Clear Acrylic is not Acrylic

[Montypaks]

Hi guys,

So I picked up what I thought was some scrap clear acrylic from a makerspace to use as testing at my own workshop. (the laser cutter at the makerspace is broken)

My first cut with this, I noticed it smells a bit different to the acrylic smell I'm used to (I still need to upgrade my exhaust fan).
Also, this material releases some kind of oil when cut. This makes me think its not Acrylic at all.

Any idea what this material could be?

Thanks

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[DaMeat]

Does it have Vinyl adhesive on the sides? Peel that off before you use it... Also, if it has UV stabilizers in it, it can also burn funny...

[Montypaks]

No vinyl adhesives on it. It had been peeled off already

I'm hoping it is the UV stabilizers.

Could it have been a PVC sheet? Any tests to do to confirm?

[bhurts]

Heat a piece of PVC with a lighter and smell it. That will give you something to compare it to. Clear PVC is a hazy blue color. Pretty cool looking and doubtful that's what you have. Realistically there's not a very long list of commonly found options to choose from when it comes to clear plastic. It is almost certainly either acrylic, polycarbonate or petg. They use plasticizers to help in the extrusion process. I'm not a laser guy but the oil is very possibly caused by those additives. Did it come with a film on it? If so was there any writing on it?

Ben


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[grg12]

Clear "hobbyglass" is polystyrene - cheap but quite unpleasant to work with - tends to melt and stick to tools. No idea what laser will do to it.