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Barb Macdonald
06-20-2008, 1:26 PM
hey all
My partner has a piece of board given to him to test. It's a pre-printed colour graphics, laminated/shiny double-sided kinda deal. Thin Card/wood inner, maybe. Partner thinks it's arborite. Naturally, I'm saying, "What is it, really?"
Customer wants it tiny text lasered, maybe colour filled. I look at it, and it looks like it'll just turn into a glob, to me.
I've at least learned That much, on this forum. What is this thing made out of?
Searched the forum for arborite, nada, then fibreglass, and Richard R mentioned decomposition cutting, didn't like the sound of that.
I won't burn it on a Friday afternoon, anyway.
Partner loves the LaserMag Black/brass, how do the letters get so shiny?? It's a dirty job, vectoring magnets, but someones gotta do it:)
have a great weekend, best to all
time to burn
Barb
60w epilog legend ext aka "Abigail", the wonder machine

Joe Pelonio
06-20-2008, 1:35 PM
That's just another brand of high pressure laminate, like Wilsonart and Formica. You can laser cut it, and engrave, though when you do that you will have to fill because the result is that dark brown underlaminate.

If the sample is two sided and appears to have wood inside, it's most likely been mounted onto MDF or thin ply. You still should be able to cut it if you have enough power for the thickness.

Barb Macdonald
06-20-2008, 2:46 PM
Can you colour fill it? Just curious?

thanks again

all the best
barb

Joe Pelonio
06-20-2008, 2:50 PM
Actually, unless the detail is tiny, it's easier than many items to color fill. The surface is very glossy so paint wipes off easily, while the interior that's been engraved will hold the paint well.

Richard Rumancik
06-21-2008, 1:41 AM
Decomposition basically means it cuts/engraves by burning. Nothing to be afraid of. Wood cuts this way too.

In addition to paint you can also use Rub n Buff.

I made some bases for bronze sculptures out of dark arborite. On some, the artist did not want color fill. On another type I lasered through paper masking over black arborite, spray painted gold, then removed the mask.

I have found with some of the gold paints, it works better to mask as it is hard to remove the gold from the surface of the arborite if you paint the whole thing and wipe.

Bill Cunningham
06-22-2008, 11:03 PM
Barb if you want to test something close, zip into the Borg, and pick up some countertop laminate sample chips.. Same stuff.. Years ago, when I used engrave a substrate to make rubberstamps, I would often pick up a bunch of these, just to engrave into, them vulcanize the rubber into the engraving.. Cheap source of stamp matrix :D

Barb Macdonald
06-23-2008, 9:17 AM
It lasered just jim-dandy-fine:)

And yup, it looks like it will colour fill great too.
As usual, I feel kinda dumb, asking these silly questions.....:o
Decomposition sounds like you're taking it apart, molecule by molecule... Or maybe like degrading, or yes, like rotting:)
Burning it, that's what I'm doing!
Duh.
Oh, well, gives y'all somebody to chuckle at.
Have a great day

take care

barb