I need to engrave and cut through 3mm mirrored acrylic without causing fogging. When I cut with the mirror side up, it’s clean, but aligning for backside engraving is hard. I want to do both with the mirror side down, but haven’t found the right settings to succeed yet. Do anyone have experience with this and can recommend the ideal settings for it?
I’ve tried on the blue small laser. not sure if the other one might be better suited for it but its my next experiement!
Have you tried coating the mirrored side with dish soap? The fogging is probably acrylic vapor attaching to the surface. Using something like dawn dish soap to form a barrier on the surface will allow you to wipe away that fog.
I have not tried dish soap but I have had success with masking. You can cut through the masking onto the acrylic. I use a 12" wide roll of masking tape I got off of Amazon.
Aligning your project from the back can be tricky. Depending on your project, you might be able to use Print and Cut in Lightburn on the big lasers to get it lined up. Just depends on what you are trying to do.
If you can wait till the first of the month you may be able to get more ideas at the Laser SIG.
-Michael L.
Yep, use dish soap
I’ll try that thanks! when you use the coating do you cut with mirror side face down then?
I cut some mirrored acrylic a while back. I used oromask when cutting. I don’t remember which side I had up.
Mirror side down
To avoid flashback marks on bottom from the laser hitting the honeycomb, put a small (3mm) spacer underneath the stock along the edges. You just focus for the top of the material regardless