Vectoring LaserMax Brushed Gold - distortion

[Carol Esh]

I am having a problem vectoring 1/16 LaserMax Brushed Gold for some badges I am trying to make. I seem to be getting distortion spots on the edges that look almost look like a water spot. It doesn't clean off and makes the badge unacceptable for a final product. I have tried playing with the setting and even putting a piece of scrap wood underneath to prevent any flash back. My normal procedure is to engrave bottom up then vector after applying blue painters tape.

The settings for my Epilog Mini 45 are 19 speed, 20 power, and 2500 hz.

Anyone have any suggestion for preveting this? I tried looking in the archives but didn't come up with anything that prevented the problem.

[Brian Robison]

Hi Carol,
no need to apply the tape for that material. Make sure you don't have water dripping a drop here or there from your air assist. A really great tip someone gave on here is to raster a 4 point line directly on top of your cut line.
Looks almost like a beveled edge.

[Mike Null]

I never use tape either. I would check your focus. Almost always when I run into something like that a particular part of the plastic has expanded to the point it's out of focus.

[Carol Esh]

I put a raster line on top of the vector line, kept the tape off, turned of air assist and have a GREAT final product.

Thanks for the tips.

[Joe Pelonio]

I'd also lower the frequency to 500 on that material. With my 45 watt I use 30 speed and 30 power, maybe you are going too slow and that's causing a problem.

[Bill Cunningham]

I never cut right through when doing badges, I engrave them all, then use enough speed and heat to just score the material. It allows to to keep the whole sheet together for cleaning, and I also usually put a coat of clear polymer car polish on the sheet and buff it up before snapping them all out and putting on the pins. Beats cleaning them one at a time

[Carol Esh]

Bill,

I have it set now so that the tags just barely hang on after cutting. If I go any lighter on the cut I end up with a rough edge after removing them from the sheet. Do you have your settings so you have to break them out or is it so you have just lightly tap them and they fall out?

[Joe Pelonio]

You really shouldn't have to do that. I do it on non-laserable material, that I am forced to use for some colors. For that I use transfer tape and it solves the problem except for a few times if I get too close to the edge of the material, or don't leave enough space between badges, and air allows it to flare up. I never have that issue with Laser Max.

Do you find that all of them are cut to the same depth? The vector grid honeycombs tend to wear faster on the left side, so that you need to turn it over and eventually replace it or it will be out of focus on light materials when it sags.

[Bill Cunningham]

Bill,

I have it set now so that the tags just barely hang on after cutting. If I go any lighter on the cut I end up with a rough edge after removing them from the sheet. Do you have your settings so you have to break them out or is it so you have just lightly tap them and they fall out?

With my old tube I used 30%speed, 100% power, and I think about 500 freq. Now that I have just changed my tube, and the machine is hotter than it ever was, I will have to redo alot of my settings.. I have not had any problems with rough edges, and I can just see the heat zone on the back side.. Transfer paper works well, but I find the cleanup can be a pain.. A quick wipe with some DNA usually just removes any burn marks on the surface.. Your rough edge after snapping them apart, may be caused by the pulse frequency during the vector cut.. No two machine are really the same, you just have to experiment... I know I have to start all over again with this new tube...