Hello, I'm new Here, I'm thinking of taking a laser plunge have a question

[Rich Fleming]

I'm looking at purchasing a desktop model that will be used to cut small 4" x 6" pieces out of Griptape ( see www.griptape.com (http://www.griptape.com) ) it's about .025" thick. My question is do you think the little 40 watt non-air assited models that you see on ebay and other sites would do the job.?? I've sent a piece off to one supplier to try to be cut on a artcut m40 but I wanna get some real world advice here as well.. Is this feasable.. I figured with it being thin that it shouldn't be to bad..

Thanks for any advice and great forum.. I'm sure if i do end up getting the machine I will be back looking for more great advice

Rich

[Dave Johnson29]

cut small 4" x 6" pieces out of Griptape


Hi Rich,

I have some here somewhere, if I can find it, let me try it. I can't see why it would not cut OK, but let me get back to you in a short while.

[Rich Fleming]

Thanks I appreciate it. I guess my main concern is the machine I'm looking at is mostly a engraver, but I was hopeing that since the material isn't that thick that it'll work. If this adventure takes off then I may spend the money on a bigger machine but for now I just wanna start small

[Dave Johnson29]

Ji Rich,

Well my machine is 25 Watt and 40% power and 60% speed cut it fine, but... it is not so much the cutting but the charring and flames. You would have to mess with the speeds and power.

The stuff needs a flame retardant in it. I am not sure if it is the adhesive or the cloth backing material or a bit of both.

Maybe several light, fast passes may do it. I do not have time to mess with it. I just wanted to see if it will cut and it does that easily. The edge was a mess of black sticky sooty stuff. :)

Under these circumstances, the laser may not be the best solution. See what the sample from the machine manufacturer comes back like. Maybe their air assist will prevent the charring taking hold.

You can also send a sample to Synrad Laser and they will cut a sample.

[Rich Fleming]

I would be fine with a few light passes. The machine I'm looking at doesn't have air assist. I'll see how the sample looks.

Thanks for trying

[Rich Fleming]

I know it's been cut with a laser before
see http://www.core77.com/blog/featured_items/1hour_design_challenge_winners_lasercut_grip_tape_ inlay_for_a_longboard_12537.asp

Just not sure what kind, how fast, or power..

[Zachery Thomas]

Rich,

I have the Jinan Artsign JSM40 (Artcut M40), it is a great little machine for the price (~$1500). For cutting it is limited by the driver card and software which were designed for engraving - it's primary purpose. The lowest speed of 1cm/s is too fast for some materials and the fastest speed is too slow for others. In engraving mode it can go much faster and obviously the motors could be driven slower so the limitations are not the actual machine - just the driver board and software control.

It is fairly simple to add air assist if needed, which it may based on Dave's post regarding the material flaming up.

I've cut various materials but not 'griptape' so I can't say what results you will get, only that I have found it can do most things if you are willing to sacrifice speed and do 2-passes.

Hope this helps even though it doesn't answer you question - sorry.

Zax.

[Rich Fleming]

Zax that helps a lot.. Any DIY threads on adding air assist to this or a similar machine.??

[Brian Robison]

Rich,
It's been mentioned on here several times as a thought.
See if one of the folks here would do the laser work for you until you know you have the work load to support a laser. Many fine folks here willing to help you get started.

[Zachery Thomas]

I would be glad to test it, PM sent to Rich with mailing address.

Zax.

[Rich Fleming]

Actually found some video of the griptape for that challenge being cut.. any ideas on how fast you guys would say that machine is going?? before they speed it up of course.. and if you think one of the little machines would handle something like that on a small scale?? I'm only looking to cut this stuff in 6" x 6" designs. I'm mostly looking at being able to do short run work.. I'll send the big runs off to have run else where I mostly wanna test fit designs before I send them off to be run and it would be nice to do that..
http://it.truveo.com/1HDC-Grip-Tape-Laser-Cutting/id/3892263677