Laser Cutting Tables

[Chuck Frysinger]

Read some past on honeycomb tables for lasers and cutting acrylic. Wanting to get an update on current expericences.

[Dan Hintz]

Uhm, okay... is there something specific you'd like to ask about them? If all you want is my "experience" with them, I'll answer with "they work".

[Mike Null]

I prefer a lower priced version which you can get here.

http://www.cuttinggrid.com/

[Chuck Frysinger]

Thanks for the imputs thus far. I been laser cutting acrylic for 11 years now. I bought a large shipment of table stock from Pactive years ago and jsut now running low. Pactive had the best. They don't make it anymore. It was great for cutting acrylic mirror and lasted for some time before falling apart. I have been trying some tricell material. First shot out of the box was with a 1/2 grid material. This allows too much flame to lick back on the acrylic. I am smapling so 1/4 material now. Sure miss the pactive materail. Old post mention kerns laser as a source. i have a kerns laser and have talked with them. They as well were looking for a replacement material. i also am running 4 Universals using same material. i cut mostly .118 acrylic mirror on all machines 40 - 50 hrs per week.

[Rodne Gold]

We have 6 machines and been cutting acrylic for many many years - we never use the honeycomb tables , I cut either directly on a sheet of black anodised ally for 3mm and under or elevate the pex on 8mm blocks for thicker stuff , never had melt stains or flashback problems doing it that way, only time we use honeycomb is for paper or ultrathin flexible stuff or if cutting small parts

[Terry Swift]

I prefer a lower priced version which you can get here.

http://www.cuttinggrid.com/

Mike - that's a pretty good price on that cutting table and powder coated too. May look into that as my table is getting scared / bent in some places.

[Ross Moshinsky]

Pin tables are easy and cheap to make. Pins from McMaster are $10 and you can essentially use any piece of scrap material as the base.

[Larry Robinson]

I recently bought a Grid from Cutting Grid. Works great!!

Larry

[Chuck Stone]

I'm still using the fluorescent lighting covers, trying to find clean spots before I
turn the machine on.. wish I could find the metal ones, though. Nobody has them
here.

[Mike Null]

Chuck

See the web site I posted. They are powder coated aluminum. I've been using them for years. (it used to be my company)

[Gary Hair]

Chuck,
I would highly advise against using those plastic grids for vector cutting. I thought it was a great idea and the fact that I was paying $9.00 for them was fantastic! until one caught fire on me that is... Fortunately, I am ALWAYS at my laser when I vector cut any material and caught it within less than a minute of it starting - kind of an eery glow beneath the acrylic I was cutting. Anyway, I ordered a grid from Mike the next day, back when it was his company. Being the tightwad that I am, I am still appalled at the price of a chunk of aluminum grid but when you compare it to the price of repairing a laser it's pretty cheap.

Gary


I'm still using the fluorescent lighting covers, trying to find clean spots before I
turn the machine on.. wish I could find the metal ones, though. Nobody has them
here.

[Chuck Frysinger]

If you do a lot of small cuts on acylic, any metal table can heat up and leave a footprint in the acrylic making a mess of the project. The use of a fire retardent honeycomb paper eliminates these issues. I had a supply of material I bought in 2005 form Pactive which quit making this material in 07. My supply of 200 pcs is just now being used up. Now I ma forced to try other materials. I bought a load of 1/2" x 1" tricell. Works Ok but burns up fast and thelarge3r 1/2 " pattern lets the flame come back throughmaking a mess of it. I have since orderd a load of 1/4" cell x .75 Gonna have many years supply as they have min orders. May opt to selll off some if anyone is interested in its use as well.

[Mike Null]

When I had the grid business I tested Nomex honeycomb thinking I had found the perfect solution. While they didn't burn--they melted.

Acrylic grids are available but they too must be considered disposable. They have another downside in that they can weld to the acrylic being cut unless there is some separation. There is no flash back and they can be used repeatedly but with care.

[John Frazee]

I have one that looks like aluminum but is metal. Works really nice being that I use magnets instead of tape to hold and cut paper templates. If I have a piece of IPI that is a little warped, I just throw a magnet on it and it holds it to the table. The magnets I use are from magnetic nametags. When the insert starts getting nasty, I just soak it and wash it. It holds up better than the plastic or aluminum.

[bill gervais]

I am in need of new cutting table and found this post. How does this compare to factory 1/2" aluminim honeycomb grid? It seems as it would be much more durable and being powder coated i would think it would clean up a lot better with less flashback.

Thanks to everyone for all the post and information great resource!

Bill