Laser Cutting PETG & Acetate

[Liesl Dexheimer]

I'm almost positive it would not be good to laser cut PETG and Acetate, am I correct in assuming this? I'd be concerned about damaging the laser or even worse my lungs. It would probably be difficult to cut on a rotary if it's only 0.02" thick, right?

[Mike Null]

http://www.plasticsmag.com/ta.asp?aid=4770

http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927165

It looks like PETG is ok but no so with acetate.

[Jeff Watkins]

Just a note on PETG, I've never tried cutting it with the laser but I've gone through almost a spool of it on my 3D Printer. It has to be printed at 245-250C so while not as hot as a laser cutting it there are still some fumes put off but not bad. If you decide to cut it make sure to vent it properly. I guess I should hook the 3d printer up to the laser exhaust and run it on low but I haven't bothered yet.

[Lee DeRaud]

http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927165That MSDS is for liquid ethyl acetate (AKA acetic acid). Try this one, which is for cellulose acetate: http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=956 . That's in powder form, so the comments about ingestion and inhalation obviously don't apply to the cellulose acetate sheet we're talking about here.
Quite a bit less dire, in fact the warnings/etc look a lot like what you see on an MSDS for acrylic, which all of us cut on a regular basis.

[Mike Null]

Lee
thanks for the correction.

[Liesl Dexheimer]

Ok, thank you for the responses. Sounds like my customer is looking for me to laser cut PETG and not acetate. He was just suggesting that as an alternative to PETG. I might try cutting a few pieces out to see how it cuts and how bad it smells. I do have decent ventilation.

[Mike Null]

It's been a while since I ran PETG but as I recall it had a tendency to melt. Maybe lower power and more than one pass will do.