Acrylic Cutting?

[monkey1553]

Hi all,

I've seen it mentioned on the forum before and I realize that polycarbonate with diamond seems to be the material and medium of choice these days but is anyone currently cutting with acrylic and sapphire? I believe a few trolls were having some luck with this some time back. I was just curious to know if anybody was currently going this route.

-Michael

[Jesus H Chrysler]

I've gotten good results on acrylic with a sapphire. IMO, it sounds better than embossing on poly. there's just a tiny bit of hiss, almost none if your sapphire is good and sharp, but the higher frequencies come out cleaner (at least on my machine). It does wear out your needles more than other media, and sapphires aren't cheap.

[monkey1553]

Thanks Jesus. You were cutting and not embossing then right? If so I'd like to give it a shot. Any idea on many hours you were getting out of a sapphire?

-Michael

[Jesus H Chrysler]

Yes I was cutting. I can't really give you an idea on needle life though, I was cutting a lot of different media at the time so I cant give a specific answer on that.

[piaptk]

I cut on acrylic a fair ampount. It chews up your needles. I'd get about an hour of cuts before the surface noise started to pile on. Wouldn't do it again. Embossing on poly all the way.