Hi!
I’m looking to create a sign for a friend. I want to cut it out of 2 pieces of coloured acrylic with lettering that fits perfectly (i.e. pink and black).
So far I have cut ply and draftboard. The issue is that there is a small gap around any cut pieces. The original video said that the GF would cut pieces to fit perfectly by working it all out itself to the width of a human hair.
This isn’t happening, but it’s what I need to do…
Am I missing something, is there something I am doing wrong?
Can anyone help (in laymans terms please, I am a new user to all this!)
What you will need to do is make an adjustment for kerf, and there are tutorials that describe how to do it for whichever major vector drawing program you are using.
They are located on line 118 in the Matrix linked below.
One note: Acrylics have absolutely no give, so you will want to do a few test runs with a little square in a frame to test for your perfect fit. You can also achieve tighter fit by mirroring the inset parts and flipping them in the holes cut out of the substrate. There is a slight slant to materials cut by a laser.
For 1/4" acrylic, I’ve found that allowing .002" for kerf (Illustrator > Object > Path > Offset Path) allows for good piece fit. Cut 150 speed / full power / 2 passes. (speed +/- depending on color/type acrylic).
