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5th June 2019, 09:41 PM #1
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MDF ‘The Good the Bad and the Ugly’.
First of all, I was not sure to place this thread, as it is MDF related.
At the High School where I work, we cut 3mm MDF projects on the laser. One of the projects involves a hinged joint which entails many parallel cuts.
We buy the MDF from various sources. Last week, after doing these hinged joints on the laser, there was the most soot around the laser cutting unit that I have ever seen. We have had the laser since 2011.
We had an issue cutting exterior ply a couple of years ago as the laser beam had difficulty penetrating the black glue, so we switched to interior (B BOND) ply and had no further problems.
Maybe you can enlighten me about MDF. Would there be a better quality 3mm MDF that we could source? Would the MDF we have be coming out of say China with some terrible new additive that is causing the smoke and soot. The latter burned onto our laser optic lens and ruined it. The optic lens cost $335 plus GST.
I also tidied up our ply rack this week before putting away another delivery. As I reorganised the rack I noticed that the MDF sheets felt a bit sticky to the touch.
Any suggestions or advice appreciated.
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5th June 2019, 09:58 PM #2
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I see on some websites it is made in Australia, but could some of the stuff be coming out of China or the like?
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5th June 2019, 10:28 PM #3
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Firstly I'm by no means an expert on this subject. However I did have a Redsail 80watt laser machine (I sold it a few months ago). The only material I experienced soot with was Jarrah timber. I was rapped in the living hinge program (I thing that's what you mean in your post) and thus cut a fair amount of 3mm mdf. Yes there was a lot of smoke and the cut was sticky (due to the glues in the panel) immediately after the cut. I can't remember what the exact parameters were but I would have set the machine close to maximum power and a slow speed and ran the program twice for each item to ensure it cut all the way through and free. The MDF I used was from Bunnings.
If you want to experiment try the 3mm acrylic sheets (I got mine from Bunnings) and leave the protective films on both sides until after its cut.
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8th June 2019, 09:33 PM #4
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you may find that the soot problem is due to the type of glue used in the MDF.
There is standard MDF and moisture resistant MDF ...... different glues I understand.Any thing with sharp teeth eats meat.
Most powertools have sharp teeth.
People are made of meat.
Abrasives can be just as dangerous as a blade.....and 10 times more painfull.
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