Laser Marking Acetate

[Robert L Stewart]

I need to make a see through template to find the ideal wood background location.
Most of the options are very thin, .01 seems to be the thickest available. I need a
24" x 12" piece.
Did not find much info in search mode. Does it engrave enough to see a mark without
burning through?

Thanks,
Robert

[Kev Williams]

I buy 1/32" thick clear cast acrylic to do what *I think* you're doing, particularly when trying to find where the laser's going to engrave on my big Triumph since it's never had a red-light pointer. I'll just lay a piece of the plex down, slew the head in close, then at 3% power (80w Reci) just pop the laser-fire button, see where the dot is, fine tune till it's exact, then get the XY coordinates from the engraving program. I also use it with all my machines to do test engravings when blue-tape won't work, like when I'm trying to match up to previous engraving. Just use very low power, the plex will etch but won't affect the substrate below, cast acrylic effectively blocks the C02 laser wavelength, to a point anyway ;)

Just don't try it with a fiber, the fiber wavelength will get plex hot and can melt it, but otherwise it just passes thru plex!

Acetate may work, but I don't have any to experiment with... :)

[Robert L Stewart]

Hey Kev,

I have read every post you have ever made. Always impressed with your willingness to help.
I appreciate your reply. You are a wealth of knowledge.

I had not thought about your tip with cast acrylic, will have to try that.
What I am doing is a bit different. I would like to engrave my landscape image onto the clear material so that I can
move it to find the best grain on large plywood sheets. It's an art piece that I do multiples of.

I found the acetate, .0075 thick. I also have .030 acrylic to experiment with.
Will report back with the results.

Thanks again,
Robert

[Glen Monaghan]

I've engraved a shape onto 1/16" acrylic and then moved the acrylic over another substrate to determine where I most liked the appearance of the final cut piece from the substrate. Never tried acetate. Similarly have UV printed onto the acrylic, placed over a you-only-get-one-try-because-it's-one-of-a-kind object, to ensure that the actual print was going to be in just the right location; once confirmed, just remove the acrylic, refocus, and print.