vinyl records - safe to cut?

[Graham Taylor]

Are vinyl records safe to cut? If so, has anyone tried doing it?

If the answer is yes, then I will take one with me when I visit Trotec next week and try it along with loads of other material samples I have.

Cheers for any help and comments

[Henri Sallinen]

In my understanding, vinyl records + lasercutting is a big no-no.

[David Somers]

Graham,

I believe Henri has it right. Vinyl records are made from PVC. Polyvinylcholoride. And that is a pretty dangerous thing to cut on a laser, as well as posing a high risk to your lens and mirrors.

I believe someone in an earlier thread about this said it was Ok if you used a really good blower to remove the air from the laser and send it outside, but then all you are doing is sending a poison gas directly outdoors. I would stay away from this stuff. Far too many other things to blast with your laser to mess with PVC of any kind.

Dave

[Dave Sheldrake]

spot on, unless you have a machine rated for toxics and the extraction / cleaner to suit stay well away, the emissions are toxic and corrosive.

Anything can be laser cut as such, it all depends on the machine and it's air cleaner. Bank on an extraction for toxics of level 3 and below costing $40,000+ as a starter,

Level 2 it's going to be $100,000+, Level 1....don't bother, you cannot get certification for anything less than Military use.

cheers

Dave

[Graham Taylor]

Gents, thanks for the replies.

I also asked Trotec (prior to posting here) and they agree not to do it as well.

Was thinking it could be good as a pic guard on guitars so will look at acrylic and other materials.

My brother in law has a website selling guitar parts so was thinking of doing this as something he can sell - mates rates obviously :D. Will look at engraving the bodies and necks as well

[Kevin Gregerson]

Not that I really recommend it, but I've ran across it before. Pretty much requires rebuilding the inside of the laser chamber annually and shortens the life of the main frame of equipment from a normal 10-15 years down to a 2-3 years and the pockets of yellow are a pain to clean. On the plus side the more expensive part being the Laser tube remains unaffected. So if the margin is there, by all means do it. The Electronics will corrode unless you coat them with something to protect them.


For the fumes though

BOFA America has a fume extractor just for this purpose of PVC. But, in cheaper reality, you could technically get a big blower and make a large saltwater trap to capture the chlorine gas. Chemically saltwater is chlorine, hydrogen, and oxygen.

[Graham Taylor]

Not that I really recommend it, but I've ran across it before. Pretty much requires rebuilding the inside of the laser chamber annually and shortens the life of the main frame of equipment from a normal 10-15 years down to a 2-3 years and the pockets of yellow are a pain to clean. On the plus side the more expensive part being the Laser tube remains unaffected. So if the margin is there, by all means do it. The Electronics will corrode unless you coat them with something to protect them.


For the fumes though

BOFA America has a fume extractor just for this purpose of PVC. But, in cheaper reality, you could technically get a big blower and make a large saltwater trap to capture the chlorine gas. Chemically saltwater is chlorine, hydrogen, and oxygen.

Think I will stay well away from it, thanks anyway

[Matt McCoy]

I've seen them milled with a CNC.

There was a group that launched a Kickstarter to make little creatures out of laser-cut records. They realized the problems associated with it after they got underway, unfortunately.

[Dave Sheldrake]

So if the margin is there, by all means do it.

That's just plain bad advice Kevin.

Building home brew cleaners / extractors to deal with potentially lethal gasses is plain stupid. If the operator survives then the environment may not. Chemical contamination is taken seriously by the authorities of just about any country.

cheers

Dave

[Kevin Gregerson]

Yea, it's more of a thing that you need to be making a fair bit of margin on something to use it. The machine does rust, but that's not a big deal. It's more about the electronics that it eats up that you gotta worry about.

[Kevin Gregerson]

That's just plain bad advice Kevin.

Building home brew cleaners / extractors to deal with potentially lethal gasses is plain stupid. If the operator survives then the environment may not. Chemical contamination is taken seriously by the authorities of just about any country.

cheers

Dave

I've seen filters of many types and I've seen a few PVC installs out there. As for home brews, not exactly something I'm advocating, I'm more or less advocating machine shop type build with the realities of what's needed to achieve the end result. You can filter it through saltwater and remove the CH and smoke. It requires daily water changes, but it works.

[Jay Selway]

Burning vinyl made me think of this SNL skit.

BAD IDEA (https://screen.yahoo.com/bad-idea-jeans-000000942.html).

[Mayo Pardo]

What about the old 78rpm disks - weren't they made of bakelite?

I remember accidentally breaking some of my parents old 78's just from turning the pages of the "album"
to look at the next record label.

[David Somers]

Mayo,

Not sure about bakelite, but there was a shellac base used for albums before PVC. Those little Lac bugs are everywhere aren't they? They certainly still make a lovely finish on woods.

Dave

[Jay Selway]

Mayo,

Not sure about bakelite, but there was a shellac base used for albums before PVC. Those little Lac bugs are everywhere aren't they? They certainly still make a lovely finish on woods.

Dave

Acetate.

Back in my dj days, we'd get unreleased tracks cut off of DAT onto Acetate. Not sure if you can burn that stuff though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetate_disc