Laser Cutter/Materials

Materials
[list in progress, not exhaustive - please contact the laser team about any new materials and attempt to provide a Material Safety Data Sheet]

Hobarts
One source for acrylic for cutting is Hobarts. See the mailing list


 * http://www.hobarts.com/store/

Fred Aldous
Another place local within manchester is Fred Aldous


 * http://www.fredaldous.co.uk/
 * https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Fred+Aldous+Ltd/@53.482422,-2.234049,3a,56.4y,291.91h,78.9t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1srlDhLPkRvjaMgmlaK0G5og!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x487bb1bec60be57f:0x12768052581749d9!6m1!1e1

They sell some perspex / bits of wood, and glass paint for experimenting with pcb solder masks

Burnable Materials / Mahogany
With some types of material one approach to cutting is to use a low power setting but with multiple passes

However one thing to watch out for is that you may end up with a build up of carbon along the cut line

PCBs
Typically making PCBs on the laser cutter hasn't been that successful

Probably best to check with Bob before trying anything like this (to make sure the laser doesn't get damaged)

One approach found on the internet (haven't tried this yet):


 * Put down several layers of Black Acrylic paint onto a copper coated board
 * use the laser cutter to etch away the paint
 * Use copper etchant to take away the copper layers exposed by the laser cutter

Things to watch out for:


 * CO2 lasers cannot cut copper directly (they don't have enough energy)
 * One gotcha is that the laser cutter can leave behind an invisible layer of paint / chemicals after trying to expose the copper that needs to be etched
 * Another possible problem is that copper is reflective, if the power is too high or the speed of travel is too slow then there's a possibility that some degree of reflection may occur and damage the laser (may be best to check with the laser maintainers before experimenting)