Small light items getting blown out of cabinet

[Josh Richard]

When cutting paper, come of the cut parts are getting sucked into my exhaust blower and destroyed. If I turn my blower off, the paper stays still, but there is more smoke in the room that I am comfortable with.

1) What have others done to deal with this?
2) Is there an item, like the underside of a big sticky note that can be used to keep small light items in the laser cabinet?

Thanks for the help
Josh

[Dan Hintz]

Sticky mats exist, but they're pretty pricey for what you get (like $200 for a <2' square), and they don't last forever. Some swear by them. Have you considered gating down your exhaust to reduce the suction power?

If you're doing repeating projects, consider placing a piece of acrylic over the design with the appropriate sections cut out to hold the smaller sections down... this won't work with all designs, mind you, but it's another option. Magnets placed in the right spot can be useful.

[Dee Gallo]

Is your exhaust pipe fitted with a blast gate? I have two lasers with one exhaust system, so I can close one or the other when not in use. It also closes off the cold winter air when the laser is not in use. If you had one, you could slide it so it's open partway, allowing smoke to go out but not be too strong. I'm not entirely sure this is a good idea though, as the laser is supposed to be exhausted at a certain rate. Is this something you would be doing all the time? If so, you are going to have to come up with another plan.

You can buy sticky note glue, but then you would have that on the back of everything you cut. Plus I doubt it would help as it is pretty weak. Especially in the face of air assist. I've tried double faced tape to hold paper/thin wood and it does not work well. Sticks like mad to the paper but not to the honeycomb. You might have to use a sacrificial piece of cardboard or plexi if you want to glue it down. If the pieces are big enough, a magnetic system would work well.

I'm not much help, am I? hahaha Good luck!

~ dee

[Josh Richard]

Thanks guys, I will look into a blast gate. I have some young ladies who wanted some "die cut" letters. We were cutting them out of construction paper.

Thanks for the idea of an acrylic sheet. I have had success with placing a sheet over the paper to keep it in place for longer runs.

[Mike Mackenzie]

Josh,

Besides the blast gate to control the exhaust you could put a piece of screen over the exhaust plenum this would keep the small pcs from ending up on the roof or outside.

[Joe Pelonio]

With mine I can velcro some screen across the exit openings and the bits stick there until I shut it down. I have a previous post with a tip on cutting construction paper, 3-4 layers at a time if you search.

[David Fairfield]

Maybe break the vector lines in one or two places, to leave the cut parts "tabbed" to the carrier sheet. Then the end user can just cut them free with a razor blade. Parts won't blow away and they stay organized too.

[pete hagan]

How about a vacuum table that holds your paper? There are several out there reasonably priced. Look on fleabay Item number: 270651398588 or similar items.

[Martin Boekers]

You might try some tempory spray adhesive onto a mat board then place the paper on it.

[Mike Lassiter]

are you using a cutting table? I am having trouble picturing what you are describing if pieces are not being sucked into the honeycomb openings in the cutting table. If that is the case, could you lay a wire screen like window screen that was nice a flat over the cutting table to stop the small pieces from getting sucked thru the cutting table openings? The screen would still allow air flow which would keep the paper sucked down flat.

[Josh Richard]

Thanks for the help folks!

Mike, I do use a honeycomb table that offers a small amount of downdraft. Some of the letters we are cutting out started to curl and then got caught in the exhaust air. We simply re-cut any letters that were sucked up. The ones that were moved tended to crease and didn't look as nice.

In the end we had about a 30% re-cut rate. Not bad seeing how the construction paper is cheap and my labor costs include a pass to the next class!