Need advice for acrylic cut

Hi,

Can someone please give advice how to cut acrylic on what settings and mybee I need something extra,because I tried to cut 3MM black gloss acrylic and doesn’t leave nice eadges, melting places, what doesn’t look nice
Everthing what I need is nice smooth finish :sob:

I have xtool D1 pro 20W + air assist And the honey bed

I think that’s what most of us want…


My machine is a co2, and I don’t do acrylic on my led machine… but I think I can make a couple suggestions.


As you’ve noticed it will cut/melt at various settings. As with all machining operations, there is a ‘sweet spot’ or a place when the power and speed work the best for that specific material.

Generally speaking, highest power with the fastest speed for cuts. I find multiple passes generally don’t turn out as well as s single pass with slower speed/higher power or both.

In co2 land we don’t like to ‘over drive’ the tube. Most limit them selves to mid 80’s percentile range… Led laser users are commonly at 100%. Laser modules are consumables so how you use them is up to you…

One more suggestion, use only enough air pressure to keep debris off the lens… High pressure on acrylic seems make cutting it a bigger mess. Seems to cool off the cut area too soon…

Good luck

:smile_cat:

Thanks for reply!

If I’m correct then from 20W laser cutter I will not be available to get nice smooth finish?
If I’m correct now, then CO2 machine is the best for getting nice smooth finish for acrylic?

I’m not saying that you can’t get good cuts, but it will take some time and work to find a working speed/power. I’ve seen some nice work, but don’t know if they added some ‘elbow grease’ to the finished product.

An led laser is heating the dark pigment which heats the acrylic… so an led is not really the best choice for acrylic work.

At it’s root, I understand co2 was actually ‘designed’ for acrylic use. The industrial use is pretty substantial and widely varied range of materials. And you can get very smooth results…

You can’t really compare the power of an led to that of a large co2 machine.

My experience with led lasers is they output, at best, about 10% of the input power. I have a NEJE 30W, I think I’m lucky to get 3W out…

A bit different than advertised.

Good luck

:smile_cat:

Do you mean smooth as in along the edge? Or do you mean smooth as in vertically flat for the entire 3mm depth of the material? If you mean the former you should have no problem getting a smooth edge by running multiple passes at lower power. Make sure you’re never melting the material. Set power and speed so that you can cut through at about 15-20 passes. This will give you a look where there are tight layers that are smooth along the edge and looks really nice, almost like a stack of shiny paper. It’s not the same effect as a flame edge from a CO2 laser but nice in its own way.

Use just enough air assist to prevent your lens from getting dirtied.