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Detailed information about acrylic laser cutting

Acrylic laser cutting can be a delicate process, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to use your laser cutter to make beautiful designs on acrylic pieces. This article will walk through how to approach acrylic lasering with confidence and professionalism.

Acrylic lasering is a gentle process in which you follow a specific process to make sure that your acrylic piece engraves.

  • Choose your material. Acrylic is a great choice because it’s strong and flexible, but other materials can be used as well.
  • Cut or score along the lines of your design using a cutting machine or a craft knife.
  • Sand down any rough edges that you’ve made with your cutting machine until they’re smooth and even with the rest of the acrylic piece’s surface.
  • Using an adhesive, attach two pieces at their edges so that they adhere but aren’t completely flush. This will allow room for air bubbles inside during the engraving process which could otherwise ruin results if left unattended.

Acrylic Laser Cutting Settings

Acrylic laser cutting is not as simple as using the “engraved” setting on your laser cutter and pressing go. You need to do some pre-engraving tests to determine what depth of engraving you want, get a better understanding of how the acrylic will react to your settings, and figure out how long it takes for the laser cut process to work its magic.

First, you need to do some pre-engraving tests

Even if you have been using the same material for quite a while, it is always a good idea to make sure that the laser is capable of cutting through the material without any problems. The first thing that you should do when trying out a new acrylic sheet is to put it in your laser machine and see how far it will go. 

For this test to be accurate, we recommend that you use a cutout with about 50% transparency so that only half of your cut line becomes visible on the back side of your cutout. This will allow you to make sure that your machine can handle all types of materials with varying thicknesses and transparency levels. In addition, you want to see what the depth of the engraving needs to be, so play with your settings until you achieve the right level of detail and identity you want for your design.

Acrylic Cutting & Routing is not a simple process. It takes time, patience, and experience to get good at it. First, you need to do some pre-engraving tests on scrap acrylic so that you can figure out the right settings for your laser machine. Once you have done this, go back and change your settings (speed and power) for maximum efficiency.

Bottom Line

The process of acrylic laser cutting is not as simple as pressing a button. You have to be sure you understand the settings and what they mean so that you can achieve the results that you want. Also, you can seek guidance from experts. The first step in this process is by doing some pre-engraving tests on pieces of scrap material from your laser cutter. This way, when it comes time for your real piece of acrylic, all those steps will be familiar to you