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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Posts
    83

    Cutting & raster engraving acrylic

    I have to cut & raster engrave a few samples for a client. What would the recommended S&P be on a 100w co2 in 3/16 Acrylic for cutting and for rastering a small logo/trademark in the corner? TIA Neville

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    0
    Laser engraving cutting machine is little limited. It is good at for acrylic processing, when engraving, you could try fast speed, for cutting, maybe a bit slow.

    80W could cut max. 15mm, 4mm or 5mm, 60W is ok.

    You could try to test freely.

    Echo
    Chinese Manufacture, exporter for Laser Machine, CNC Router
    Web:www.jdengraver.com Miss Echo: [email protected]

  3. #3
    This was all done with 30 watts.
    It's trial and error with the vector speed as it depends on material thickness as well as ambient temperature. Pretty much trial and error with the raster logo as well.

    Tweakie.

    CNC is only limited by our imagination.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    38
    Do you have the dxf files for the three gears shown in the picture? I would love to try them on my CNC mill.
    Grandpa Jay

  5. #5
    Do you have the dxf files for the three gears shown in the picture? I would love to try them on my CNC mill.
    Grandpa Jay
    Sorry, I do not produce a DXF because I run GCode.
    I have attached the GCode for 1 gear - see if you can do anything with it. Because these were laser cut there is no Z commands but in the code I use B0 to turn the laser off (Z plus movement) and B1 to turn it on (Z minus movement). Search and replace could change these to Z movement. The included tool radius offset is 0.05mm (laser beam radius) so you would need to adjust your offset accordingly also all my units are metric.
    It's a long shot but if you can do anything with it then email me and I will send the GCode for the others.

    Tweakie.
    Attached Files Attached Files
    CNC is only limited by our imagination.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Posts
    1258
    Tweakie,

    That's a really cool design!

    I converted it to dxf and would love to cut the set and try it if you don't mind.

    What program did you use to create these gears?

    Zax.
    Attached Files Attached Files

  7. #7
    Hey Zax that's brilliant, I had not even considered the possibility of creating a DXF from the GCode. They were made using Gearotic Motion Gearotic Motion (written by Art of Mach3 fame).
    Here are the other two.

    Tweakie.
    Attached Files Attached Files
    CNC is only limited by our imagination.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Posts
    83
    Hey guys - cutting is going well, but in one spot the cut went over some acrylic I was using as spacers under the sheet and the liquid acrylic seeped a littl bak onto the part, is there any way to clean that?, Its minor, but looks a little like when you used to put too much glue on the canopy of that Airfix Spitfire we all built as kids.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    8

    gear set

    tweakie, cool gear set

    zax, could you post the dxfs for the entire gearset?, i dont have means to convert from gcode to dxf. may i ask what software you use to do this?

    thank you both

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Posts
    1258
    Here are gears 2 and 3 converted as is... so remember they have the 0.05mm offset. The same as gears1.

    I also attached tweakie-gears.dxf that has all 3 gears without any offset (so you can apply whatever offset you want).

    These were converted with ArtCAM, but I have several programs capable of this - DesKAM will do it, so will TurboCADCAM and I think you can use plugins with Google Sketchup and achieve it too.

    Zax.
    Attached Files Attached Files

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    8
    thank you zax

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Dubliner View Post
    Hey guys - cutting is going well, but in one spot the cut went over some acrylic I was using as spacers under the sheet and the liquid acrylic seeped a littl bak onto the part, is there any way to clean that?, Its minor, but looks a little like when you used to put too much glue on the canopy of that Airfix Spitfire we all built as kids.
    I think the only way is to polish it out.

    (the acrylic I use has a plastic peel off covering on both sides which does not ignite like the paper stuff so I cut it with the covering on - prevents this sort of problems but it's a pain to remove all the little bits from the finished parts still it's no worse than the vinyl sign weeding).


    Brilliant work with the DXF's Zax, cant wait to see the gears.

    Tweakie.
    CNC is only limited by our imagination.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    38
    Thank you gentleman for all the files. Now the fun begins. First I have to get into Inch. Then try to figure out the amount of offset, or would that just be a small scale factor?

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by grandpa jay View Post
    Thank you gentleman for all the files. Now the fun begins. First I have to get into Inch. Then try to figure out the amount of offset, or would that just be a small scale factor?
    I don't think they will mesh very well unless you use tool radius offset.
    Do you use Mach3 with your mill ?

    Tweakie.
    CNC is only limited by our imagination.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    38
    Yes, I have Mach3. Also AutoCad and CamBam. The problem that I see is the tool path off set by the beam radius of 0.05mm. That makes the dxf touth thicker and the gullet thinner. AutoCad will not let me off set the polyline in the files. CamBam allowed the offset so we will see what happens.
    Grandpa Jay

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Posts
    1258
    If you like I can offset the path and convert to inch, just let me know.

    I am actually wondering if you can scale gears without any issue, I guess I'll find out as I plan to cut them about 4, 5 and 6" in diameter.

    Zax.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    38
    If you scale them all the same, it should work.
    Grandpa Jay

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by grandpa jay View Post
    Yes, I have Mach3. Also AutoCad and CamBam. The problem that I see is the tool path off set by the beam radius of 0.05mm. That makes the dxf touth thicker and the gullet thinner. AutoCad will not let me off set the polyline in the files. CamBam allowed the offset so we will see what happens.
    Grandpa Jay
    If it doesn't work out, load the DXF (the one Zax has removed the offset from) into LazyCam, scale it to your required dimension (all mating gears need to be scaled exactly the same amount) set the cutting order and post it to Mach3. Within Mach set your tool parameters then use G41 or G42 (depending on path direction) to automatically apply the tool radius offset.

    Tweakie.
    CNC is only limited by our imagination.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    38
    Thank You again. I scaled the original by 0.08 in AutoCad whitch brings the total set length down to just over 9 inches. I offset the tooth profile in CamBam by .004". CamBam generated the Gcode file for Mach3. The dificult part was getting the proper spacing to make them run smooth. They work very good.
    Grandpa Jay

  20. #20
    Glad you got it sorted.

    How about a ring for your next project. [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=939qJdnGLM8&feature=player_embedded"]YouTube - Gear Ring from Kinekt Design[/nomedia]



    Tweakie.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails ring_2.jpg  
    CNC is only limited by our imagination.

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