LaserUser.com Forum (formerly RDWorksLab)

I have a design that I cut a lot of, and one of the problems I'm having is that many of the small holes (circles and squares) dont just fall out. I have to end up poking them out with a screwdriver. They come out easy with the screwdriver but its time consuming. Everything else in my design (large holes, outside cuts, etc...) falls out when I lift off the laser bed. Its something about the very small holes

I've tried multiple different things:
1) Increasing the through power 5-10%
2) Changing the open delay to 2 ms

Looking at the back, it seems like they are cut all the way through, I almost get the feeling like they are getting jammed in the hole by either the air assist, or just the power of the laser.

Any thoughts on what I could try here?

Thanks!

What are you using for air assist- maybe more pressure is needed to blow the debris out? I have problems with my air assist blowing parts out because it is so strong [shop air compressor].

A couple of random thoughts:

When the laser hits the acrylic, it vaporizes. It's possible that the acrylic is re-condensing into solid acrylic behind the laser beam. Stronger air assist, or a different speed setting might help this. Easy test - try the same type of cut with wood or MDF and see if you have the same problem. Wood obviously can't re-condense into a solid.

Are the edges of the small pieces vertical? Or are the circles tapered (like the base of a cone)? If your beam is not perpendicular to the bed, you could have edge problems that cause the pieces to get caught in their holes. Or, if your focal point is not set correctly, the beam will spread and you'll end up with beveled cuts.

Finally, I don't think the through power will make any difference in what you're doing.
You might try increasing the min power a bit. At these small sizes, the laser will not have the space/time to accelerate to full speed. Therefore, the power will be attenuated (lowered) proportionally to the min power. In other words, if the laser is only running at half speed in that area, then the power will be 0.5 * (Max Power - Min Power).

Great points. I'll try the cut on wood and try hooking up my air compressor to see if that improves things.

I'll report back what I find.