Laser engraving

[rwfish]

Anyone with one of the laser engravers know if it will work on acrylic blanks?
Actually the blank I am looking at is "Rotacrylic" not sure what that really is, but its the perfect blank for the pen I need to make.
https://www.exoticblanks.com/Barber-Pole-Rotacrylic.html
It is for a barber, his daughter has asked me to make one for fathers day.
Any other ideas for a barber pen? He is also an Army veteran who served in Vietnam, I was considering incorporating something from his service into the pen.

 

[Rick_G]

I have one of the NEJE 1 watt units and it will work on some acrylic and truestone but not all. Even then the area had to be colored with highlighter before burning, I found yellow worked on blanks other colors would not touch. Have to burn several times to get any depth though and apply the yellow highlighter before each burn. What we generically call acrylic is not necessarily acrylic. Only way to tell for sure is to try it on the blank before you turn it.

 

[Sylvanite]

Jeff Powell's "Rotacrylic" blanks are not acrylic. He casts them from Alumilite Clear, which is a urethane resin. Alumilite Clear can be CO2 laser engraved with a suitable laser engraving machine. It doesn't produce much contrast, so you'll probably want to color-fill the engraving.