Rabbit has a guide for materials here: www.rabbitlaserusa.com/manuals/speedsfeeds_RL.pdf The minimum power level to still produce laser output is roughly 12-15.Note: The following is a left over from the old 150W laser. Do not assume these are correct for the 80W laser. We will be updating this as we go, so stay tuned. Paul re-calculated those for 150w, change if you find in appropriate (keep in mind these are with a clean lens, dirty lens = more power, so clean the lens first before changing these) Here are some examples using the rotary attachment on a glass bottle. Scan gap was set to 0.055 for all of these (level recommended by Rabbit). We decided that (for this particular type of glass), a speed of 350 with a power of 18 looked best. Higher power levels increase the "fuzziness" of the graphic. Scan Gap = 25.4/DPI, so DPI = 25.4/Scan Gap. Theoretical limit is 1000DPI, or 0.0254 Speed: 350, Power: 15,_2 Passes Speed: 350, Power: 18, Sample 1 Speed: 350, Power: 18, Sample 2 Speed: 350, Power: 20 Speed: 400, Power: 20 Paul - Additionally i found that glass requires: focus above the surface of the glass, a soap and water paper towel, and speed: 500, power 24, scan gap 0.0200 These #'s are a first pass and will be refined later. From wikipedia: Pulsed lasercutting acrylic introduces a high internal stresses along the cut edge, which when exposed to solvents produces undesirable "stress-crazing" at the cut edge and several millimetres deep. Annealing the PMMA sheet/parts is therefore an obligatory post-processing step when intending to chemically bond lasercut parts together. This involves heating the parts in an air circulating oven from room temperature up to 90 degrees C (at a rate of no more than 18 degrees per hour) down to room temperature (at a rate of no more than 12 degrees per hour). Temperature should be maintained as follows: One hour for 3mm thickness, two hours for up to 6mm thickness, four hours for up to 12mm thickness, and six hours for up to 20mm thickness. A rapid annealing cycle is reliable for thin sheets and involves placing them in a pre-heated oven to 80 degrees C for one hour, then removing parts from oven and allowing to cool to room temperature. . |
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