Acetal copolymer - laserable or not?

Radek Chwistek

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Feb 9, 2016, 9:13:01 AM2/9/16

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Hi,

Is it allowed to cut acetal copolymer sheets on the laser cutter? The material I'm interested in buying is listed here (ebay link), other better known formulation is marketed as Delrin.
If that's OK, what its maximum thickness can be? Any chance of getting through 5mm; what the settings should be?
If not, could anyone recommend stiff laserable material that doesn't develop stress cracks as acrylic does and can be sourced in up to 5mm sheet thickness? It's to build various screwed adapter plates (multiple sandwiched if necessary).

Thanks in advance,

Radek

Ryan

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Feb 9, 2016, 9:30:40 AM2/9/16

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Hi Radek,

I'm not an LHS member, let alone trained on their cutter, but we have an 80 Watt CO2 cutter at rlab and I've had good luck with delrin on it.

Also,

http://hackaday.com/2015/09/03/how-to-build-anything-using-delrin-and-a-laser-cutter/

Good luck with your project, delrin/acetal is a great material. Another awesome, very tough material one of our members had luck with is HDPE, which is commonly available in the form of cutting boards!

R

Radek Chwistek

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Feb 9, 2016, 9:40:57 AM2/9/16

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Ryan,

The article you cited was actually an original inspiration source. Any clue as to the maximum thickness of delrin you were able to cut with your laser cutter?
HDPE you proposed is off limits in LHS ("laser contamination, fire risk, emissions").

Thanks,

Radek

Peter "Sci" Turpin

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Feb 9, 2016, 9:42:12 AM2/9/16

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HDPE is on the explicitly banned materials list.

I'd be interested to know the laser maintainers position on delrin. I
note it's also known as polyformaldehyde so wonder if it releases any
formaldehyde under thermal decomposition.

On 09/02/2016 14:30, Ryan wrote:
> Hi Radek,
>
> I'm not an LHS member, let alone trained on their cutter, but we have an
> 80 Watt CO2 cutter at rlab and I've had good luck with delrin on it.
>
> Also,
> http://hackaday.com/2015/09/03/how-to-build-anything-using-delrin-and-a-laser-cutter/
>
> Good luck with your project, delrin/acetal is a great material. Another
> awesome, very tough material one of our members had luck with is HDPE,
> which is commonly available in the form of cutting boards!
>
> R
>
> On Tuesday, 9 February 2016 14:13:01 UTC, Radek Chwistek wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> Is it allowed to cut acetal copolymer sheets on the laser cutter?
> The material I'm interested in buying is listed here

> <http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ACETAL-Sheet-NATURAL-Copolymer-WHITE-POM-C-DELRIN-PLATE-Engineering-Plastics-/161315078656> (ebay

Radek Chwistek

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Feb 10, 2016, 1:23:45 PM2/10/16

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What's the laser maintainers stand on acetal cutting?
Radek

Radek Chwistek

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Feb 15, 2016, 6:20:27 PM2/15/16

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Hi,

I'd really appreciate some opinion on the acetal from laser maintainers. If it hasn't been tried yet, perhaps I can order some samples you could test (what size, thickness)?
Understanding you guys are busy with bringing the cutter up to speed again (and plenty of other things), renewing the thread seems as a best shot at getting the question answered.