Acrylics

So I bought some pretty 1/2" acrylic, white. I put it in the machine after removing brown paper on one side. All kinds of problems. Clean sensor, roller not working, roller sensor not working. Figured it was to high of reflective materials. Taped one side all, with blue tape. Still no go. Flipped material over to brown paper side up. Almost worked but runs off the roller wheel sensor. What am I missing. I'm not using a carrier, sled. Just the material itself. I wouldn't know how to put it in a sled and make it find the material and not the sled.

Machine works fine on wood, got to be a acrylic thing. Really wanted this to work.

If I ever get it to carve, should I carve through the protective paper or remove it.

Help.

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If it were me, I'd make and use a sled.

You will need to make a sled to carve this. It has to slick/hard of a surface for tracking plus I bet you are not following the 7" rule.

Remember the machine is designed to cut WOOD and the Plastic is very hard and you must use a very sharp bit. Just be aware that the plastic flakes will stick everywhere. A good dust collection system is needed.

I agree, a sled is needed. OR you could just use 3 pieces of the plastic on a board with no rails or sides. Just carve the center piece. See my picture.

In Designer, I draw a rectangle the length of my scrap on the head end. Or the right side of the screen. The Brass Roller is on the top of the screen. Then I place my art to the left of the rectangle. I use PLACE ON END rather than center.

AL

I have played with plastics in my machine and found a few things out along the way. The brown protective paper is best to leave on as you carve, sensors will like it more. If you use plastics with a white protective layer, you must use masking tape in a t shape. Put the t where the z truck goes over the work during the measuring process, so it see the tape and not the work piece. Never tape the whole work piece, it will carve like this, but the tape will stick to the bit and make a mess that can be more fun then you really want to clean up. I use standard masking tape not the colored.

Thanks for taking the time to help. I will use your experience, thanks again.

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As they said use a sled (jig) and it is best to use "Cast Acrylic" and not extruded. The extruded wants to melt more so than the Cast. Keep an eye on your cutter to make sure it's not getting globs of melted plastic stuck to it.

I found that the brown paper covering acts alike like wood in the machine, travels well on it's own as long as it is thick enough for the machine, and works well with sensors. Other covering will require a sled as they can slip on the x axis at times, and must have a tape with a rougher surface, such as standard making tape, for the sensors to read. 1/2" could be to close to limits of machine limits and may need a sled. I have run 3/4 and 1" with no issues. I also use 3/16" polycarbonate on a sled with tape in a t pattern where the sensor looks for the readings. As far as a sled goes you would only have to lift the material's height for better roller compression. This could be done by applying mdf to the material with thin two sided tape. To save a bit of money since I carve 3/16" stock, I keep a couple 3.5" pieces around to tape to my sleds for the seven inch rule. You only need enough 3.5" material to keep rollers from dropping early and level, and where the z truck sensor looks.