Coaster from acrylic and wood

Create great effects with two different materials without wasting material.
(To browse full materials range, please visit www.engraving-supplies.com.au)

Preparation

Required material:

2 sheets of TroGlass Colour Gloss, one with double-sided adhesive tape (available at Trotec)
2 sheets Alder wood 3 mm thick, one with double-sided adhesive tape (available at Trotec)
Covering material and adhesive tape

Machine used:

Speedy 360 flexx
100 Watt with 1.5" lens

For this sample you can use any laser machine from the Speedy Series.

Important:

Use the acrylic cutting grid table or the acrylic slat cutting table.
Remove the protective foil from the side of the acrylic that you want to engrave. Leaving on the bottom protects the acrylic sheet from scratches during handling.

Step by Step

Step 1: Import /create design template

Import our design template into your graphic program and adapt it according to your needs. Remove the protective foil from the side of the acrylic that you want to engrave.

Print settings

process mode	resolution	cut line
standard	500 dpi	none

halftone	others
black & white	enhanced geometries inner geometries first

Step 2: Laser process

Engrave and cut out the design (B) from the acrylic sheet with adhesive tape. For best results, we recommend using an acrylic cutting grid table or acrylic slat cutting table. These tables minimise the reflections of the laser beam on the back of the material. Cover the rest of the table and remove the protective film from the top side.
Next, cut the outer contour (B) from the acrylic without adhesive tape.

Laser Parameters for Acrylic

colour	process	power (%)	speed (%)	ppi/HZ
black	engrave CO₂	14	20	500
red	cut CO₂	100	1	1000

passes	Air Assist	Z-Offset	Advanced
1	on	-	-
1	on	-	-

Laser Parameters for Alder Wood

colour	process	power (%)	speed (%)	ppi/HZ
black	engrave CO₂	45	50	500
red	cut CO₂	100	1.4	1000

passes	Air Assist	Z-Offset	Advanced
1	on	6	-
1	on	-	-

Info:

We used the standard laser parameters from JobControl^®, which are optimised for speed
Thanks to the z-offset, you get a particularly smooth engraving.
The material parameters used in JobControl^® can be downloaded from www.troteclaser.com

Step 3: Post-processing

The material requires no cleaning after engraving and cutting. Just remove the protective foil from the back of the cut acrylic elements. Remove the cover from the cut-out circles and alternate the position of the acrylic and wood items starting from outside. This will create great effects with two different materials without wasting any material.

Inspirations

If you wish, you can optimise your results by using the "quality" laser parameters
The fiber laser source of the Speedy flexx creates particularly good results on darker acrylic
If you use a 1.5" lens, the engraving on acrylic becomes very bright. You can also cut 3 mm material with this lens.