Sticky edges

[John Minton]

Hello

I would like to thank this group for all the great info. I have just run some Romark red on white laser material. I Made name tags for the ushers at my church. I used my new 35 w Epilog. The parts look great (if I do say so myself) but I noticed that even 15 minutes after I cut them the edges are still Sticky. Is this something you have to clean off & if so what do you guys use.

Thanks Again

John

[David Harvey]

Paper towel and rubbing alcohol will do the trick quite nicely.



Dave

[Kevin Huffman]

We normally use a citrus based cleaner to get rid of that. Orange Peel, Orange 409 or something like that.
Another way that you can get rid of it is to adjust your power/speed setting some more.
If you go to slow you can burn it to much and cause the sticky sides to become even more sticky.

[Jeff Lehman]

I had somewhat the same problem and wasnt sure what caused it. My material seemed to sweat from the back of the material, and it stained the table and was hard to clean.

Jeff Lehman
Laconia Laser

[Joe Pelonio]

The sticky edges are just a side effect we have to live with on that material. Even the support people from the manufacturers, while they
don't mention it at sales time, have no way to prevent it. Epilog told
me to use windex but that doesn't work. The citrus products as Kevin
said are the best.

[Rodne Gold]

Jeff , using a vector cutting table will stop or help what you are experiencing. Acetone is a good cleaner for metal tables , just be careful not to get it near plastic parts.

You can also scrape the edges of the badge with a straight edge or a deburring tool. We like a deburring tool as it leaves a slight chamfer on the top surface almost like a bevel if the tool is used at the right angle and this really neatens the badge up as often the top edge has a sort of "bump" at the cut after lasering. It takes a few seconds to do this and deburring tools are real cheap and very useful for lasered stuff - especially acrylics where sharp edges on cuts are problematic in terms of start points for stress cracking.

[Joe Pelonio]

You can also scrape the edges of the badge with a straight edge or a deburring tool. We like a deburring tool as it leaves a slight chamfer on the top surface almost like a bevel if the tool is used at the right angle and this really neatens the badge up as often the top edge has a sort of "bump" at the cut after lasering.

I noticed that when I do a bevel on name badges or other signs with this material with the laser, the stickiness is not as bad and adds a really nice look to it. I just rastor a 4 point outline along with the text/graphics then vector through the middle of it. Takes a bit longer so I charge a little more.

[John Minton]

Thanks for all the info. You guys are a great group. I work with high power lasers also cutting metal so if anyone has any questions about that I would be happy to try to help. Jeff with Sticky edges and sweaty backs it sounds like our parts have been a NFL lockeroom.

Thanks again

John

[Joe Pelonio]

John,

I do sometimes get requests from people doing custom car work for laser cut metal, and around here I do not have anyone, so send them to a
waterjet guy. How does your wholesale price and cutting quality compare
to waterjet?

[John Minton]

Hello Joe

It all depents on the material thickness and type. For example 1/8 stainless, lasers have a better edge quality and are a lot faster than waterjets. The general rule is the thicker the material the more the waterjet can do as well as a laser. Waterjets can cut metal thicker than a laser. Our new 5000 watt machine will cut 1 1/4 steel max waterjets can go up to 6 to 8 inches. But in thinner material the laser will make the waterjet look silly. Alum. is another material lasers do not love because of the refection. Our 5000 watt will be able to cut 5/8 alum. Price will depend on qty and eng. If someone wants a few pcs the difference may be a wash. If you need 100 pcs from 1/4 steel the laser is the way to go. Lasers cost more than waterjets so the hourly rate is higher but sometimes the higher feed rate makes up for that. There are no hard and fast rules, you and or your customers should get a quote for both types and ask for a sample of the edge quality for each. I hope that helps some if not let me know and I can give you a call and go into more detail.

John

[Joe Pelonio]

I hope that helps some if not let me know and I can give you a call and go into more detail.

John

That does help a lot, thanks John. I just finished talking to a customer about some custom shaped aluminum signs and for the small quantity
this sounds like a water jet application.