ABS - laser safe?

[Harper Abbot]

Surprised this didn't come up at all in a search. I have some tooling I fabbed from schedule 40 ABS pipe, and I'd like to engrave alignment marks into it. Anybody know if it's laser safe?

Maybe I'm worrying too much, but you can't be too careful when you have invested your hard earned money into your laser.

[Dan Hintz]

Not the prettiest of cuts (a bit of edge melt), but it's safe...

[Harper Abbot]

awesome, thanks so much. proceeding...

[Terry Swift]

Surprised this didn't come up at all in a search. I have some tooling I fabbed from schedule 40 ABS pipe, and I'd like to engrave alignment marks into it. Anybody know if it's laser safe?

Maybe I'm worrying too much, but you can't be too careful when you have invested your hard earned money into your laser.

I thought Schedule 40 was PVC or does it come in an ABS flavor as well.

[Dave Russell Smith]

It comes in both forms

[Harper Abbot]

the 'schedule' of pipe pertains to its wall thickness with respect to its diameter. Learn something new every day, eh? :)

[Frank Wick]

It is safe in the sense Cyanide is safe. It is absolutely hazardous to you...maybe not the laser. After cutting, heated plastics go through a process akin to off-gassing. The heated oils smoke away into the air. You'll exhaust the smoke as you cut inside your laser but pulling the plastic out and handling it will allow the residual and aromatic monomers to leach into your skin and these can be breathed into your lungs. Just wash up after handling the cut pieces. I'd recommend doing this type of cutting in small doses.

HAZARDOUS DECOMPOSITION PRODUCTS: Styrene monomer, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, acrylamide, aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbon fractions, and carbon monoxide may be present. Carbon dioxide, an asphyxiant, is also produced.

[Dan Hintz]

It is safe in the sense Cyanide is safe. It is absolutely hazardous to you...maybe not the laser.

...handling it will allow the residual and aromatic monomers to leach into your skin...
:confused: The sheer amount of burnt ABS you would have to handle to cause anything leeching through the skin to cause you issue could be calculated in multiple lifetimes. Take care of the fumes and go to sleep at night with a smile on your face.

I would consider ABS and Cyanide to be at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of handling dangers... :rolleyes:

[Richard Rumancik]

There is virtually nothing that you can laser cut that generates fumes that are safe to breathe. That includes materials like paper and wood. The problem with using the MSDS as a criteria is that there is no way that the average person who does not a degree in chemistry, biology, and medicine (maybe even another degree or two) can really make an assessment of the true risk. It always pays to be cautious, but I have looked at plenty of MSDSs and it is pretty difficult to make a judgment as to the safety of laser cutting. In general I think it is better to search on "laser cutting" + "material name" to get an idea of what the industry is doing and what the potential hazards might be.

[Mike Null]

The Synrad web site has an applications section that'll identify what they engrave and cut.

[Richard Rumancik]

Good suggestion, Mike. I have used the Synrad site quite a bit. One thing to remember is that a lot of their experiments are done with marking heads and "lab type" machines. For some reason they don't seem to have a LaserPro or Trotec or similar machine in their applications lab - at least none of the app notes I have read suggested that. They also tend to use more high pressure inert gasses for air assist which most of us do not use. (Not sure which other laser systems are using Synrad tubes these days.) So for materials suitability, their site is a good resource but for equipment/settings info it isn't as helpful. I don't recall seeing many (any) postings regarding marking heads.

I was in a rush when I posted - MSDSs come up on this forum from time to time as a suggestion to determine suitability for lasering. My point was that I really doubt that it is practicable to make that determination by reading the MSDS.

As far as ABS - I have cut quite a bit of 1/8" sheet and apart from the residual smell of buring tires, it cuts reasonably well. I find that the edge turns matte black (black material) and there is a bit of a ridge along the cut edge.

[Terry Swift]

Even the acrylics from Rowmark / IPI leave a nasty odor. I let the pieces stay in the laser with just the exhaust running for a few minutes to try and pull as much odor / smell out as possible.

[Richard Rumancik]

Running the exhaust after the job is a good practice.

This leads to another point I have about this subject. Whether a material is "safe" to laser depends on what kind of exhaust system is being used. Some people are using 1HP+ blowers, some 100 watt fans. Maybe 75 cfm - 750 cfm range. And some are recirculating filtered air back into the room. So all of these affect as to whether or not something is safe to cut.