After my post on milling HDPE on the Shapeoko CNC I wanted to try making a thinner "top layer" than 0.05". So I painted some wood and some acrylic:
new ideas for next etching session (paint on wood and acryllic, 808 bass drum) pic.twitter.com/i5CEYx9APm
— tom.exe (@gravitronic) January 5, 2016
Yesterday I had a chance to cut and engrave those painted pieces. When cutting the acrylic to 4"x6" size it.. stank. Like, "death by poison" stank. I looked into it a bit more and decided to avoid milling acrylic. It's tough, ruins bits, melts, stinks, etc, etc. Not worth it. Even though it would have been cool to have semi-transparent engravings that I could illuminate with a CNC, it's not worth the pain of dealing with stuff that gives me headaches (and probably cancer).
So, I stuck to the wood I painted. I put two results up for sale: