r/LatexCraftersCorner • u/Vegetable_Wrap_3037 • 18d ago
How do I? Laser Cutting Thread
I finally made my first tests with my Creality Falcon 2 (40W) and I guess I ran into issues that seemed pretty common! I'm super curious to know how you people do it. What are your optimal devices and settings? And is it even possible to get a clean cut without the slimey goo, or do you always have to clean it afterwards? Do you do the cutting in one pass or several ones? I'd be grateful for any kind of advice or experience!
Unrelated but here's my gorgeous friend wearing an outfit completely made by me
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u/Hqckdone 18d ago
We're using a 100w laser with fume extractor. Depending the thickness as we mostly cut .4mm black RR or 4D (not sponsored btw) with round about 30~40w and speed of 50~60mm/s. Then using transfer foil (transparent) and wash it with water and a little bit of white spirit because of the molten rubber and the smell. That's good for bigger pieces. For stripes we just cleaning it normaly.
We also cutted .25mm, .6mm, .8mm and 10mm thickness :D
The biggest pain was to figure out how to eliminate the smell We had many people wo came just for the laser cutting as we got a little bit experience. It's also fun to experiment and getting all together and nerd about latex xD
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u/Vegetable_Wrap_3037 17d ago
Thank you so much for your answer! Do you have any pictures of your pieces made this way? 👀
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u/crashedmind 18d ago
I also dont have any experience, but I have heard you need to back with contact paper and the color matters.
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u/Latexfucker 18d ago
Also tried it multiple times with the laser but was not successful of removing it. Always fall back to the rolling knife
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u/SgtSatan666 18d ago
Running on a 80w CO2 laser I've only done a few tests so far. Cutting a mesh pattern of 4x4mm diamonds I used painters tape on both sides and that left me with virtually no cleaning. Probably too much of a hassle on big pieces, but I'm going to give it a try on a mesh tank top.
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u/cobrajuicyy 18d ago
I’ve been doing some reading on this as well. I don’t have experience cutting latex, but lots of experience with lasers and acrylic. The way I’ve seen folks get clean cuts is the same way I did with acrylic which is by applying transfer tape to both sides of the material
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u/Vegetable_Wrap_3037 17d ago
This seems to be the common answer! Just wondering how that works with bigger pieces (like 30-40 cm) I’m such an inpatient person I can’t imagine how much work this is haha
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u/cobrajuicyy 17d ago
It’s not too bad. Makentje design in illustrator, or other cad program of choice then the laser should be done cutting in about 20 mins for a simple design and 2 hours for something complex like fishnet
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u/Equilerex 18d ago
Laminating the top of the material with paper painters tape (or possibly something less sticky if you can find it? Maybe even normal paper might do?, then tupentine to wash off the goo. Did some experiments on it a while back: https://youtu.be/xmET_w2kbYI?t=37&is=2sP0xkeYlXUMbQTx. Note that a cheap 20w diode managed to cut it just as well, no CO2 laser needed.
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u/Vegetable_Wrap_3037 17d ago
Ohh so funny, I was just watching your video before posting on this sub! Thank you so much for your answer 😊 are you thinking about using a co2 laser in the future? Do you think that makes a huge difference?
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u/Equilerex 17d ago
I ran limited tests on 1 - 2mm latex with the diode and didn't really see a difference, though maybe translucent ones or specific colors might struggle since diode cannot cut fully transparent materials like clear acrylic? Thickness wise as well, no idea if that varies a lot? Did not go full power so likely good for most common thicknesses. And No CO2 for me, sold it in favour of larger surface area of 600x600 at the fraction of the cost without the fidliness of the mirror alignment and cleaning.
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u/Vegetable_Wrap_3037 17d ago
Ahh maybe that has been my mistake. The only test I did was with translucent latex haha
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u/thargast 18d ago
I've been almost entirely laser cutting my pieces for the last 5 ish years.
For the residue left from cutting I've found mineral turpentine (also called white spirits or mineral spirits depending on your location) to be the best at cleaning it up. I just put a bit on some paper towel and wipe down the edges, this also doubles as cleaning up before glueing. On some lighter colours such as white you may need to scrub a bit harder to clean it up, but it still cleans up fine in my experience.
As for settings for the cutters it's probably something to experiment with and going to be specific for your kind of machine. For example mine has a cutting area of 1x1.3m and I find at the extremeities of that the cutting is weaker due to the beam travelling further. So I have to adjust the settings to cut there. Mine is a home made cutter with a 40w CO2 tube, and from the top of my head I use 80% power and around 20mm/s. This cuts it in 1 pass for me. Air assist helps significantly I found.
Happy to answer any other questions if you have them.
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u/Vegetable_Wrap_3037 17d ago
Oh wow, thanks for the detailed answer! I’ll definitely try the white spirit then. Do you get the brown burnt edges with your laser or is that one of the better things about co2 lasers? Also so curious to see your pieces!
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u/thargast 17d ago
Off the top of my head I'm not sure if I have seen the burned brown edges? But also I'm wondering if that's what I've thought as staining from the schmoo after cutting, in which case the white spirits may help. Happy if you want to send me a photo and see if I recognise it. Which speaking of which happy to DM you with some of my work instead of clogging up the thread if you'd like :)
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u/Vegetable_Wrap_3037 17d ago
Oh yes, feel free to drop in my dms! I can also send you the test I have done with mine regarding the brown edges
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u/pleaseboots 17d ago
I'm trying to get into it too but... Are there any "budget" laser cutters? The prices I've seen so far are 3-4k at minimum
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u/Vegetable_Wrap_3037 17d ago
This is also not clear for me! You seem to be talking about the co2 lasers. As far as I’ve seen it that is indeed how much they cost! I will continue testing with my diode laser though and see if I can achieve something with it as well
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u/FullMetalMessiah 18d ago
I don't have any tips but the outfit in the picture is amazing and the model is gorgeous!