Cuttng Nylon Sheet Plastic with Laser

[Bill George]

So how much power would it take to cut say 1/2 inch (12mm) nylon sheet plastic

[Kev Williams]

I don't think you're going to be able to cut nylon-- once or twice a year I get around 400 of these "natural black nylon" (per the blueprints) 're-useable shipping caps', very hard nylon, about 4" diameter, each one has to be engraved and painted white. Very slow to tool engrave, I only wish I could laser them. This cap is one where the machine had a bad connection to the control module and engraved a straight line when the data stream stopped. Its job now is holding oil that I brush on cowbells before engraving them, I just took a quick pic of the bottom :)
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Notice the melted spots, that's all my LS900 would do. I tested another with the fiber, pretty much the same results IIRC...

[Dave Sheldrake]

Nylon doesn't ablate Bill, it just melts :) messy, even on higher powered machines you need to use high pressure gas to keep the cut looking good.

[Bill George]

Thanks guys good thing I have a CNC router!