Custom laser cut acrylic by mail

[kcooley]

Has anybody heard of Ponoko?

www.ponoko.com

They have software that you use to design your needs for custom laser cut acrylic and once you are done you just upload to thier site and they mail you your custom cut peices. Could be pretty useful for some hard to get brackets or custom sump peices. I read about it today on www.sparkfun.com they used it to creat an arduino stomp pad, but there are a million things we could use this for.

[BeanAnimal]

I think expensive is an understatement!

[troylee]

biggest problem is you cant glue a laser cut edge without crazing.....

[kcress]

biggest problem is you cant glue a laser cut edge without crazing.....


ooooh youch! :sad1:

[kcooley]

biggest problem is you cant glue a laser cut edge without crazing.....

i never knew that. i guess it is back to the table saw and band saw for custom parts then...

[moparace]

Whats crazing?

[troylee]

fine hairline stress cracks..... flame polish a edge of acrylic and glue it... "you will see what i mean...;)

[kcress]

Whats crazing?

Flame polishing puts the surface under intense tension because as the acrylic cools it contracts. So the acrylic takes on a glass like fracturability. When you add the glue this surface has tiny areas unbonded as the glue softens the surface. The unbonded areas actually rip open leaving a zillion little cracks and a weakened area.

[kcress]

i never knew that. i guess it is back to the table saw and band saw for custom parts then...

Naw, just use a CNC router. They do insanely nice work on acrylic. Probably nicer than a laser.