Clean edges with 1/4 acrylic

Hello, I got my glowforge in July, and use it to cut acrylic. I am having issues with the 1/4 acrylic cutting the edges very jagged and rough. I have been using the thick acrylic proof grade settings. Any advice on how to get a getter cut?

I been using acrylic from canal plastics its the clear cast.

I also cut the 1/8 with no issues

Thank you in advance

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I’m going to shift this to the Beyond the Manual section so that other customers can give you some tips for dealing with it…support can’t address anything other than Proofgrade materials for legal reasons.

It looks like you are seeing some flashback at the bottom of the acrylic. That can be reduced by putting a paper mask on the bottom side before placing it on the tray, or by putting a sheet of paper underneath it. (Keep an eye on it if you do.)

There are other techniques like cutting multiple passes at slower speed too. I’m sure other folks who do a little more cutting in thick acrylic will want to chime in.

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Looks almost like it’s not 100% cut, and the jagged bits/break outs are where the piece is broken out from the little uncut bits when you separate the shape from the board.

I’d first go with multiple passes, and be sure you have the material pinned down super flat. The PG settings are a great starting point, but feel free to adjust as needed to get what you need (off hand I don’t recall the settings for clean acrylic, but you may want to compare to blue to figure a range to test). As @Jules noted, if it’s not masked on the bottom side at least, that should help.

Be sure to jiggle the piece before trying to remove the material to make sure it’s fully cut (though complex shapes may not be able to do this). If in doubt, do another cutting pass, and if you’ve not yet moved it, it will just follow the same cut line.

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