And Im guessing I have to adjust the heights? Weirdly the tiny pieces within the butterfly cut fine but the actual butterfly didnt. This burns away the glaze and you can use ink to make the etched portion "pop". - Cut 220 speed / full power / auto focus

If you're not sure what settings to use for your material, we will try and help you find out. To see the PG setting just click that little arrow on the right. - 1/16": Im guessing that youre like 5 speed points too fast or 5 power points too low.

We use cookies on our websites for a number of purposes, including analytics and performance, functionality and advertising. I like cardstock because it doesnt leave smoke residue, draftboard will. Thanks for contacting us. Great thread started by @patsucebox here: Thermal expansion issues with 1/16 acrylic, I tried the following 150/90, 145/85, 140/90 - none cut through. Basically as you heat things up, they get larger. This Glowforge is at a local library and I have limited access and a relatively short time to use it.

and thickness of the sheets in your cart. You want to use just enough power to reliably get through the material, and no more. I dont believe thats the mechanism here. - 1/4" clear: Select "Thick Clear Acrylic" And masked both side including cutting face down. *** The above are only suggested settings which worked for us, but they also depend greatly on the condition of your machine. If you decide to use materials not supplied by Glowforge, you will need to enter the settings for the laser yourself. Customers outside of the 48 contiguous states can only have their order ship with USPS (for ex: Hawaii, Alaska, For CAST acrylic, you can clean this with a modest amount of rubbing alcohol for a crystal clean finish. - For other 1/8" acrylics: Select ANY "Medium #COLOR# Acrylic" (do not pick clear, white, or any frosted types). If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results. ** Please remember to use the Honeycomb pins to pin down at least the 4 corners so the sheet can stay flat and doesn't move in your machine! - 1/4" MDF: Select "Thick Draftboard" setting Would anyone be willing to share settings for cutting and engraving various thicknesses of acrylic? If youve not done it, this is a good test: Click the arrow to the right of Proofgrade Cut when using a Proofgrade material setting and it will show the setting. The reflection off the tray is by nature going to be diffuse, but the material is directly on it, so it burns.

The outside cuts could either have 2 passes, or use a different power setting that is reliable. -Our Acrylic comes masked with paper or plastic, and varies by manufacturer. Anything significantly thicker, yes. Now its down to getting the right settings without the hazy marks - is that what its called lol. Engraving settings will depend on thickness, how deep you want to engrave, and whether or not it's 1 layer, 2 layer or more. Slow down? Have you tried putting something underneath the acrylic to raise it off the tray? The hazing/danage youre seeing is overburn, caused by to much power. Learn how to adjust the software to engrave an item to thick to place on top of the crumb tray. If you take this logic to its end, the laser cuts thinner materials a lot more cleanly and with less fire risk than thicker stuff. I have been glued to the forum since I ordered. Do I need to glue it together? Mail if there is a PO Box address. Ask @rbtdanforth about his adventures with thick zebrawood sometimes, its a prime example of this phenomenon. 1/8" 3015 White Acrylic Sheet (Sublimatable). GF Basic (or Plus 40W) FREE SHIPPING OVER $65 ON ALL GLOWFORGE SIZED ACRYLIC SHEETS. thanks, i am running a test cut now varing the speed and power. - 1/8" MDF: Select "Medium Draftboard" setting I would strongly recommend doing that test routine that I posted earlier. so a 135/100 cuts through but with the mark. We recommend removing the masking on those with plastic masking and replacing with your own favorite masking. Ive done this cardstock trick many times with no issue, but like anything you put in the laser, especially acrylic and other synthetic materials, watch it and be careful. CLARITY:OpaqueCOMPOSITION:CastFRONT/BACK:Gloss/GlossSUGGESTED GLOWFORGE CUT SETTINGS: PG Medium + coordinating color. Etchings work best with a high DPI/LPI. Paper doesnt absorb heat too quickly, but it has a low thermal mass, so you can get it on fire pretty readily if you give it a second with a lighter. So, like the candle, when the laser is running hot and zipping along, the surrounding material just doesnt have time to heat up and burn.

Youve got the fuel, sure but the layers are smooshed together, so theres not a great deal of oxygen that can get in there. Its the only way to be sure that youre cutting with just enough power to get through and not too much. depends on the acrylic, i used 40-60% power, 500 speed for Engraving, 30%-ish power for scoring, Full power, 300 speed, and 3 passes for cutting 1/8 in. Even if the laser is moving very quickly, you have to be careful that it doesnt make too many cuts too close to each other, as they will gradually heat up the material and that can cause warping or even fire. Please remember to always do a test cut first! You can test cut a small circle of 1/4" in diameter in the corner. Please note that due to the cutting process, sheet actual measurements may vary up to 1/4" depending on the type of acrylic and blades used to cut down the sheets. Id probably put a piece of cardstock underneath it, then put the masked acrylic on that, then run the cut test.

Checklist for when the materials are not cutting through: You can do the same with paper, you just have to be a bit faster. What thicknesses of material are you trying? - Cut 250 speed / full power / auto focus We recommend bringing extra of your material so you can do some tests to make sure your final project comes out as best it can. Suite 405 Keep in mind you'll need to leave a note on which products you want it added to, and purchase a quantity equal to the number of sheets you need. Create wall decor, jewelry, business signs, trinket boxes, jewelry displays, keychains, cake toppers and more! Generally, you get best results when you cut hot and fast, but Im sure youve tested a bunch. However, acrylic can be weakened by any harsh or dehydrating chemicals and EXTRUDED will absolutely be compromised with these. On the right hand side of the WAI BOX COUNTER is the UPS Box Size, which will change based on the number, size, Contact Us. Fire needs oxygen, fuel, and heat to get going. The Thick Proofgrade settings typically work for cutting most cast acrylic at 1/4", and Medium Proofgrade for cutting 1/8". That just leaves heat. For acrylics: Right, I think your 150/85 is probably 5 points too low. Just send us a message in the form below with any questions you may have. My gut says run a test at full power, vary the speed, and find the right speed that cuts reliably with no damage to the acrylic. With that in mind, if you block the reflection you should see no flashback. Cardstock or draftboard should be ok though. TheFine Scratch Polishalso works great on all acrylics for buffing out any minor imperfections that may have happened through the crafting process. Cutting cardstock at 350 speed and 100 power has almost no char or risk of fire compared to 1/4" hardwoods, where you have to go a lot slower. I wanted to make sure I was prepared before I got there. Like, share, or follow for exclusive info! The PG setting is probably going to be overpowered. A reddit community dedicated to sharing information/images (and eventually tips & tricks) about Glowforge. sheets in the order, including one with a PO Box address. Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled, 1/8 acrylic not cutting through and PG Setting. OK so not too nerdy, Ill try to make it relatable. Thanks for the suggestion. ** Please remember to use the Honeycomb pins to pin down at least the 4 corners (especially the mirror acrylics) so the sheet can stay flat and doesn't move in your machine!

Grand Prairie, TX 75051 Youre really close to the proper cut settings, most likely. So I just place a corrugated board or the pg draftboard underneath the mirror? We'll get back to you as soon as possible. -Due to the cutting process, it's not uncommon to get a stubborn "fog" on your acrylic after using your laser despite any type of masking. And Im guessing I have to adjust the heights? Ask @rbtdanforth about his adventures with thick zebrawood sometime, its a prime example of this phenomenon. Id say no corrugated, that allows oxygen through all those little channels. I used 150 speed and 85 Power, no weird marks but not all the pieces were cut through. https://community.glowforge.com/search?q=mirrored%20acrylic%20, I am a little confused as I would have thought more power means it will deffo cut through lol. A description of what each setting is and how it effects your project. I raised my acrylic with another piece of 1/8" acrylic using your settings (150/100) and it worked perfect! The metal honeycomb gets hot and can cause little flashback marks on the back, so putting something underneath it helps. For MDF: Think of a candle, almost everyone has run a finger through the flame. One thing we find often is that despite similar setups and machines, cut settings can vary drastically. Some came out easily and other I had to snap them out with visible break points on the piece. While we have done plenty of testing and work with best practices, all of our suggestions are starting points. This has been shown to be a noticeable problem with acrylic if youre making lots of small parts.

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They want to be sure that cuts go through, so in general PG settings are a little aggressive. If you've done everything on the list and it's still not cutting, then you can decrease the speed by 10 and go from there. Were happy to answer any questions you have or provide you with an estimate. waisupplies@gmail.com Acrylic gets very hot when cutting and the smaller or more intricate the cut, the hotter it gets. - Engrave 1000 speed / 90 power / 0.125in height - 1/8" clear: Select "Medium Clear Acrylic"

Customers within the 48 contiguous states can only pick UPS as the shipping method if there are more than 2 (Its been discussed a lot and you can search the forum for ways to minimize it. ) Have you tried the standard proofgrade settings? Beyond that, each individual species of wood is different, both in how easily the smoke gets ignited and also what it takes for a coal of that wood to remain lit. ENGRAVE: Check example - different speed/power combinations give you different results. These Acrylic Sheet sheets open up a ton of possibilities for every crafter and laser cutter. And I agree with Kelly and would not move anything before checking to make sure it cut through, That way you can run another pass if need be. WAI TOO SMALL (SMALL) Fits up to 7 sheets of 1/8in ($17.75), WAI LITTLE (MEDIUM) Fits up to 13 sheets of 1/8in ($19.50), WAI TO GO (LARGE) Fits up to 23 sheets of 1/8in ($22.50), WAIIII BETTER (XLARGE) Fits up to 37 sheets of 1/8in ($29.50). Please make sure the air assist fan is properly cleaned and is working. If you're looking to add a double sided adhesive backing, you can find it here. OUCH. Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands). Double mask the bottom if you have to, pretty sure we already had this conversation, I seem to remember this topic from a while ago. Best setting at 150/100 Thanks so much for you help Hopefully it works all the time lol. 2) Honeycomb pins Ceramic Tile can only be etched. So the laser dumps a lot of energy into a small space, and can very quickly heat up a small area, but if you are moving it quickly it doesnt have time to heat up the surrounding materials to the point where they can burn*. https://eriecounty-pa.libguides.com/glowforge. This is different than Acrylic that does not form coals but if hot enough dumps flammable chemicals into the air that burn and heat up the material in a runaway fire. Cardstock, not really, its so thin. Try 150/90. As for heat transmission, you merely need to get the material wet and see how far away the evaporation happens and how fast. Please any one know when everything is not cutting through? Press J to jump to the feed. 3) Your machine is clean and ALL the lenses (INCLUDING the reflector inside the printer's head) are clean. So I just place a corrugated board or the pg draftboard underneath the mirror? Go fast, no problem. All materials absorb heat at a specific rate, and how much heat it takes to warm a given amount of something is a property called thermal mass. The same goes for very noisy or jaggy lines, if there are all sorts of tiny details the laser basically hangs out in one area too long, and risks heat damage or fire. The thermal mass and conductivity of that comb probably prevents it from getting too warm. I would have thought more power means it will deffo cut. We recommend using Novuson your acrylic, especially mirrors and other extruded acrylics. How to design, create, and safely use the Glowforge at the Erie County Blasco Library Idea Lab. Im pretty sure its straight reflection, not heat.

Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. If your file for this design has each step nicely separated out (inside cuts vs outside cuts), then you can make a setting for the inside cuts and have that in the first space of the LH sidebar. Also please how do I find out the PG cut settings? 4am here and since I cldnt sleep and testing lol. GF Pro (or Plus 45W) What works today might not work tomorrow!!! Lifting the material up would allow the light to disperse before it hits the backside of the material, thus preventing it from being concentrated enough to damage the back of the material. If you are cutting quickly at high power its surprisingly generally less fire risk than lower and slower, because of [insert nerdy thermodynamics stuff here].

Our Acrylic sheets are perfect for use in your laser cutting and engraving machines, CNC Routing machines, GlowForge, Aeon, Mira, Flux Beamo, and more! I have better luck using the PG setting to cut my acrylic but I get weird marks on it, I have been playing round with the settings to get round this. Lifting might get the job done here, but for most things I find that a layer of cardstock and proper just enough settings does just fine. @kittski @evansd2 yes i read about adding something underneath but the fire risk really scares me. The cardstock should absorb any extra laser energy and prevent flashback, and youll find exactly how fast to go to allow you to use full power. (I also cut with it the grey coating side on the tray, but it can work both way.) Everything on the sheet were cut in the same job. It is certainly true that 3/8" of anything provides more fuel than 1/8" but a lot of that fuel has to be turned into a gas to start a fire. We do ship with both UPS and USPS so please look at the appropriate meter (either UPS or USPS) for your order. The big thing is with Glowforges, they have quite a bit of forgiveness for settings. We will automatically ship your order with USPS Priority Acrylic sheets have a lot of tolerance, so some areas are slightly thicker than other areas and that can account for differences in stuff cutting through or not. Please see below for different UPS box sizes. Our materials are compatible with Glowforge's Proofgrade settings: *** So Id guess the small pieces cut through because they got a bit hotter than the larger areas. The end result should be the same, but the mechanism is totally different from what I understand. For all materials, we do suggest that you do a test cut first to make sure that the settings are good for your machine. 2100 S Great Southwest Pkwy -Always run a test cut! * There are exceptions, like living hinges, where the cuts are very close to each other. I haven't tried acrylic before, so no, I hadn't considered the proof grade settings. 1) Use Set Focus You want to use full power and can try varying the speed, but we have found 1000 speed to work fine. For even further nerdiness, look into the coefficient of thermal expansion. We are slowly building our own recommendation list for custom settings below. - Engrave 1000 speed / 80 power / 0.125in height This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. Zebrawood is particularly problematic on both those points easier for the smoke to ignite, and once ignited will start a coal that can stay burning after the laser has moved on, and if left alone could slowly burn everything like the coals in a barbecue. Thank you. Acrylic get hazy marks from the heat of the laser and the mirrored acrylic is especially sensitive to it. Unlike our craft table we promise to keep your inbox clutter-free ;). It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. Thanks will try the PG setting with a card stock. 1/8" thick mirrored acrylic how to not burn the backing mirror.