Just a quick question – among the pre-release and beta user wizards, has anyone tried to etch lexan? is it even safely laser-able?
Yeah. On mistake. I have a pallet of acrylic and lexan and grab cutoffs from my CNC from the scrap bin marked ‘Acrylic’.
Yeah. No. Crappy cut quality and a metric ton of smoke. A LOT of SMOKE.
Thanks!!
Wow, good to know!
Lexan, esp thicker sheets, is on the no-no list at many maker spaces. Here’s what the folks at ATX have to say:
http://atxhackerspace.org/wiki/Laser_Cutter_Materials#NEVER_CUT_THESE_MATERIALS
Thanks – that is a great resource.
There’s a bit under the “Safe” section on it, too.
Material: Thin Polycarbonate Sheeting (<1mm)
Max thickness: <1mm
Notes: Very thin polycarbonate can be cut, but tends to discolor badly. Extremely thin sheets (0.5mm and less) may cut with yellowed/discolored edges. Polycarbonate absorbs IR strongly, and is a poor material to use in the laser cutter.
Warnings!: Watch for smoking/burning
That’s an understatement The stuff is crap for lasering.
It can work pretty well in a CNC mill though. This is something I was playing with a couple of years ago: https://youtu.be/qy4iM7xJNd8
Also there was a thread here on some edge lighting standoffs, so of course I had to order them and try them out. This is pretty ugly as it was on a piece of scratched-up scrap that I ran as fast as possible just to test the lights.
Can’t wait to get my laser as I think 3D printer + CNC + laser cutter is the triple threat of maker tools.
Really like those stand offs!
Thinking about the fluorescent green acrylic back-engraved for a shop sign.
Thank you for the link!