Starting with a diode laser cutter and engraving machine
The reason to start in this blog. I purchased a diode laser engraving and cutting machine to see what I could do with it and as part of this I decided to try and find as much information as I could online. This is where I found that the information is actually pretty poor and there doesn't seem to be a lot of experimentation as to what you can do and what you can't do with a laser cutter/engraver. So, the idea is to document my designs, experimentations and experiences in using a diode laser cutter.
The laser cutter that I purchased was a Sculpfun S9. This is a relatively cheap device which provides a good starting point for both engraving and cutting. The S9 requires some assembly as it comes in bits but the instructions are very clear and it's very easy to assemble in a matter of minutes.

The first thing that I found out was the limitations of what you can and can't do in terms of the acrylic materials which is mainly down to the colours and how the laser interacts with them. The guidance that most manufacturers have provide is that you can cut black acrylic and even using a limited amount of testing I've identified that there is a larger range of acrylics you can cut.
So firstly, what can you not cut or engrave. The laser will not cut clear acrylics as the light just passes through and therefore does not physically interact with the material. Also, you can't cut white acrylics as the laser is reflected and therefore again does not physically interact. The other colour you need to be aware of is due to the colour of the laser in the case of diode lasers which are normally blue in colour which means that you can't cut blue acrylics. This may require further investigation to identify whether it's a specific range of blues or all blues.
The other tests all experimentations that I need to do is to identify what other materials specialty plastics you can cut or engrave.