Need help with hazing on acrylic edges!!!

[Kerry Smith II]

Have a possible contract to cut inked acrylic and I am having a hard time getting rid of hazing around the edges.

This will be a very high volume job so if there is anyway to do it without masking that would be preferred.

Any ideas? I need samples by 9am Friday.

Thanks

[pete hagan]

Try pushing more air in the air assist. I am supposing the hazing is on the laser side and is residual atomized acrylic from the cut? Also what can help is elevating the workpiece on a raised bed or honey comb table. If you have the workpiece cutting on a flat surface then the atomized acrylic has only UP to go. If you have the workpiece raised on a bed of pyramids (someone on the forum has made some of these from corian), pins, whatever THEN the air/atomized acrylic has a place to go on the back side you will have far less hazing on the "good" side. Make sure you are really pulling air out the machine.

Hope this helps.

Pete

[Sandra Force]

I am going to go against what most people will tell you. Turn your air assist down to less than 5PSI or so you can just hear it. Place the acrylic on standoffs. You can cut your own out of anything that is at least the thickness of the acrylic. If you are using honeycomb DO NOT set the acrylic directly on it as that will cause check marks in the acrylic from where the beam hits the metal comb.

My set up method is to place paper over my honeycomb (I always use that as the table) do a cut out on high speed and low power of the objects. Place my standoffs inside of the cuts being sure to not slide across any place that I am vector cutting. Place my acrylic on the standoffs, double check everything. Set my power and speed, turn down the air assist and focus to run. I seldom have either flash burns or haze this way.:) Hope this will work for your use.

[Brian Robison]

Buy an acrylic cutting grid from Mike Null.

[Frank Corker]

Usually if I'm cutting acrylic and worried about the 'ticks', I put golf tees into the honeycomb, laser cuts through the acrylic seldom cuts so deep into the wood tees to make a difference. Result no marks.

[Ryan O'Hara]

Frank, that's a great trick! I will have to try that form some of my vector cutting projects coming up!