Cutting Polystyrene (shrinky dink) sheets--settings

ssummer · January 15, 2018, 1:36am

I cut up polystyrene sheets (brand name shrinky dinks) for kids to color in and bake. Setting of 300 speed, 20 power 2 passes cut it out completely, 400 speed 20 power 2 passes left it so it could be easily punched out by hand. Depth is 0.01 inch. Very successful.

Jules · January 15, 2018, 2:31am

Oh good to know!

I’m going to shift this to the Beyond the Manual section and tag it with Settings.

Thanks for sharing them.

mspricethelibrarian · January 15, 2018, 6:36am

Thanks for the settings! I have a bunch of these…hadn’t thought to try forging them’

hooksntoggles · January 15, 2018, 3:17pm

Thank you. I have a piece I made where the pendant was made of shrinky dink. It was a rather elaborate piece, but my edges weren’t perfect. I have been wanting to redo the pendants which consisted of 2 trapezoidal shapes that created a collar like pendant and then protect them with a coating of resin, but I had not done so because I did not want to redo my awful cuts. This could make the difference.

jason.fuller0 · January 15, 2018, 9:07pm

Thanks. I had a friend asking about this exactly recently. I was only able to confirm apparently laser safe at the time, but nothing on settings.

diana2 · July 12, 2018, 3:24pm

Shrinky Dink now comes in several different styles including ink jet printer-friendly. I buy it at craft stores with a discount coupon so it’s a inexpensive way to mimic acrylic, plus it’s much more versatile when it comes to decorating. Has anyone tried to shrink the sheet BEFORE cutting with a Glowforge? Thanks!