Laser cutting and acrylic bonding questions

[Chris M]

What is the least painful way to adjust for kerf width? AFAIK rdworks doesn't have an option for it. My design is in Fusion 360 which can put out .dxfs with an adjustment, but after a test cut there is still export/import/layout labour. I might figure out some optimisations but wanted to fish for wisdom first...

Also, I've read up a little bit on bonding acrylic but want to know what the rlab process is (couldn't find anything on the wiki). Substances, equipment, clamping and drying time requirements, etc. Any miscellaneous tips would be welcome too.

Thanks,

Chris

[Matthew Daubney]

iirc it's about 0.2mm? You could probably do it fairly accurately within a few passes using halving (go under, go over, move one to half that repeat).

As for bonding, there's some S4C by the machine. It's a DCM and something mix that chemically cements the acrylic together. Works better with some pressure, and I've found that putting the stuff into/over the join once pressed together gives best results. (Others will have other methods)

[Chris M]

Not sure I follow, you mean do a binary search? I measured .2mm before but I expected it to vary with material and thickness, but if it's always thereabouts then I'll go with that and make any necessary adjustments afterwards with hammers and duct tape.

[Chris M]

I just found "offset polygon" in rdworks and it's exactly what I was after. Select all, offset polygon, set offset=0.1mm, delete artwork=true, auto in/out=true. That should sort everything at once. Yay...