Plexiglas is a versatile material that has widespread use. It is, in addition, quite practical and durable. Another important characteristic of the material is its perfect transparency, which is why it has good optical data. Plexiglas is used in such industries as shipbuilding, aircraft industry or automotive industry, advertising business.
Technology
The main advantage of plexiglass is that it can easily give in to any kind of processing. There are various technologies that are used when working with this material. Laser cutting of plexiglass is an innovative method that was specially created to solve more complex problems. The main material processing technique is the mechanical type of cutting of acrylic sheets. For this work, format-cutting and milling machines are used. This method is widely used, but with the advent of new modern design projects, one has to look for an alternative to it.
Laser cutting machine is used to create products of figured cutting. Industrial equipment makes it possible to process a large volume of products to order. The thickness of the products can reach up to 25 mm. Laser cutting of plexiglass allows you to get the perfect end structure for the future product. After such processing, a polished edge remains, which gives the product a more presentable appearance. This type of cutting is used for the manufacture of many products from plexiglass, especially acrylic.
As mentioned above, there are several ways to process the material. Each method has its own characteristics. Between laser-shaped and milling cutting, you can notice a significant difference. In the first case, the end face of the product takes a neat polished appearance. If you use milling cutting of plexiglass, then the edge is matte. Here, the cutter is an element for cutting. The maximum rotation speed is 24,000 rpm. During plexiglass cutting, the material can often be melted. This is possible due to incorrect equipment settings.
Laser cutting of plexiglass. Technology features
Plexiglass, or sheet plastic, is widely used in many areas, from the production of advertising and commercial equipment, and ending with the use as interior items. Processing in this way is a rather time-consuming process. Laser cutting of plexiglass is carried out at a fairly high speed. So, for example, cutting a sheet with a thickness of three mm occurs at 25 mm per second. After laser cutting, small cracks can be seen at the ends of the product. They are the result of the release of energy that accumulates at the ends during processing. But using the settings of the cutting machine you can solve this problem. Laser cutting, the price of which is from 10 to 200 rubles per linear meter, has properties that can not be found in other types of processing. Only in this way you can get high-quality cutting with an accuracy of 0.01 mm. In addition, laser cutting is non-contact - not a single cutting element is in contact with the material. The minimum sheet thickness during this treatment can be 0.1 mm. Using this type of plexiglass cutting, you can create exclusive products according to individual sketches. Thanks to accuracy, using this method you can not only create figures of any complexity, but also save on material consumption.
Technological process
The action of the apparatus, which is used for cutting plexiglass, is based on computer programming. The future product model developed in electronic form in the ".cdr" format is loaded into the equipment control unit. In accordance with the required result, the computer gives the laser the necessary parameters: thickness, power and direction of movement.
The usual type of cutting
In this laser cutting mode, compressed air is supplied to the treatment zone . The end surfaces of the product are obtained with roughnesses, which are considered characteristic features of cutting in the normal mode. The same method is used to process mirror plexiglass.
Polished Plexiglass Processing
In this type of cutting, compressed air is no longer supplied. Processing speed is reduced. The width of the cut increases due to the flashing of the edge. The end part acquires a polished appearance as a result of the absence of small roughnesses. High-quality glass cutting is much more expensive than usual, this is due to the fact that the cutting speed is reduced by half. Polished cuts are best seen on the end surface of acrylic glass. Quality directly depends on its thickness. On stained glass, the effect of a polished cut is less noticeable.