Laser Engraving Plastic


Engraving on plastic has changed greatly in the past few years. Before laser engravers, plastic manufacturers designed plastic for rotary engraving systems. These rotary engravers used a mechanical spinning bit to remove material. Recently though, plastic manufacturers have developed a broad range of plastics that have thinner cap sheets of .002 to .003 inches thickness. These provide much better engraving and cutting characteristics and are commonly referred to as micro laminate, microsurfaced, or simply laser engravable plastics.

Because there is such a broad range of plastics, it can be necessary to experiment with a particular plastic to determine if it is laser compatible. Different colored plastics, even if they are from the same manufacturer will demand unique speed and power settings from your laser engraver. Use the guidelines in your manual as a starting point when determining the correct speed and power settings. If you do not get acceptable initial results with the recommended speed and power settings, start experimenting by first changing only the power settings. If adjusting the power settings does not work, start over and adjust only the speed setting. Once you have acceptable results, record those settings for that particular plastic so that you won't have to repeat the experimental process.