Laser cutting acrylic has many advantages, while the range of applications possible with acrylic is vast. This tutorial will show you how to create a unique glass holder made from acrylic. Visit our engraving supplies webshop to view the full range of Trotec materials.
A suitable material to cover the engraving table (such as paper)
Paper tape
Laser machine used:
Speedy 360 flexx
80 Watt with 2" lens
Any Speedy series laser machine can be used to create this sample.
Important information:
Use the acrylic laser cutting grid table or the acrylic slat cutting table for this tutorial
Remove the protective foil from the side of the acrylic that you are engraving. Leave the foil on the bottom of the material as this protects it from scratches during handling.
Step by Step
Step 1: Importing the design template
Import our design template into your chosen graphics program and adapt it to meet your requirements.
Print settings
Process mode
Resolution
Cut line
Standard
500 dpi
none
Halftone
Others
Black & White
enhanced geometries, inner geometries first
Step 2: Laser process
We recommend using either the acrylic cutting grid table or the acrylic slat cutting table, as they avoids back reflections on the material. Position your acrylic sheet onto the laser machine bed, remove the protective foil and cover the rest of the table with paper (or other suitable material) to maximise exhaust power.
Laser Parameters:
Colour
Process
Power (%)
Speed (%)
ppi/Hz
black
engrave CO2
18
20
500
red
cut CO2
100
0.9
1000
Passes
Air Assist
Z-Offset
Advanced
1
on
-
-
1
on
-
-
Info:
For our sample we used the standard laser parameters from Jobcontrol® which are optimised for speed.
You can download the material parameters for JobControl® on our website
Step 3: Post-processing
Clean the glass holder with some water and dish-soap.
Inspiration:
You can achieve even better results by selecting the "Quality" laser parameters
A fiber laser can achieve great laser engraving results when used on dark coloured acrylic
Using a 1.5" lens results in the engraving becoming very bright. 3 mm material can be cut using this lens
Additionally, you can also UV-print the material. Our JobControl® Vision software supports you in laser cutting the printed sheets with the highest precision
Discover advantages of laser processing acrylic in our application pages
