Hello. I recently just purchased my glowforge spark. I was excited to cut acrylic with it. I purchased acrylic from a company called custom made better. I bought 1/8 inch gloss black, gloss, gold, and white acrylic. I can’t seem to figure out the right settings for the acrylic. I’m trying to test out the black first. I have adjusted the speed, power and passes. After trying at least eight times, the last time I tried a speed of 100, full power and 10 passes and it is not cutting through and the material I picked medium black acrylic and I also tried customize the thickness. Nothing. Help please. Should I try 1/4 inch acrylic instead??
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Acrylic is pretty standard stuff, so choosing a Proofgrade acrylic setting is a good place to start. For example, the setting for Proofgrade medium black acrylic is 13/ 7.5/ 3. You will not cut acrylic at a speed of 100. Also, because the Spark is a diode laser, you will not be able to cut white acrylic, clear acrylic or many blues.
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When you say “13/ 7.5/ 3” is that the power and speed ?
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Speed 13; power 7.5 and 3 passes.
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Whenever there is a question regarding settings, the go-to answer is to use a piece of proofgrade material using the built-in settings, and see if it works as it should.
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Some of the acrylic I have cut goes as low as speed 5, power 10 and 3 passes. Cutting a sort of metallic copper one at that speed. Do set the thickness correctly as well. Others have mentioned, no white, clear, or blues. Craft Closet does a great job with telling which ones can be cut on a diode laser and they even give the settings!
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All settings questions can be answered in #6 on my FAQ.
Since you are using acrylic and have a craft series machine, check out #5a while you’re there. It’s important to know about the limits of your machine and acrylics for future projects.
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