Laser Cutting ITO PET Samples

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matthewelse
 
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Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2013 12:42 pm

Laser Cutting ITO PET Samples

Post by matthewelse »

I have recently purchased some of the Adafruit ITO coated PET pieces online, and I was wondering whether anyone has had any success laser cutting these, or engraving these to remove the ito to make specific traces. Should I try laser cutting, or am I risking breaking it, or should I stick to cutting them by hand.

Thanks

adafruit
 
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Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:21 pm

Re: Laser Cutting ITO PET Samples

Post by adafruit »

PET is very soft, you can likely score the ITO off at very low power. but do a bunch of tests at the edges first..then let us kniw, we are very curious :)

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westfw
 
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Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2007 1:01 pm

Re: Laser Cutting ITO PET Samples

Post by westfw »

Many plastic stores will have NON-ito-coated PET sheets in various thicknesses; much cheaper to experiment with!
PET == Mylar == Polyester film; the same stuff as most transparencies, for instance. (except SOME are "acetate")
http://www.dunmore.com/technical/pet-film.html

(OTOH, differences in thickness and production techniques can drastically change the way a plastic film behaves. I think "Shrinky-dink film" is also PET, but clearly not all mylar behaves that way. (and ever heat up an empty soda bottle (also PET) in an oven?))

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kursat
 
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Joined: Thu Feb 06, 2014 12:20 am

Re: Laser Cutting ITO PET Samples

Post by kursat »

I just was able to engrave a touch pad from ITO on PET.
I've used the following cutter I have and diamond engraving tips.
It was only able to engrave only with diamond tips.
http://knkusa.com/product/knk-zing-air-2/
I've used 10 speed and 60 force initially, but probably I can go much lower.
Trace width initially was 0.5mm but I think I can finer as well..
The touchpad will be used with mpr121 capacitive sensor.
Touchpad1.png
Touchpad1.png (2.58 KiB) Viewed 3968 times

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