Two questions: Acrylic Etching and PCB Etching

I have two questions for someone more knowledgeable than myself.

If I get copper covered PCB stock, can I use the laser to etch the copper off? Its a very thin layer, but it is also metal. Someone suggested this to me in another thread, which leaves me to believe its possible.
-Then after I etch, I may want to then also cut the holes as well. Has anyone done this?

Second- It I want to take acrylic and etch it, but not go all the way through- say I want to raster an image, or I want to make a sign- what are some good settings to do that?

Pretty sure we can’t ablate copper with our lasers.

These guys are the pros: LPKF ProtoLaser Prototyping Laser Systems | LPKF

generally, a CO2 laser is of the wrong frequency to remove the copper and would therefore require a LOT more power than we have. The copper is an excellent heat sink and will probably get hot enough to melt the core.

I believe there is a power spec/guide for various materials on the wiki.

We have PCB router capability, will that meet your needs?

If you coat the copper, say paint or cermark, you can use laser to remove coating then traditional etching to achieve what you want.

PCB router? That sounds good to me. Where is that and goes do I use it.

@wandrson See Walter Anderson or @artg_dms Art Givens, they have one in Electronics lab , not sure of status

This is not really ready for prime time yet. @jphelps and I need to add limit switches and get it packaged up for use.

The shapepoko is currently functional and can be used for this purpose as well.

You can etch acrylic either on the Thunder Laser or the Zing. There is a laminated sheet on the desk with the computer that lists the recommended settings for each, however you should still run a test to make sure you’re getting the depth you’d like.

The PCB mill in the ELab is in the process of being rebuilt.(albeit slowly)
CA has the Shapoko mill which can do pcb’s.
There have been some reports that the board being milled is not held perfectly flat.
Depends on what kind of resolution/accuracy you need.
You will probably need to supply your own end mills.
Jay Phelps @jphelps teaches the classes on the Shapoko.

1 Like

depending on how solid al figure you want, don’t forget you can diamond bit engrave acrylic.
It can do a tiny crosshatch giving a good frosted look. I have one in my display case by the haas right now if you want to take a look as to whether that would work. cheers!

1 Like

I bet a vcarve cut would look amazing.

1 Like
1 Like

I have etched stainless steel, it just took a lot of power. I dont now about cooper though.

@frank_lima yea I saw that. I wanted to be able to skip the messy chemical step. I thought it would be great if I could ablate copper on one power level then cut thru-holes with a little more power. One stop shopping in other words.

@nicksilva are you talking about the HAAS? I am not checked out to use it. But maybe once I am I can consider that.

@webdevel last time I was at the laser, I searched high and low for the laminated sheet and checked the wiki but I was unable to turn up useful information.

I’ve used the laser to etch acrylic before. I have had difficulty getting a uniform depth though. In this case I was looking more for advice on producing a good product rather than feasibility which I know. I may just have to raster everything so that each spot gets the same amount of power.

If the reply was for the diamond bit- anycnc will work