Hiya, I have recently purchased the Atomstack A5 Pro 40W - it cuts 3mm Acrylic really easily. But I’m having problems cutting 3mm Mirror Acrylic. The Acrylic has grey backing and I’ve masked the front as well but it just won’t cut through it. I’ve tried so many settings Less power and Higher Speed and it just won’t work. Any advice would be great if anybody has cut mirror acrylic before.
Is the mirror side facing the laser?
It must be reflecting the laser off the surface. I use a CO2 and burn the mirror off the back side… Never tried this with the LED laser…
If the mirror was on the bottom layer the laser would damage the material, might not cut though the mirror part, but it should cut to the mirror.
Thanks for your reply. I’ve tried both sides and taped etc but it won’t go through. Has anybody that doesn’t have a CO2 one like me have any tips?
Nothing seems to be very clear online. People saying they can do it but not being clear about the settings… I’ve see. Air assist come up quite a lot could this help?
When you have problems with a working laser, any laser, sit down and think about what’s happening…
What kind of damage does the laser do to the material?
Most dealings with a laser seems to be the material.
If it’s not cutting then it’s not doing the damage you expect. Many materials are reflective to certain wavelengths of light. The more the reflection the less damage is done to the material from less heat being created by the beam. Aluminum is one of the worst, something like a 99.6% reflection rate, add to that it ‘sinks’ heat away from the cut making it more difficult to excite the molecules to the proper temperature.
It would be nice to know if you have the exact material. Did they give you any clue as to the ‘speeds and feeds’ of the cut. Meaning how much power (speed) and how fast the laser is moving (feed). This is true with any machining operation. It’s nice to be able to have some starting point instead of a blind guess.
Do you have a photo of the cut (worth at least 1k in words) that we can ‘see’ what you’re seeing, that would be very beneficial.
Most of these sites have the ability to ask them about what they are doing and get it from the horses mouth, so to speak.
These are issues we all run into no matter what kind of machining is involved.
I’m hoping someone here that does this will assist you further, but so far the response is rather nil 