Least Favorite Material to cut or engrave and Why

[Bert Kemp]

Since we have a Favorite material I think its only fair to have a least favorite and why. I think I'll learn more from this.
So far on all the materials I've worked with and there's not to many Acyclic is my least Favorite. For one it stinks really bad:( Another I find it very hard to get good results on. I'm sure its just me and my settings but I don't have the time or money to buy it and experiment with it.
I'm sure there's a lot of other things that are harder to work with and that's why I started the thread to find out what to stay away from.

[Walt Langhans]

My finger :P

[Chris DeGerolamo]

Red over white Rowmark.

[Joe Pelonio]

That has to be Lexan/Polycarbonate. Nasty smell, yellow smoke, and rough edges. I'll do 1/16" or less but if someone asks for 1/8" or thicker I try to put them onto another material (or laser shop).

[Gary Hair]

I hate leather! It's stinky, smelly, nasty, and creates a mess. On the good side, the one customer I do a lot of leather engraving pays really well.

I also hate sandblast stencil. It's a love-hate relationship. Like leather, it's stinky, smelly, nasty and creates a mess - both inside the laser and everywhere thereafter. The "love" part is that, like leather, it brings in a ton of money.

Funny, the two things I hate lasering the most are my biggest co2 moneymakers...

[Scott Shepherd]

Rubber is top of my list.

[Graham Taylor]

wood (MDF) - its dirty and filthy (and not in a good way :D )

[Walt Langhans]

wood (MDF) - its dirty and filthy (and not in a good way :D )

Yeah... that's what I cut... all day every day... *sigh*

[Keith Winter]

+1 lexan/polycarbonate
glass is also a pain
ceramark (cheating a bit :rolleyes:, I know it's not a material but a spray for material) I know many people on here use, but I dislike the stuff. It's messy, expensive, and doesn't always adhere as well as I would like.

[Bert Kemp]

WHY??? I was just at Laser Bits and bought some gold over black.


Red over white Rowmark.

[Bert Kemp]

Yeah... that's what I cut... all day every day... *sigh*


thought you did fingers:p

[Ernie Balch]

I dislike one of a kind rush items. Someone shows up with a pen or a bat or a turned wood bowl. They want it instantly, there is only one piece and it can't be screwed up. I am much happier cutting and engraving 50 canoe decks or 25 cutting boards or 100 olive oil sixpacks.

[Keith Outten]

Rubber is also my least favorite, the oder is as bad as a skunk and its dirty.

Bert, contact your local picture frame shops and ask about purchasing their acrylic drops. I get a truck load of acrylic drops from my local frame shop for ten bucks and lots of the pieces are pretty large. I rarely need to cut large sheets down when I need small pieces for a job, I just go to my drops pile.

[Bert Kemp]

I'll check into that Keith ty
Rubber is also my least favorite, the oder is as bad as a skunk and its dirty.

Bert, contact your local picture frame shops and ask about purchasing their acrylic drops. I get a truck load of acrylic drops from my local frame shop for ten bucks and lots of the pieces are pretty large. I rarely need to cut large sheets down when I need small pieces for a job, I just go to my drops pile.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Laserlights. It never seems to lay flat enough no matter how much suction or using a sticky mat. I find my engravings to be consistently inconsistent with that stuff. While it might be just me, it seems as if the top coat is thinner and thicker in some spots.

[Mike Null]

Bert

Color matters when engraving plastic laminates. The red stains the white worse than any other color combination and it's a real chore to clean. I've had to pitch pieces because I couldn't clean up the red stain. It has to do with the pigment in the red.

[Bert Kemp]

Mike are you referring to the Rowmark and if so are you saying I'll be OK with the Gold on Black I just bought this morning. I hope so It will be going on MIAP. Veterans Urns and I want it to look really sharp.


Bert

Color matters when engraving plastic laminates. The red stains the white worse than any other color combination and it's a real chore to clean. I've had to pitch pieces because I couldn't clean up the red stain. It has to do with the pigment in the red.

[Scott Shepherd]

Gold and black engraves beautifully Bert. It's the red, along with a few other colors that are a little picky. Nothing major, they just aren't as clean cut as doing some other colors. We engraved 10 quarter sheets of red today, once you get used to it, it's not too bad.

[Dee Gallo]

Back when I first started experimenting with substrates, I found I never want to use extruded acrylic again. It's just a disappointment all around. But I agree on the red cap on white - it's a pain.

[Bert Kemp]

I guess what I actually have is a very thin piece of laserlights. The instructions on laserbits are for a 35 watt laser. I have 60 watts
I get the impression that it should be attached to a solid object before engraving I don't have that option, can I just lay the sheet on the bed and engrave?



Gold and black engraves beautifully Bert. It's the red, along with a few other colors that are a little picky. Nothing major, they just aren't as clean cut as doing some other colors. We engraved 10 quarter sheets of red today, once you get used to it, it's not too bad.

[Scott Shepherd]

I guess what I actually have is a very thin piece of laserlights. The instructions on laserbits are for a 35 watt laser. I have 60 watts
I get the impression that it should be attached to a solid object before engraving I don't have that option, can I just lay the sheet on the bed and engrave?


Just put it on the bed, engrave and cut it. I've never attached it to anything before engraving.

[Doug Griffith]

I hate cutting steel. Probably because it doesn't work.

[George M. Perzel]

Hi Guys;
My vote is with Scott and Keith- stamp rubber is awful and am very surprised that the EPA has not mounted a major campaign against it. I guess they are too busy trying to save the yellow striped, one eyed snail darter........
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

[Gary Hair]

[QUOTE=George M. Perzel;2444593I guess they are too busy trying to save the yellow striped, one eyed snail darter........[/QUOTE]

As soon as they find out it lost the other eye in a laser incident you can bet they will be scrutinizing everything we do..

[Kev Williams]

If "actual" engraving with tools qualifies is this discussion, then my least favorite material to engrave would be 68 Rockwell-hardened Glock slides. They're brutal on tools, and there's always the 'hope I don't screw this up' white-knuckle stress always going on...

But as much as I hate engraving them, the satisfaction of a job well done helps.
This is a retirement gift I did last night. The 'fire authority' lettering is .048" tall,
the entire 'unified' logo is only 5/8" x 11/16". And a quick plug to Anatares cutter tools, I'm amazed at what I can do with them. Even if I hate to.
;)
317550317551317552

[Bert Kemp]

Kev you do awesome work and a true professional at your trade and not to mention a little crazy for taking on jobs like that. The stress not to screw up a high priced gun like that must be tremendous , great job I'm sure the recipient will be over joyed.



If "actual" engraving with tools qualifies is this discussion, then my least favorite material to engrave would be 68 Rockwell-hardened Glock slides. They're brutal on tools, and there's always the 'hope I don't screw this up' white-knuckle stress always going on...

But as much as I hate engraving them, the satisfaction of a job well done helps.
This is a retirement gift I did last night. The 'fire authority' lettering is .048" tall,
the entire 'unified' logo is only 5/8" x 11/16". And a quick plug to Anatares cutter tools, I'm amazed at what I can do with them. Even if I hate to.
;)
317550317551317552

[Keith Winter]

Fantastic work on that gun Kev!

[Tucker Alford]

I guess what I actually have is a very thin piece of laserlights. The instructions on laserbits are for a 35 watt laser. I have 60 watts
I get the impression that it should be attached to a solid object before engraving I don't have that option, can I just lay the sheet on the bed and engrave?

I put a piece of brass plated steel engraving material down & then use small magnets to hold the laserlights in place atop the steel.

[Bert Kemp]

I have a iron honey comb magnets will work on that. any idea what settings on a 60 watt?


I put a piece of brass plated steel engraving material down & then use small magnets to hold the laserlights in place atop the steel.

[John Stevenson]

Mine is yellow on black Romark. No matter what the setting the yellow always seems to burn the edges, even with extra tape on.

[Ron Philman]

Since we have a Favorite material I think its only fair to have a least favorite and why. I think I'll learn more from this.
So far on all the materials I've worked with and there's not to many Acyclic is my least Favorite. For one it stinks really bad:( Another I find it very hard to get good results on. I'm sure its just me and my settings but I don't have the time or money to buy it and experiment with it.
I'm sure there's a lot of other things that are harder to work with and that's why I started the thread to find out what to stay away from.

I second that. cutting extruded acrylic even with a fume extraction system doesnt really filter the smell. After a job you can open the lid hours later and still get a slap in the face.

[Keith Winter]

I second that. cutting extruded acrylic even with a fume extraction system doesnt really filter the smell. After a job you can open the lid hours later and still get a slap in the face.

Maybe the difference between an extraction system and a outside venting system? I don't cut acrylic often, but I have no lingering smell after I do. The only lingering part is the tiny bit that gets trapped between the arylic and the honeycomb and engraving bed if you cut a full length piece. Even that is very minor. What extraction system are you using and what laser Ron?

[Glen Monaghan]

Not sure why you'd be getting the smell hours later unless you left cutouts in the machine or cut directly on the bed and so had acrylic residue stuck there. You might try running your exhaust a bit longer once done cutting to ensure all the fumes are removed. I find even a little acrylic fume makes my eyes water and irritates my nose, but my filtration system (with 16x20x8 inches of activated charcoal between a 16x20x4" prefilter and a 16x20x4" HEPA final filter) does an excellent job of handling that problem, and I don't get noticeable smell from inside the machine hours later...

[Chuck Stone]

I don't have a fume problem with extruded, but the people up the street mention the smell.
oops

My least favorite is stencils for sandblasting stone (heavy use) I use 1/32" delrin with a
1/32" polyurethane rubber and FastEdge Speed Tape (double sided) in between. It makes
a good, heavy duty stencil for blasting stone and holds up for hundreds of cycles. But it's
a nasty gooey sticky mess when you first cut it. Weeding your cut parts is like trying to
pull a melted Tootsie Roll.

[Kev Williams]

Been lasering leather and bone and acrylic for years, no neighbor complaints--

Fortunately (for me) there's an asphalt plant about a mile from here- the smell from that place trumps anything I put out!

[Keith Colson]

A couple of reason acrylic will smell are. 1) You are cutting high impact acrylic. You can tell as the edge is sticky after a cut. 2) If your machine is out of focus you will burn way more kerf causing way more smell.

Cheers
Keith

[Glen Monaghan]

Any acrylic will smell when heated/cut, but a good filter should remove that odor from your exhaust. And neither cutting HI acrylic nor running out of focus should result in odor lingering inside the machine for hours...

[Michael Kowalczyk]

antlers. peee yeww!!!!! did some for knife handles