cutting settings

[avalonman]

I would like to cut some acrylic using my 6840

can someone give me a rough idea for 3mm clear please or even a table of various would be even better

thanks

[SimonMallas]

Hi,
There should be a cheat sheet in the manual, but if not email sales@hpclaser.co.uk and they email you one. You can cut acrylics quite fast but the faster you go the poorer the edge quality. Try a speed of 10 with a power and corner power 100%. Normally if I'm unsure of a material I'd do some test cuts, creeping the speed up until it just doesn't cut though. Just be aware that you do need a bit more of an understanding of speed and power when it comes to cutting delicate materials, where the power needs to be turned down to compensate for the restriction of speed. Hope that make some sense.
Cheers Simon

[avalonman]

thanks for that.

it does make sense and i forgot about the cheat sheet.

[Matrix]

Normally if I'm unsure of a material I'd do some test cuts

Yes, that's the only sure test - the composition of the materials is always slightly variable (as is laser power as the tube ages).
We use a little test program that we keep permanently in our machine's memory - just a series of 20mm circles, all on different layers. Each layer is set to a different speed setting (I tend to keep power fixed at about 80% and change only speed - one variable is much easier to deal with!). The speeds are also cut into the plastic alongside the circles. To test a material, just run that program, see which is the fastest circle that cuts right through - and then go one notch slower for luck! This is now standard procedure for our machine ops' whenever switching materials.

Cheers,
Steve.