loved learning more about acrylic use, not sure how I will use the knowledge yet. I did change heat and speed and got a better result in etching and cutting, but still get a hot edge flow at the cut.
Good stuff. Would love to see some finished examples applying back lighting to both translucent and clear acrylic under the dark letters. Your YT and Reddit posts have been a great help to my little sign shop.
Yeah but at that point you might as well just use double side tape to assemble it. Once you add any kind of tape or adhesive, it would make engraving through it more difficult.
I wonder, have you ever tried slowing down the laser speed and power and just raster along the 'insides' of the pieces to do a sort of 'laser melt' at every point along the mating faces instead just along their perimeters?
@@MakerExperimentTruth be told, I'm curious if it's possible, as dedicated laser welders for plastics are quite expensive. Getting a laser cutter to pull double duty as a laser welder could be quite a jump in utility - if you get it working, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love to see a video on the topic! =)
@@MakerExperiment Hmm, sorry for the confusion! Let's put it it this way. To recap, the method you described in your video allows for joining two pieces of acrylic together by stacking them flat-to-flat and then cutting through them both at the same time, with the laser's passage causes the plastic to melt and then re-fuse at the interface. But, this bonds only at the perimeter of your shape - what if you wanted 'everything' bonded, not just the perimeter? What if it were possible to could dial down the laser power, and/or speed, and/or focal point, such that instead of cutting, you're just 'heating up' the area sufficiently to cause melting (and thus bonding)? Then, instead of sending the machine a file with just the perimeter, you could have the laser raster over the entire 'filled-in' shape and have it bond 'everywhere' instead of just the outline? Granted, I've never done this, and have only ever used a laser cutter to cut, but if it's strong enough to cut, maybe it can be dialed back to just melt instead?
@@artenry if you tried to engrave it, you’d be eliminating material so I don’t think it would do what you’re looking for. I’d have to see a picture of it.
You can also chemical weld with "weldon" we use in sign industry all day long. Its not a thick glue, its a super light liquid like acetone. You can cut, squirt and youre done. No testing required. 1 and done
