Need Help Cutting Rowmark

[Belinda Barfield]

Hi all,

I know this is a basic, simple job, but as a Newb I need some help. Any and all is appreciated. I need to run this on Monday.

Job: 38 switch panel labels 1.75" x 0.5" engraved and cut. One 23.5" x 19.5" switch panel overlay engraved and cut.

Material: Romark LaserMax 1/16" thickness Black/White.

Machine: LaserPro Explorer 60 watt.

Issue: No problem with engraving. When cutting using settings recommended by sales company (listed below) I get flame jetting. One pass is not sufficient to cut through. With second pass material along cut edges become lighter and cut is not clean.

Cut settings recommended 10% Speed, 100% Power, 400 DPI, 500 PPI (not positive the PPI is correct - I am not at my office).

Now, I ran a test on IP Laserables, same thickness, not Rowmark. Didn't have any Rowmark on hand. Will the Rowmark cut differently?

Sorry for the long post. Should I increase speed, decrease power and run two passes? Help?!? When I contact sales company I am advised that I need to pay for online training. I have called them only four times in a year, and once was for a problem with function of the laser, not a question regarding how to use the laser.

THANKS IN ADVANCE.

[Gary Hair]

Belinda,
I have a 30 watt explorer and I use 3.4 Speed and 100% power to cut most rowmark material I have used. I also use air assist to avoid flames. If you have discoloration on the edges, it will help a lot to use air.

Gary

[Mike Null]

Your dpi and ppi settings are disabled in a vector mode. I like to cut this material in 2 passes to keep down flaming. My settings are 20 watts of power (your setting would be about 35% power)
1.5 speed and 2000 hertz. Speed settings vary by brand and model so you'll have to test that out but it looks like you're going too fast. With this material you just want to get barely through the material.

The hertz setting, if yours works like mine, will determine the smoothness of the cut edge. If you're getting a coin edge increase the hertz setting.

[Belinda Barfield]

Thanks Gary. I was using air assist when I had the problem with flaming. I have made a note of your settings to take with me to work on Monday. Thanks again!

[Belinda Barfield]

Your dpi and ppi settings are disabled in a vector mode. I like to cut this material in 2 passes to keep down flaming. My settings are 20 watts of power
1.5 speed and 2000 hertz. Speed settings vary by brand and model so you'll have to test that out but it looks like you're going too fast. With this material you just want to get barely through the material.

Thanks Mike. My laser doesn't have settings for watts, or hertz. Is there a conversion chart somewhere? I have only indicators for percentage of speed and percentage of power.

[Eric Allen]

Thanks Gary. I was using air assist when I had the problem with flaming. I have made a note of your settings to take with me to work on Monday. Thanks again!

Have you checked to make sure the air assist is actually engaging? I don't know if those are solenoid controlled like epilog, but it may not be passing air. There was someone who mentioned theirs failed after the first week or so.

[Dave Jones]

I believe the "ppi" setting on your laser is similar the the Hz setting he is talking about. I don't have a laserpro, but from what I remember reading here about them the "dpi" setting is only for raster engraving and the "ppi" setting is only for vector cutting.

[Belinda Barfield]

Thanks guys!

Eric, I will check to make sure the air assist is actually "assisting".

I'll try to get a better grasp on how settings convert from machine to machine. I know every machine has its own "perfect" settings but at least I can get in the ballpark. According to our rep when our laser was delivered and set up we were putting out about 80 watts on a 60 watt laser. At least that what we were told.

[George M. Perzel]

Hi Belinda;
I have a 60 watt Laserpro Mercury- a bit slower at top speed than your Explorer but I use 6% speed at 95% power on Rowmark to cut through in one pass. Depending on the pattern I can go faster and snap the lines cleanly. I have noticed lately (did they change the material??) that some flaming is occuring causing a bit of smoke residual- which wipes off with citrus cleaner or naptha.
Will be here all day Monday- call if I can help 585-924-4519.
Best regards;
George
LaserArts

[Larry Bratton]

Belinda:
I'm not familiar with your machine, but let me tell you what I found on mine. I tried to cut some Rowmark laserable plastic a few days ago, and I used the settings supplied in the manual from Epilog for my 40 watt machine. The FREQUENCY setting called for 500. I didn't get it cut out and I think I ended up running it twice to get through it. I read on one of the forums, maybe here, that you need to increase the frequency setting to like 2500. I made a sign this week that used cutout letters from the same plastic. I put those same settings in, but I increased the frequency setting to 2500. I didn't even turn on air assist, and it cut those letters out as clean as anything I have ever seen. No flaming either. Some of them were quite small too, like 1/2" high. Frequency relates to the hertz setting as suggested or your ppi setting. You'll have to determine that from your manual etc. Try that and good luck with your project!

[Belinda Barfield]

Thanks George, I may have to call you on Monday.

Thanks Larry, always coming to my rescue on misspellings, and problems.

I feel like a damsel in distress with hope just around the corner!

[Bill Cunningham]

I usually don't cut right through unless it's a small hole I'm cutting. My 35 watt epilog, uses 80%power, 30% speed, 4500 freq. and this cuts it about 75% through, then I can pull the sheet from the machine, and clean it, before popping out the pieces. The edges are always clean, and with air assist there is no flaming.. The only time I get flaming at all on romark stuff, is when I put in a piece of the non laser able .. Are you 'sure' they gave you laserable material? and not regular stuff in error?

[Belinda Barfield]

Bill,

The plastic protective coating reads IP Laserables. So yeah, I guess I'm pretty sure. Will let all of you know how it goes tomorrow. I'm (hopefully) bailing out someone in a jam because their regular vendor was too busy. Maybe this will turn into a regular "gig" for me.

Thanks all!

[Brian Robison]

When I cut 1/16" I use 17% speed, 100% power and 5000 htz. I only have 25 watts.
Why would you use less than 5000 htz. unless you wanted a perforated cut?

[Rodne Gold]

All machines are different , even the same model and the same rated wattage.
60W is plenty to cut the Rowmark and you should have no flaming at all if you have air assist with decent pressure. Check your nozzle direction the air stream should impact where the beam does.
I use a 30W explorer and get really nice edges on that material , we use a deburring tool on the edges (if possible) to get rid of any stickyness

IMHO - never do 2 passes if you can help it , its such a bad strategy with some marerials especially those that rely on liquefaction and vaporisation. There are far more downsides to upsides like the melt has nowhere to go for the first pass and ends up on material or spattered around by the air assist and the melt cools and resolidifies before the 2nd pass and just makes it messy. Misregistration is a distinct posibility on the 2nd cut too. The edge is generally not clean and has extensive striations when multipass cutting and of course you take more time.
Your PPI will be key as to avoiding bad edges , ideally you want the laser treppaning with as least as possible overlap , like a very fine perforaton.
This will put the least heat in the material , and the problem with most laser engraveable engraving type substrates is heat.
What PPI you use depends on material and spot size. I would start at 300 and work upwards.
Also , manually check your AF on the explorer , i have often fine tuned ours in the machine menu to find its out some weeks later?? Precise AF will aid cutting.
We use a backstop of thickish card rather than a honeycomb when cutting this stuff , we find it absorbs melt and no backflashes.
In fact we hardly use the honeycomb for cutting thin stuff , its never 100% level.
The best way to do what you want to do is to start with 100% power , vary speed till it just cuts thru , add 10% or so and then use that as a baseline to vary ppi till you get the best cut.
The explorer has that ramp on/off thing and there is a another adjustment for cut quality in the driver , I forget the exact details and I'm not near a machine.
If these are wrong they also affect the way the machine cuts , I'm not sure if ramp on or off is the better way and i dunno whether the other setting is good when its enabled or disabled - you prolly gonna have to fiddle a little there too
Depending on your jig and the way you engrave like from home or relative , it can be pretty easy to engrave first , remove the material , put paper based transfer tape on it and laser cut thru that if you really can't get acceptable results any other way as this often helps to mask any edge/surface defects.

[Belinda Barfield]

Rodne,

Thanks for all the info. I know how to focus manually, but how do I fine tune or reset autofocus? Since I was cutting on our grid, I did have to manually focus, and was wondering if that was part of the problem. Air assist seems to working fine and is aimed appropriately. I'll try the other things you suggested and will let everyone know the outcome - just as soon as UPS delivers my Rowmark. :(

[Brian Robison]

Rodne, what are you calling thickish card?
I ruined a run of mirrored acrylic license plates because of my cutting grid this weekend. You can't see the defect until you pull off the masking (the last step I do). Do you set up the laser to cut through the card also or try to just cut through the plastic?

Thanks for all your help!!!

[Mike Null]

The reason to make two passes is to kept the temperature down as well as the flaming. I agree with Rodne that it takes more time but I don't see a difference on the edge and it reduces cleanup time. This is not a material where melt enters the equation.

Brian:

It would be my suspicion that too much power, thus excessive flashback, caused the problem rather than the cutting grid. I would try reducing the frequency as well. I haven't found it necessary to go beyond 2500. For most things I use 1000. But machines do vary.

[Joe Pelonio]

Was it actually Rowmark or IPI that you had a problem with?

I've never had any problems with Rowmark. I will still always apply transfer tape after engraving though, because certain colors bleed over onto the top when cutting and it saves cleanup.

I have a regular job that requires IPI, and every time the material is warped.

It engraves small stuff OK but cutting I get some flaming, discolored edges and some areas where it's not cut through. After going back and forth with the vendor I gave up and now tape the edges to a sacrificial piece of 1/4" acrylic, a "skeleton" that has the outside edges and a few areas left in the center from a previous job, to keep it flat.

[Gary Hair]

I believe the "ppi" setting on your laser is similar the the Hz setting he is talking about. I don't have a laserpro, but from what I remember reading here about them the "dpi" setting is only for raster engraving and the "ppi" setting is only for vector cutting.

Actually, dpi and ppi are applicable in vector and raster. dpi dictates how many lines in the x axis and ppi determines how many pulses in the y axis as well as how many pulses per lineal inch in any vector line, curved or straight.

PPI = .................
DPI =
.
.
.
.
.

Gary

[Rodne Gold]

Gary , I dont think dpi is relevant to vector cutting.
As to the card thing , 1mm or so is fine.

[Mike Null]

Joe:
You're right about IPI warping. I use it almost exclusively and generally weigh it down thus having to reduce the amount material I can engrave and cut in one cycle. The warping is on 060",1/16" and 1/8" materials and is due to the way it is made. I began using IPI when I started in the business as I felt it engraved and cut much better than Rowmark. Rowmark has since improved their laserables but the silvers and golds don't match what I've been using.

[Belinda Barfield]

Was it actually Rowmark or IPI that you had a problem with?

It engraves small stuff OK but cutting I get some flaming, discolored edges and some areas where it's not cut through. After going back and forth with the vendor I gave up and now tape the edges to a sacrificial piece of 1/4" acrylic, a "skeleton" that has the outside edges and a few areas left in the center from a previous job, to keep it flat.

Joe, It was IPI that I had a problem with, flaming and discolored edges just as you say. The piece I had was also warped but I chalked that up to maybe poor storage. From what I am reading here warpage is an issue with this material.


Actually, dpi and ppi are applicable in vector and raster. dpi dictates how many lines in the x axis and ppi determines how many pulses in the y axis as well as how many pulses per lineal inch in any vector line, curved or straight.

Gary

Thanks Gary. This has been my understanding of DPI and PPI as well, but when reading other posts in this thread I started to doubt myself. I didn't want to argue the point as I didn't feel knowledgeable enough to do so. I'm glad you posted.

[Mike Null]

I don't know if you didn't flatten the material before engraving but if you didn't then your machine would be out of focus causing your problems.

I do not agree that the dpi setting is active when vector cutting. PPI is and may be called by other names but I don't know of any machines where dpi is relevant to vectoring.

[Brian Robison]

On an Epilog the dpi is. I've tried cutting a circle at 75 dpi and it cut many straight lines instead of a smooth circle.
Probably different on other brands.

[Gary Hair]

You are correct, DPI has no effect on vector cutting, only affects raster.

Gary

[Belinda Barfield]

Okay all, here is the final product. Pic not so great but at least you can see that I made it through. Didn't post pics of the small labels. Delivered the overlay, customer happy:) . While I was there he decided he needed another small overlay engraved and cut:D . Wants to come by next week to see what else we might be able to do for him:D :D .

THANKS for the help everyone. Final settings to cut the Rowmark were 7.8% speed, 100% power. Some flaming but minimal compared to previously.

62669

[Mike Null]

Very nice work. Be sure to make a sample for your portfolio.