Laser cutter suitable materials for a 0.5mm (ish) transparent sheet

#1

Question for @lasertechs

I’m struggling to find much currently on the ‘permitted materials’ list in this range and was wondering if there were any recommendations?

I’ve been considering either 0.5mm PETG sheets or 0.3-0.5mm Acetate

PETG seems to get a reasonable write-up here:
http://www.plasticsmag.com/ta.asp?aid=4770
and was mentioned previously here Push fit parts on laser cutter

Acetate got a mention in passing here but that thread didn’t seem to reach any conclusion:

So questions are:
1-Are either/both of the above materials permitted on the cutter at thin grades?
2-Any recommendations between the two?

Cheers

Jason

#2

I don’t have a lot of data about PETG, but this Detroit makerspace post suggests that it’s quite a stinky affair: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/i3detroit-public/slAJMThYnzU

Acetate should generally be fine, I’m not aware of any issues with it, hackspace allow it: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/london-hack-space/HJ6McVyd8jU

So if I was you, I’d try out some small tests with acetate and see what results you get. If it looks weird (lots of smoke or material melting and leaving sticky residue), then stop.

One thing to note though is that we also have a vinyl cutter in the space which might actually work better and more reliably for this kind of material!

#3

Cheers Rob, both would work so I’ll aim for acetate for now.

I’m broadly aware of the vinyl cutter but for these (small) pieces I’m planning to fit the transparent section over another shape I’m cutting from perspex so was hoping to use the same cut shape from my file as the easiest way to get them the same shape.

J