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Step 4Cautions!
Acrylic, Wood, Paper, Plastic, Laptops, and a whole host of other things are flammable, so please don't walk away mid cut, you may come back to more then you hoped for.
Aluminum, as is true of most metals, is quite reflective. It has the potential to send the laser beam back from whence it came, damaging the laser diode. When cutting reflective things, never have the reflective side facing upwards towards you and make sure you don't use too high a power.
In addition to all the bonus things no one tells you you can cut, there are several things you should try to avoid cutting. PVC and Vinyl create a corrosive chlorine gas that will not only harm you, but could permanently damage your machine and void its warranty in the process. If you can stay away from these two materials, I would highly recommend it. If you want to check for chlorine, the folks at Burnination put together a great instructional video to help you out!
Never be too quick to etch something. If you assume the power and speed settings are correct, and cut straight into your project, you may cut farther then you planned (which is never good for things like laptops). If you start a little light, you can always reprint multiple times over the same area, or increase the power as you see fit. Having a sample piece to test on is always helpful.
Never lean on the honeycomb bed platform inside the machine. I can tell you from experience trying to reach stuff in the back of the machine, the honeycomb platform is not strong enough to support body weight.
Aluminum, as is true of most metals, is quite reflective. It has the potential to send the laser beam back from whence it came, damaging the laser diode. When cutting reflective things, never have the reflective side facing upwards towards you and make sure you don't use too high a power.
In addition to all the bonus things no one tells you you can cut, there are several things you should try to avoid cutting. PVC and Vinyl create a corrosive chlorine gas that will not only harm you, but could permanently damage your machine and void its warranty in the process. If you can stay away from these two materials, I would highly recommend it. If you want to check for chlorine, the folks at Burnination put together a great instructional video to help you out!
Never be too quick to etch something. If you assume the power and speed settings are correct, and cut straight into your project, you may cut farther then you planned (which is never good for things like laptops). If you start a little light, you can always reprint multiple times over the same area, or increase the power as you see fit. Having a sample piece to test on is always helpful.
Never lean on the honeycomb bed platform inside the machine. I can tell you from experience trying to reach stuff in the back of the machine, the honeycomb platform is not strong enough to support body weight.
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The fume created by the plastic will damage the lenses. I think it fogs the lenses .
You can know if the plastic your using has Chloride.You take COPPER and heat it up so it is RED with a torche. I took copper wire, 12 gauge.
Then touch your plastic to get some plastic residue on the copper wire. Then put it to the flame, is you see GREEN in the flame, it is chloride, do not use with laser!
Dave at Solarbotics.com teach me that.