Decals applied on acrylic

[Marco Carpio]

Hi
Last Tuesday, my new toy, a 60w Rabbit laser machine was successfully installed at my place, and I'm very excited working with it.
I'm using a solvent printer, doing vinyl decals and I wonder if I can apply a decal on a piece of acrylic, and contour cut the image.
Marco

[Scott Marquez]

Marco,
Congrats on the new laser, there is a difference on what you can cut and what you should cut. Always check the SDS sheet on what you would like to cut before doing it. Most people won't cut vinyl on their laser because it creates gases that are harmful to your health and corrodes components in your machine.
Scott

[Rodne Gold]

We cut separately and wet apply , cutting thru the PVC decal often has a slight discoloration on the edges. ...and of course you can mess up the decal when the acrylic melt "stains"
you could use a polyester vinyl , that is not PVC , but its expensive and you still have the "melt" issue if you cut it applied to the acrylic

[Joe Pelonio]

It will cut cleanly with transfer tape on it, but it's a lot safer to apply the vinyl after. A few small pices now and then are not likely to cause problems but in any kind of volume or larger pieces it can definitely be hazardous.