I was gifted some acrylic sheets after purchasing my Glowforge plus this week but the acrylic is not masked with anything. Is it still safe to cut by itself or do I need to purchase some sort of masking paper tape ?
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Acrylic is, generally, safe to cut. Not required but, if you’d like, feel free to mask it. Personally, I mask anything that could could get stained by smoke.
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My experience with unmasked acrylic of any type is that the tiny super-hot particles that get blown downstream will etch onto the surface leaving a noticeable trace that is impossible to remove.
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Cutting it without a mask will leave ‘flashback’ burned on the back from the laser reflecting off the crumb tray. A piece of paper under it will prevent that.
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If you don’t have masking handy, dawn dish soap will do. Just the plain old gel soap you’d use to wash dishes. Spread a thin layer of it across the surface of the plastic with your fingers, run your laser job, and then rinse the soap off in a sink. The soap layer will prevent the heat and debris from marring the surface of the arylic, just like masking. To avoid getting soap on your crumb tray, a damp paper towel underneath should protect the back side from flashback.
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