I’m helping a friend in reusing a number of corrugated plastic signs as material stock for public artwork. Think yard signs, although these were salvaged from ACL, which are typically made of polypropylene. I thought about putting it on Tarkin but given that I don’t know the exact composition, I thought I’d ask if anyone has tried anything similar – you can see images of it below.
I imagine the general rule is “if it’s a mystery material, don’t risk bad fumes” but thought I’d check. And if you have ideas on how else I could cut it efficiently, I’m all ears (and not CNC certified, unfortunately).
It’s ok to cut, but it doesn’t cut all that easily. The air gap inside means it can’t form a channel that captures the beam. So it won’t be in good focus for the bottom surface.
While it’s a bit more difficult to cut than it should be, laser is still a pretty good choice
Hmm, interesting. Now that I think about it, the only vaguely similar material I cut previously was cardboard but that’s a different story. Guess I’ll just have to build in additional testing time during my session.
I have been cutting for years to make yard decorations. I use 30/100 on Tarkin with good results for 4mm. One issue is that the back side gets soot flash patterns that are impossible to remove. I have tried a lot of techniques to avoid and remove it but have had no success except masking, which is difficult unless you mask the whole back side. I have also marked the face side and made hinde cuts in it successfully. If you have specific questions feel free to ask here. You will get prompter responses from me if you reach out directly
Thank you, Clay – you’re absolutely right on all points. The backside of the panels was a cosmetic disaster after cutting, but it didn’t matter for my needs so I declared success.
The material cuts really well and I think it’s decent for prototyping purposes. Trying to assemble it into something useful though… Not a whole lot of success on that front so far
Double stick outdoor carpet tape (the flavor with the blue plastic cover) works well. Gorilla or duct brand I think. You can also play a propane torch over the surface and then use the flex gel version of CA glue. The torch breaks some of the plastics bonds and allow the CA to bond.
If you find a different glue that works let me know!
I say “reasonably well” because I had to try gluing together edges and that was… tricky. The plastic is 99% air in the cross-section so relying on the tiny surface area was extremely optimistic. If I were gluing together flat surfaces I’m sure it would’ve worked even better. It’s just expensive
