I bough non- GF acrylic that is laser safe and I have questions

Beyond the Manual
1

So the acrylic sheets I bought had that adhesive brown paper and some had plastic film. Could I leave these on when I put them into the glowforge OR should I mask them with transfer paper?

2

I have moved this out of the Problems section as this is not something that needs to open a Glowforge support ticket…

You posted this same question in another section and @Jules gave you a good answer.

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3

I would also remove the Kraft paper type masking paper. This often contains paraffin wax and can get pretty flamey, or worse case start a wax fire - which isn’t cool.

4

I’ve been leaving the paper on my 3rd party Acrylic. No problems with flames. I would not leave the plastic film on Acrylic, though. I think that’s much more likely to catch fire…

5

I also leave the paper stuck on the third party acrylic I’ve bought, and haven’t had issues cutting or etching, but I’ve not done complicated cuts or intense/deep etching (but do keep an eye on it and hover over the button to pause). I haven’t had issues with the quality from for any etch or cut with that “masking” removed first–it’s really there to help prevent scratching the acrylic form handling & mechanical cutting tools, and makes little difference in the GF since there’s no soot created with acrylic that could affect the surface of the material near the cut/etch areas…

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6

I always take both paper and plastic coverings off. The paper tends to burn. I never tried the plastic as I was concerned plastics can be corrosive to the machine, not to mention deadly to people. There are laser safe plastics but I doubt the film on acrylic is.

7

Thank you all for your responses. I ended up peeling back all the film. However I didn’t re-mask. I should have, at least on the back. I got some marks from the crumb tray. Can this be avoided with other settings?

8

Thank you

9

Thank you. I ended up peeling it all off for my cuts, I should have left the backing on.

10

I usually put a sacrificial piece of ordinary copy paper or a sheet of newspaper under the material. Any flashback should only impact the paper. If that doesn’t work, you can try turning your power down or speed the cut as it will be overpowered if it’s flashing through the paper.

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