12 PCS Red/White Engraving Blank Materials Double Color Sheet 7 x 11 x .040 Inch 2-ply Plastic Sheet for Interior Signs, Badges.

This engraving plastic works as well in my laser as any other I have tried. It comes with a plastic protective film on top. You want to leave that film on when you cut and then carefully remove it afterwards as it will keep your material from getting all sooted up. Raster engraving will not leave a smooth surface. I've tried the stuff from Trotec laser and I didn't get a smooth raster finish with that either. What does work is cutting, and it's cousin - vector engraving (which is just cutting, but with less power and faster so it doesn't go through). The top coat on engraving plastic is REAL thin, so you'll likely find that the fastest movement and the lowest power your laser will do will be enough to leave marks.THE MOST IMPORT THING IS SAFETY!!I run a Middle School makerspace. The most important part of onboard training (Which i do for each and every tool in the space, for each and every student that comes in) is how to work with a tool safely. Lasers work by cutting things with heat, so a risk with laser cutting is always FIRE. I've had fires start when cutting cardboard, paper, foamcore, and rubber. You should ALWAYS have a fire extinguisher next to your laser cutter. You should always check before you start cutting that you know where said extinguisher is. You should NEVER leave the laser while it's running. Watch it work! Also, you might keep a spray bottle full of water near the laser. Most laser fires can be extinguished with a few swirts of water and that's a lot easier to clean up than a fire extinguisher.You will need the following upgrades on your laser to use this material:1) FUME EXHAUST: Folks, having an exhaust to take your fumes outside is super important no matter what you are cutting in the laser. Cutting WOOD in the laser results in ultrafine (<2.5pm) particles that are hazardous to your health. This stuff is ABS plastic, read up on burning ABS - it will release formaldehyde which is REAALLY bad for you! Don't skimp out, get a fume exhaust system in place.2) Air assist: ABS is known to be a fire-prone material when laser cutting. Having an air assist is really important for blowing out most fires that will start when cutting this material. Again, don't cheap out, an air assist costs less than a new laser cutter or house.

Do it yourself! These labels enables you to do it with class! If you're trying to save money, master your skill first before cutting into the sheets, but you will not be disappointed!

First of all, laser cutting ABS does not produce Chlorine gas like burning PCV does. So never cut PVC with a laser. That being said, burning ABS can produce hydrogen cyanide gas. How much? Difficult to say, but hydrogen cyanide gas is produced by burning many things, including cigarettes. Lasering wood also produces many toxic compounds. So no matter what you engrave or cut on a laser good ventilation and avoiding inhaling any of the fumes is necessary.Now to this particular material. Finding the right setting for your laser may take some significant trial and error. I have a Boss 1630 105W CO2 laser and ran at least 30 combinations of speed, power, air and painters tape before getting so reasonable results. The pictures are from a 6 inch wide placard I made. From 12 inches away the engraving is smooth and clean. If examined closely, you can see ridges in the cut from the laser scanning. The settings I settled on are 400 mm/sec at 35% power for the fill and 35 mm/sec at 60% power for the outline cut. Air was on and the surface was covered with painters tape to prevent smoke staining around the edges of the engraving and cut. I tried leaving the top film on instead of the painters tape but the result were not as good. The engraving was done at 300lpi. Lower lpi increased the ridges in the engraving.My only real complaint is that the "white" bottom layer is not very white - more of a grey.

XLNT sends out two variations of their ABS two color plastics. One is a bright white shiny back and the other is a dull white back. If engraving/cutting the dull back works well. The shiny white back does not cut at all with the laser and only melts it. Its a toss up as far as which one you get.ONCE AGAIN THE ORDER IS MESSED UP. THEY SENT WHITE WITH BLUE BACKING AND NOT BLUE WITH WHITE BACKING.IF ORDER FROM THESE GUYS, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH COST AND TIME TO COVER THEIR MISTAKES FROM THE ORDER.

Getting back to laser engraving has been so much fun and these items are great quality. The variety of colors were perfect.

Be warned, many of the colors that are advertised with "white" backing are actually a very muddy grey. The orange color in particular has very little contrast with its "white" back color. Other combinations provided a brighter white, but I don't know if that's consistent between batches.Aside from that, these sheets arrived suitably flat, and machined well. The silver and gold colors are particularly nice for CNC, the glitter surface is well set and doesn't flake.

purchased to go with an engraver that doesn't work - but you can use manually. Husband reports it takes a few tries to get what you want - there is a film on the outside that you need to remove. Once you get that down, they work as they should. I never hesitate to update my review should new info seem useful.

Thin material - but with a few practice runs at various settings on my CNC - I got perfect results with a 1/16" down cut bit. Easy to cut material to size on table saw.