Laser Cutting Acrylic
Acrylic laser cutting machines are extremely fast, accurate, reliable and hygienic.
Arrange an online demoAcrylic, Perspex and similar plastics are used for many applications and have had a recent surge in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. This is in part due to it being hygienic in nature and easy to clean.
Put simply, acrylic has become the material of choice versus other materials such as glass and metal, because the price, availability and ease-of-use outweighs other options. Versus other methods, laser cutting is straightforward and exceptionally fast, needing no consumable parts and is extremely reliable.
Acrylic Laser Cutters & Engravers
With typically twice the speed and lifespan of competing products, our CO2 based acrylic laser cutters and engravers are used throughout the industry and relied on by some of the largest suppliers in the market. An acrylic laser cutter machine can be modular and easily integrated into any existing manufacturing process. They need minimal human intervention to operate, allowing a machine to produce at a fast rate without interruption.
Hygiene, Accuracy & Speed
As a non-contact technology, laser cutting acrylic does not cause secondary damage to the object being marked, producing perfectly clean cuts or marks free of damage. Compared to traditional engraving methods, an acrylic laser engraver is extremely accurate and the material does not undergo stress.
With our well-honed systems speed is a given, so you can always be confident in delivering your cutting or engraving products on time.
How it works
To laser engrave acrylic you use a high-intensity laser to raise the temperature of an incredibly thin layer of the plastic, causing it to melt and form a modified surface. Higher intensity CO2 lasers can be used to cut through the surface of the plastic.
Laser Cut Acrylic Uses
Acrylic sheets are impact resistant and shatterproof making them perfect for any use. Furthermore, as acrylic is lighter and more durable than glass with transparent, mirrored and coloured acrylics options; they are ideal for hygiene safety panels, splashbacks, signs, doors, windows, models, parts, products and much more. An acrylic laser engraver can create the kind of effect you can see in the image on the right.
Types
Laser cut acrylic sheets are extremely fast to manufacture, even for the toughest plastic types. Complex contours do not prove to be an issue for our laser cutting machines. The edges of laser cut plastic come out cleanly, with no need for post-processing.
Videos & Examples
Please see cutting and acrylic engraving laser machines at work below:
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Lotus Laser Systems Blu100 and Blu125 CO2 laser cutting PPE health worker visors
https://www.lotuslaser.com/machine/blu100/
https://www.lotuslaser.com/machine/blu125/
During the Covid 19 crisis the demand for PPE in the healthcare system has been unprecedented. Several of our customers have been using Lotus Laser Systems technology to laser cut PPE face visors and in so doing they are helping to protect our health workers as well as, in many cases, earning significant revenues at a time where their businesses would otherwise be on total lock-down.
Lasercut Works (London) is a long-standing Lotus Laser Systems customer having purchased many Lotus CO2 laser cutting plotters, Lotus 1µm laser marking machines and more recently a 200w Lotus Meta-D super high speed DFGL cutting laser.
Over recent weeks Lasercut Works has been making tens of thousands of PPE face visors. Their design is both ergonomic, cost effective, material efficient and simple to use. The visor is cut from 0.5mm polycarbonate and the retaining/adjustment straps are made from 0.75mm polypropylene.
The underside extraction and efficient air assist via the nosecone of all Blu laser cutting machines makes cutting these otherwise difficult materials easy, fast and clean.
Lasercut Works were approached to supply several thousands of visors to a particular health authority in Cornwall and given just 48hrs notice to make the delivery. For weeks now, since the crisis started Lasercut Works has been operating a 24hr shift production schedule but this latest request was too much for them to handle with the Lotus Laser Systems that they have purchased so they approached Lotus Laser Systems to help, which we did; With a confirmed order at 8am Thursday 9th April in less than 24hrs, by 6am on Good Friday 10th April we had worked virtually around the clock to cut, assemble and pack almost 2,000 visors. By that afternoon the visors were delivered to the customer in Cornwall.
See here for more details.
https://www.lotuslaser.com/laser-cutting/using-laser-cutting-machines-to-create-visors-for-the-nhs/
Here at Lotus Laser Systems we have extensive experience in laser marking within a range of industries and applications
For more information on how we can help you please visit our website and get in touch. -
Lotus Laser Systems custom system laser marking blood glucose meters on mini conveyor
https://www.lotuslaser.com/
We have a long history of designing laser marking workstations with customized handling solutions from complex robotics to simple conveyor fed machines.
In this example the customer required a number of semi-automatic laser marking machines to mark a very large quantity of components with the CE mark and a model number. The customer required minimal human involvement with maximum parts per hour and for the finished solution to be as error free as possible
Our Model Meta-C is ideal for these types of solution as the PLC/HMI electronics of Meta-C provide for an almost unlimited amount and type of external devices to connect and interact with the core laser marking system.
To maximize the speed of mark we incorporated an IPG 30w Q-switched fiber laser to Meta-C and for the lowest cost, most flexible and easiest to adapt solution we used the original C1 laser safety Class 2 enclosure with an interlocked, manual access panel for system maintenance only
The budget was restricted so we used a mini-conveyor to queue the parts to a pneumatic clamping mechanism. Sensors activated the clamping mechanism to open and close, holding the part tightly during the marking process and separately to the rest of the queued parts.
After marking the parts are delivered through a hatch into a storage box
The marking time is 1.6 seconds and the positioning/clamping time is 1.4 seconds therefore the total time per part is 4.9 seconds and so each system is capable of producing 734 parts per hour.
Here at Lotus Laser Systems we have extensive experience in laser marking within a range of industries and applications
For more information on how we can help you please visit our website and get in touch.
Please view our full range of machines at https://www.lotuslaser.com/all-machines/ -
Meta CO2 marking cast acrylic
This demonstration shows how fast and smooth Meta CO2 can mark cast acrylic.
With this application not much laser power is required so similar speeds could be achieved with a source outputting much lower power, such as 35w for example
more details at www.lotuslaser.com