[Ullyxes]

Hey all,

I recently put a bit of grip-mat into my machine thinking that it was made of something other than PVC. Turns out it was actually PVC...

Luckily, it only took about 30 seconds to cut and I had my air-assist and ventilation on so I'm optimistic that nothing terrible will come of this.

I've wiped down as much metal as I can get at just in case it will help. Is there anything else I can do to prevent damage from happening? Is it even worth worrying about given the extremely small amount of time that PVC was being cut in the first place? I've read that some people do very small jobs cutting PVC/vinyl on occasion and their machine has not suffered any damage. Am I just worrying way too much over this?

Thanks in advance for any help and sorry about my newbishness.

Best regards.

[daniel28]

I think the top concern here is the toxic gas that is emitted by cutting PVC. PVC, when cut with laser gives off chlorine gas which is very toxic to our health. It can also be corrosive to the machine. But since you mentioned that you only used it for 30 seconds, and nothing happened to your machine, then I think your concern should not focus on your machine but on your health.

[Ullyxes]

Thanks for the input. Luckily, my ventilation took care of at least the majority of the gas.

Can anyone tell me how long it takes for the damage to appear? Is it nearly instantaneous or does it happen over time?

[RCaffin]

Doesn't sound as though you cut a lot of PVC, and you didn't mention smelling any choking gases. Based on that I suggest the ventilation system looked after the problem. I think you would have noticed immediately if any chlorine was being released!

Cheers