Acrylic is also known as Plexiglas ®, PMMA or by many other commercial names. Acrylic is lightweight, impact-resistant, and UV-resistant and has a greater light transmission, making it ideal for letters, displays, …

As customer needs vary ( fluorescent , transparent and non-transparent ), Gravotech offers various Acrylics on: transparent uncolored, translucent colored, opaque colored, opaque frosted.

There are 2 types of Acrylic:

  • the extruded grades are rolled to thinner thicknesses after casting: these are cheaper, have a lower thickness tolerance (5% versus 15% before casting). When processing, an extruded sheet will break and tear more easily. This budget type is also not always UV-resistant.
  • the cast types: heat mouldable, absolutely weather resistant. In addition, it can be glued well and has a relatively good chemical resistance by nature. This gives the best polished results when cutting, no burrs and crystal clear edges.

Since good quality extruded acrylic can be found in large quantities from PMMA distributors, the Gravotech material range focuses on the cast acrylic, which will provide greater added value for your customers.

Of course, both our mechanical and laser acrylic engraving machines can process all types of acrylic. Ideal for the production of letters, displays, indoor or outdoor signage, POS materials, illuminated signs, trophies and awards, model building (architecture).

The Gravostyle software can create a folding area or hinges so that the laser can work the acrylic in such a way that it can be bent.

Best Acrylic for Laser Engraving

Cut, fold and deform with the same laser

With Gravostyle ™ and the preset parameters you can cut, fold and deform any thin acrylic (less than 5 mm thick) with the same laser.

When it comes to cutting alone, our CO2 laser engraving machines can reach a depth of 25 mm (1 inch). The maximum thickness is directly linked to the power of the laser source, speed can also play a role.

Rule of thumb: count about 5W per millimeter of thickness.

A 40W CO2 laser can cut an 8mm thick acrylic sheet.

Polished transparent finish

Our lasers can produce a shiny, polished edge on acrylic when cut, thanks to Gravostyle software that adjusts the speed and power of the laser. The acrylic instantly melts when the laser beam hits the area and then instantly hardens when it leaves. It results in a smooth, crystal clear, transparent and polished edge, highly valued in the Sign and Display industry. The time- and cost-intensive manual polishing of the matt cutting edge is no longer necessary. The product is ready when it comes out of the laser.

We recommend a lens (up to 4”) for this for a better end result (because the edge becomes straighter).

UV printing that lasts

Add colors to your Acrylic with a UV printer, as this material is perfect for that. Print&Cut applications allow registration points to determine the position and rotation of printed material. The system automatically adjusts the cutting path.

For outdoor signage, we recommend cutting out a transparent acrylic sheet with the same shape as the printed sheet and gluing it on top. In this way you ensure long-lasting colors because you protect the ink against external UV radiation.