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View Full Version : Can I cut a beveled edge into acrylic using the laser



Ernie Martinez
10-04-2012, 1:24 PM
I've figured out how to create bevels in Corel but not sure if the laser would cut it. I would think that it would have to vary the power to cut progressively deeper.

Martin Boekers
10-04-2012, 1:32 PM
You could on small piece by attaching the piece to a "wedge" not easy or productive.
Need the pieces to be small and will not have a totally finished edge. Epilog works
of a grey scale so it may be possible through rastering a gradient, then again quite
a bit of time involved and no finished edge. If this is for a quantity and a decent
budget contact a local acrylic supplier and see what they can do for your blanks.

Do you have a router? That would be possible with an acrylic bit, then you will need
to flame polish the edge.

Mark Sipes
10-04-2012, 1:39 PM
In short "No", not that would look good.

Tim Bateson
10-04-2012, 2:39 PM
For the very few times I've been asked to bevel an edge, I just tapped it on my bench sander for each side, cleaned up and done. Careful to be sure it's straight, but again I rarely have to do this.

David Fairfield
10-04-2012, 3:29 PM
How awesome would it be if the next generation of lasers included an automatically tilting mirror plus focal length correction, distance compensation in the driver? You could do all kinds of new and interesting things if it could cut at angles! :) Dave

Wes Mitchell
10-04-2012, 4:45 PM
How awesome would it be if the next generation of lasers included an automatically tilting mirror plus focal length correction, distance compensation in the driver? You could do all kinds of new and interesting things if it could cut at angles! :) Dave

Think of the power it would take to cut 1/4" acrylic on an angle!

Ross Moshinsky
10-04-2012, 4:58 PM
Think of the power it would take to cut 1/4" acrylic on an angle!

Would be a little under 3/8"

Gary Hair
10-04-2012, 6:05 PM
Would be a little under 3/8"

That depends entirely on the angle.

walter hofmann
10-05-2012, 6:03 AM
like they all say it depends on the size. but I do some up to 4x4 inches not in a 45 degree only up to about 30 degree with a jig of 30 degree and little clamp and cut up to 1/4 inch acrylic in two runs just straight cuts. the only probleme is that the jig and clamp has to be precise in order to get a perfect edge out
greetings
walt

David Fairfield
10-05-2012, 10:23 AM
Cutting thin material, like mat board, at an angle would be so useful. Doesn't have to be 1/4 plexi. Dovetails would be possible, too, I suppose, and that would be terrifically useful for small decorative boxes and dollhouse furniture. Well, just a daydream for now but eventually...

Dave

Matt Turner (physics)
10-05-2012, 11:18 AM
I recently came across the Microsoft Research Lab's laser cutter use notes. They include a description of how to get a quick bevelled edge. I haven't tried it (our laser's not set up yet), but I'm posting the instructions below. There are some specific instructions for their machine that you'll have to adapt.


Quick Bevel Cut: To produce a beveled finish atop a normal cut:
a. Cut the part out normally. You might have to design small tags to hold the part in place for the next operation if the part will shift much after the initial cutout. Leave everything untouched in the cutter after the cuts.
b. Get into FOCUS mode (push Z) and lower the floor by 1.0"—10 pushes of the Floor down button at 0.1" steps.
c. Make a copy of the vectors you want to bevel, change to a unique color, and exactly overlay these atop your original object(s).
d. Move these new vectors in X and Y on your drawing, up .01" and to the left by 0.015" (add -0.015 to X and +0.01 in Y in the SIZE-POSITION window). This accounts for this machine‘s AZ/EL (L/R) offset per 1.0" out-of-focus for our printer.
e. Vector-cut only that unique color at 2x to 4x speed, same power or a half to a quarter of total power.
f. Return the floor back to the normal focus height.

Ernie Martinez
10-05-2012, 1:52 PM
I don't know enough about Corel, but I would think that a Macro could be written that could do this automatically. Create X number of lines of different colors which are assigned different power levels using color mapping, then create the bevel drawing using the different colored lines.

Tony Lenkic
10-05-2012, 5:40 PM
Why struggle with that when you can find real beveler on ebay from time to time for under 200.00
It will pay for it self in a jiffy if you bevel most of your plates.

Gary Gunderson
10-05-2012, 9:11 PM
I've done them before by drawing a little grayscale gradient in Illustrator across the area I want the angle and then engraving that (the black part being the lowest part of the angle). It works in a pinch, but it rarely looks that great, usually requires a lot of trial and error, and it would usually be far faster to just throw it on a sander or mini table saw.