Does Anyone Have Any Experience Laser Cutting PEEK plastic?

#5 ii Alive! · Apr 21, 2020

Hello, Everyone. Thanks for reading my post.

I have been jobbing out my manufacturing for several years. We make a product that is made from PEEK plastic.

I have acquired an Epilog laser and will be bringing our laser-cutting in-house. I realize I will figure this out through trial and error, but I'm wondering if anyone has experience with cutting this material. We are cutting thin sheets of PEEK, approximately .040" thick. Our jobber used to get a lot of char, and I'm hoping to find a way to reduce that.

Thanks,
#5

Scruffy887 · Apr 24, 2020

Just a WAG, but assist gas could make a difference with the char. My guess would be to start with Nitrogen. Was job shop cutting with air? Because char is a burned edge and air supplies Oxygen to the super hot Peek. Nitrogen is inert.

#5 ii Alive! · Apr 24, 2020

Scruffy887 said:
Just a WAG, but assist gas could make a difference with the char. My guess would be to start with Nitrogen. Was job shop cutting with air? Because char is a burned edge and air supplies Oxygen to the super hot Peek. Nitrogen is inert.

Scruff, thanks so much for your response and speculation. I'm new to laser as far as doing my own cutting, so what you say would definitely be something I'll try.

I spoke to tech support at Epilog since posting this question, and the gentleman there said the best way to reduce this is usually to adjust the frequency.

I'm just about finished putting my shop together, so will be operational in a couple weeks.

Thanks again. I apprecaite your expertise.

#5

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Does Anyone Have Any Experience Laser Cutting PEEK plastic?

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