Laser Cutting Acrylic

Overview

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Acrylic is a type of plastic that can be easily cut and formed to be used in many applications.

Safety

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ALWAYS keep a close eye on the machine when cutting acrylic due to its flammability

Types

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There are two main types of acrylic sheet:

Extruded

Created by extruding molten acrylic pellets through a machine

• Pros
  • Cheaper
  • Better tolerances
  • Easier to bend and form
  • Easier to flame polish edge
• Cons
  • Easy to crack
  • Engraving produces grey frost
  • Lower optical clarity when compared to cast (still very high)
  • Less scratch resistant

Cast

Created by pouring molten acrylic pellets into a mold

• Pros
  • Produces better results when engraving (white frost)
  • Comes in many colors
  • Machines better
  • Higher optical clarity
  • More scratch resistant
• Cons
  • Expensive (your kid might not be going to college)

Cutting/Engraving

• Table for common settings

SUBSTRATE	250 DPI RASTER ENGRAVING SPEED/POWER	400 DPI RASTER ENGRAVING SPEED/POWER	500 DPI RASTER ENGRAVING SPEED/POWER	VECTOR CUTTING SPEED/POWER/FREQUENCY
Acrylic	100/100	100/80	100/60	⅛ (3 mm) – 15/100/5000
				¼ (6.4 mm) – 5/100/5000
				(multiple passes may allow cutting of thicker materials)

Tips

• If engraving, try to use cast acrylic as it will produce better results
• When vector cutting, use masking tape on the backside of the piece to protect against flair up scorch marks as the laser hits the cutting grid.