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Laser cut MDF of Plywood?

Posted by max72

max72

Laser cut MDF of Plywood?
February 25, 2013 12:49PM

Registered: 11 years ago
Posts: 2

I'm following the forum, and I really like the printer design.
I have only seen the use of acrylic for laser cut parts, and not plywood or MDF.
I'm wondering if there is a reason.

Thanks in advance,
Massimo

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goopyplastic

Re: Laser cut MDF of Plywood?
February 25, 2013 01:14PM

Registered: 11 years ago
Posts: 78

Some people have used MDF / melamine and it works fine. One issue would be proper thickness, melamine is generally over 6mm so you would need to adjust the corner pieces to fit properly. 6mm ply would work great and probably be stronger than the acrylic, although not necessarily as cool looking as clear acrylic grinning smiley

[os1r1s.com] made his from 6.5mm MDF and modified the corner pieces to fit that size.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2013 01:14PM by goopyplastic.

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Sublime

Re: Laser cut MDF of Plywood?
February 25, 2013 01:25PM

Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 2,947

The main difference I find between my wood machine and the acrylic is the noise they make. The Russian birch I made my wooden ones out of vibrates at the same frequency as the motors so it is louder than the acrylic. But because the wood can be glued in the corners it is a little stronger.

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max72

Re: Laser cut MDF of Plywood?
February 25, 2013 05:37PM

Registered: 11 years ago
Posts: 2

Thanks.
I'm considering cutting the metric case and wood is cheaper and less fragile. Moreover I wouldn't need the stress relief loops, so I was wondering if besides the look there are other clear advantages of acrylic over wood.
Thanks again,
Massimo

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Jon Cantin

Re: Laser cut MDF of Plywood?
February 27, 2013 08:19AM

Reason being is that acrylic is far less "corrosive" on laser cutting machines than MDF or plywood - lots less smoke and ohter awful glue mucking things up. It also has the added benefit of being semi-transparent!

Jon
Founder of CNCKing.com

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goopyplastic

Re: Laser cut MDF of Plywood?
February 27, 2013 02:29PM

Registered: 11 years ago
Posts: 78

I believe acrylic will have more kerf though, I know the pieces I got (not from sublime) have more gap than I would have liked.
Nice snug cnc'ed plywood with glued tabs would be nice grinning smiley

you could probably use bearing caps like the ultimaker and not have to use corner pieces.