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.
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