Acrylic & Wood Cutting Capabilities

[Mike DeRegnaucourt]

Hello,

I am planning to purchase my first Laser Engraving system very soon and would like some feedback on the Acrylic & Wood cutting capabilities folks have been able to accomplish with their lasers. For example, what is the maximum thickness of these materials you've been able to cut in relationship to the wattage of your system? Regarding wood, I know that the species of wood will be a determining factor for the maximum thickness. If anybody could provide feedback/figures, that would greatly help me in my purchasing decision.

[Mike Null]

Mike

I don't do a lot of cutting with my 45 watt machine but I can get through 1/4" acrylic and wood with no problem. It will possibly do 3/8" acrylic but I haven't had the need.

Spent a lot of years just north of you in Centerville.

Welcome to the forum.

[Scott Shepherd]

45W Epilog here, getting through 1/2 clear extruded acrylic. That's about the limit and it's not by any means super straight. 3/8" seems to work fine. On the wood front, couldn't make it through 1/2" MDF but came close as a trial. Easily cuts through 1/4" without trouble. Don't recall trying 3/8" wood.

Hope that helps some.

[Mike DeRegnaucourt]

Hi Mike & Scott,

Thank you very much for the quick replies. I found this forum during my research of Laser Engraving machines. SMC has been very informative and helpful!

I am leaning towards a 60-watt system. Do you think 60-watts would enable cutting of up to 3/4" acylic?...maybe even thicker?

Mike...small world huh? I actually grew up in Centerville! Are you originally from there?

[Keith Outten]

I own an older Epilog Legend model 24 that is 35 watt, it bench tested at 43 watts.

I can vector cut 3/8" walnut and 1/4" acrylic. I haven't tried to cut acrylic over 1/4" yet.

We have a Xenetech XLT-60 (bench tested at 73 watts) at Christopher Newport University. I have seen video of the same model cutting 1" thick acrylic. I haven't cut anything but thin stuff with it yet so I can't say first hand what its capability will be.

.

[Mike DeRegnaucourt]

Keith,

I think I might've seen the Xenetech video you mentioned. If I remember correctly, I thought it showed them cutting 1" acrylic (light bulb shapes I think) with their 60-watt machine. I think the video might've even shown at one point that it had cut up to 1.5" acrylic...I'm not sure if that was the 60-watt machine or not though. I really liked the rotational stepping capabilites of the Xenetech's rotary attachment.

I'd love to hear about your Xenetech cutting capabilities when you get a chance to experiment.

[Nancy Laird]

We have two ULS lasers. The 20W will cut 1/4" ply and most solids with no problem or slowdown. The 40W will cut 1/4" acrylic and turns out a beautiful edge. We haven't tried anything thicker than that, as our business doesn't call for it.

Nancy (131 days)

[Gary Hair]

I haven't tested the max wood thickness yet, but have no problem cutting 1/4" hardboard and most others as well.
The big surprise for me was when I wanted to see how far into a 1/2" piece of acrylic I could cut. I set the power at 100% and the speed at .1% - to my amazement it cut through it completely! I don't have anything thicker to see how far it will cut, but my little 30 watt laser shouldn't be able to cut that thick- 3/8" is what most people think 30 watts will cut. And it was a clean cut too!

Gary

[Keith Outten]

Keith,

I think I might've seen the Xenetech video you mentioned. If I remember correctly, I thought it showed them cutting 1" acrylic (light bulb shapes I think) with their 60-watt machine. I think the video might've even shown at one point that it had cut up to 1.5" acrylic...I'm not sure if that was the 60-watt machine or not though. I really liked the rotational stepping capabilites of the Xenetech's rotary attachment.

I'd love to hear about your Xenetech cutting capabilities when you get a chance to experiment.

Mike,

Here is the link to Xenetech's web site and the video of the 60 watt machine cutting 1" thick acrylic.
http://www.xenetech.com/support-videos.asp?page=CutAcrylic

They mention cutting 1.5" acrylic at the end of the video.

Later this coming week I will be visiting my local plastic supplier and hope to be able to pick up some scraps that I can use to do some testing of my own :)

.

[Mike DeRegnaucourt]

Hi Keith,

I look forward to hearing your results.

[James Stokes]

I have an Epilog Legend 100 watt. With it I can 1.5 inch acrylic, Some woods I can cut at 3/4 some I can not cut 1/2 hard oily woods are hard to cut.

[Mike DeRegnaucourt]

James,

How's the tube life been on your 100-watt Epilog? How old is your Epilog and how often have you had to replace/recharge the tube?

[James Stokes]

My Laser is 5 years old, I bought it used at 3 years. I sent it to Epilog at that time and they went through it and replaced any thing worn. I think they replaced the tube at that time but do not know for sure. They would not tell me.

[Mike DeRegnaucourt]

I'm assuming that your Epilog has been trouble free ever since Epilog serviced it? With 100-watts, it sounds like you can handle quite a large array of cutting tasks.

Thanks for the info.

[Roy Brewer]

For example, what is the maximum thickness of these materials you've been able to cut in relationship to the wattage of your system?Mike,
I'm not sure you are asking the right question.
What will be your application?
Do you know how miserably slow it is to cut the 1" acrylic &/or 3/4" wood? Even w/a 100watt system?
In most cases, there is better equipment to handle such tasks and where the laser's characteristics make it the tool of choice for deep cutting, you best not expect much production.