Does anyone have any favorite laser settings to get the smoothest or most polished cut edges on acrylic? Have someone interested in using the Glowforge to create an acrylic box (assembled with glue) that would be water-tight. A smooth-as-possible edge finish would facilitate that goal, I assume, but I have not tinkered much with acrylics yet.
Thanks.
As you probably know, the Glowforge does not make a perpendicular cut on the edge, but an angled cut. That might be a factor in making a water tight vessel.
I have used the Proofgrade acrylic settings and Weld-On 3 acrylic cement to bond the pieces to create “mini” aquariums and it worked just fine. On larger projects I would sand the edges with 400-600 grid wet/dry sandpaper and that helped to get a watertight seal. Most my projects of that type were no larger than 8 x 8.
Weld-on is a solvent and will take up any slope or roughness in the cut.
If you can get to it with a file or sandpaper then great, but it’s not necessary.
Weldon 16 is a medium viscosity acrylic bonding agent variant. It has some body and can help fill small gaps. You can also make your own gap filler by dissolving small bits of acrylic in the more liquid Weldon variants. A bead of that along the seams or in any leaky spots might help with watertightness.
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