump in and loudly scream "you're gonna die, die, die" if you put any pvc in your machine!" I have been cutting sign vinyl and 1/32" pvc for years. No problems. Still on the original optics. No corrosion. I also have a very good (but loud) extraction system.

Mark

[Dean Carpenter]

Hi to all.

The laser generates gases (you can't see them) as well as fumes, so what you see is not always all that is vaporised.

I have 16 lasers at my place with extractors ranging from 400m3/hr fume filtration up to monster 15hp extract to atmosphere systems.

If absolutely everything were drawn from the machine you'd never need to clean it. Same can be said for air assit at the nosecone. If it was 100% effective you'd never need clean your lenses.

A simple test is to stick a piece of bare steel inside the cabinet then watch it turn rusty as the fumes attack it

regards to all

Dean

[Larry Bratton]

I kiss cut layouts on PVC sheet all the time. Most time it is painted though. Then I apply acrylic letters to it with Weldon 16 cement. The Weldon works extremely well for this purpose. I agree with Mark also, so far no harm has come from this, however I am marking it at like 5p x 100s. I would not hesitate to cut vinyl at low power and high speed in small quantities. If I had a lot to do I might think twice.

[Dave Johnson29]

A simple test is to stick a piece of bare steel inside the cabinet then watch it turn rusty as the fumes attack it


Dean,

I think if you do some chemical research you will find that the fumes need to combine with water (airborne moisture) where the Hydrogen Chloride joins to make Hydrochloric Acid. It is the acid that causes the rusting.

As to cleaning the machine, it is not just how you are removing the fumes and gases, but what about filtering the incoming air? Unless the incoming air is HEPA filtered, it will be bringing in particulate matter to depsot where ever it can.