Need help cutting Acrylic

[Mark Noll]

I am using a friend's Camtech L20 Laser.

I want to cut Acrylic shapes for a project. I purchased 3/16" Acrylic sheets. I can not get it to cut in one pass. I am using Black Acrylic I purchased from VIP Plastics.

I have the power set to 100% and the speed way down.


Is there a difference between Plexiglass and Acrylic?

What is a good source for Acrylic that cuts well( better than others)?

What speed settings should I use?

HELP.

Thanks

[pete hagan]

Mark,

Cutting acrylic sheet is easy but slow. I have a 60 watt laser and typically cut 5mm sheet at 100% power and 6 speed. Make sure you have a good exhaust and NEVER leave the laser alone while it is cutting acrylic. It flames up pretty easily.

[Scott Shepherd]

Also depends on the power you have available.

Colored (especially black) acrylic doesn't cut through as easy as clear.

[Rodne Gold]

I assume the l20 is a 20w machine and perhaps is not in tip top condition power wise and could be as low as 10-15w. Cutting 6mm pex might be marginal at those power levels
Try lower the speed to cut in a single pass if you can and use lots of air assist. If the machine has a PPI setting , set it to it's maximum. Also do not focus on the top of the perspex , raise the table about 1/2 the thickness of the perspex after focussing on the top surface , ie focus 1/2 way into the perspex.
2 pass cutting in perspex is not adviseable as the melt just resoldifies in the partially cut groove and if its blown away , its normally blown all over the surface apart from which the perspex expands when heated and the 2nd pass is often misaligned.
The other side of the coin is that if you have to put too much heat into the pex at a low low speed to cut thru in one pass , you might get a really bad edge quality as well..

[Joe Pelonio]

Mark,

Cutting acrylic sheet is easy but slow. I have a 60 watt laser and typically cut 5mm sheet at 100% power and 6 speed. Make sure you have a good exhaust and NEVER leave the laser alone while it is cutting acrylic. It flames up pretty easily.
Odd, those same settings work fine on my 45 watt.

There is some less expensive black coming out of Indonesia with plain brown
paper on it that doesn't cut well, the edges are not smooth and glossy, and with inconsistent thickness and warpage there may be corners that are not cut completely through.

When that matters for the application, use a name brand like Acrylite.

[Mark Noll]

The L20 is a 55 watt laser. Don't know why it isn't the L55?

[Rodne Gold]

There should be no problems at all cutting 6mm with 55w - I cut 10mm in one pass with 25-30w

[Viktor Voroncov]

On their site they advice that L20 use 55 Wt Synrad laser with water cooling. For Synrad 55 Wt looks slightly unusual, but with this power some of our customers cut 20 mm acrylic in one pass.

[Niklas Bjornestal]

Is there a difference between Plexiglass and Acrylic?

Its the same, plexiglass is just a brand.