Following.

I'm thinking you might need a low end co2 laser. Router was my thought but I wonder about chipping. I know cpr uses laser but many places won't cut plastic with laser due to fume extraction

Having been in the laser and waterjet machining world for years I think you would have trouble doing anything more then etching plastic with 3w. Typical plastic for pinball will be in the .094” to 1/8” range. You would need at least 50w to cut that and even that would be tough. Also note for cutting acrylic the gas is toxic so you also need a Very good evacuation system and an enclosed unit. Going to be hard to find a laser in your $250 range that would solve your problem. I use a waterjet for plastics but often need to flame polish the edges for clear plastics for a transparent edge.

I am assuming this is like the bare minimum you would be able to get away with but I have no idea.

https://www.amazon.com/Orion-Motor-Engraver-Cutter-Exhaust/dp/B01EJDH1BO/ref=sr_1_6

Would still love to know anyone who is doing this on a home user type piece of equipment.

I'm interested in a small cnc router as well. Might pick one up and I can test if i do.

Acrylic
- generally most acrylics are more brittle than PTEG
- if cnc'd will need flame or hand sanding / polishing to the cut edges (hand sanding / polishing is a pain)
- if laser cutting 40 watt laser and up will cut 3mm thick will cut nicely (add high air assist to clear the smoke and adds to a glossy finish)
- fume extraction is required - fumes aren't healthy but not as toxic and Poly Carb

PTEG
- PTEG have similar cutting qualities to Acrylics but more impact resistant than Acrylic
- if cnc'd will need flame or hand sanding / polishing to the cut edges (hand sanding / polishing is a pain)
- if laser cutting 40 watt laser and up will cut 3mm thick will cut nicely (add high air assist to clear the smoke and adds to a glossy finish)
- fume extraction is required - fumes aren't healthy but not as toxic and Poly Carb

Poly Carbonate
- Poly Carb is high impact resistance and need UV resistant otherwise it will yellow after about 2 years and get brittle
- can only be cnc'd, adviseable not to flame polish and can hand sand / polish to the cut edges but a pain
- can not be laser cut (well it can) but highly toxic and releases a carcinogenic gas - stay away and if laser cut edges go yellow and super high pitch squeal

I dare say most pinball companies would use PTEG for pinball plastics - hope that helps

Correct. Acrylic has the clarity of glass but is also almost just as fragile. PETG polycarbonate sheets are the preferred material in our pin world but crappy to cut on a CO2

when cncing the important things are:
- type of cutter used
- cut feed rate
- spindle speed

- the software needs to allow for the last pass to be a clean up pass so it cleans up the whole edge so effectively the first 2 cuts are stepped out 0.2mm and the last cut one steps in and uses the cutter cutting shaft to cleanup the whole cut edge
- depending on the feed rate and spindle speed and cutter diameter make depth cut 1/2 - 1 times the cutter diameter
- running the machine and spindle too slow will heat weld the cut acrylic shavings and turn into a mess

I cnc machine polycarbonate protectors on my machining centers. I've never had an issue with "yellowing".

Acrylic is VERY brittle and is very tricky to machine without breakage, (I do it all of the time, but then again, I've been machining plastic for 35+ years).

This is my latest machining center. It cost $80k

DSC_4171 (resized).JPG

Yeah I think he was talking about burning with a laser. CNC machining center or waterjet is the best route in my book. I have one of these to cut Any material from .001" to 12" thick. A bit overkill for pinball parts but Bigger is always more fun! lol

IMG_0819 (resized).jpeg

Mind me asking what shop in Indy you have? I have about 40 in that area with the primary being waterjet cutting of Indiana. Great area from their to Columbus Building America! Love it.

I'll send you a PM

some poly carb (non UV resistant) will yellow if exposed to the sunlight alot - well in Australia we have different types for machine guards etc. And yes when laser cut will go yellow on the edges and releases toxic gas - stay away from.

I wish I still had access to a big machine - just have a small and cheap home on now. I had a big one but sold to make room for the new hobby of pinball 10 years ago - wish I knew what I could have done with it now ...

10 years ago I worked for a company making cnc router, plasmas and laser machines
https://multicam.com.au/

So guys, now that you've swung your machines around what is the best cheap method? CNC router?

I built a variation of the ox cnc for home on a table that hinges and stores vertical against the garage wall. I made it big enough to cut playfields.

http://makerstore.cc/product/ox-cnc-mechanical-kit-large/

and got mine from ooznest UK, with the worker bee being the better upgraded replacement now
https://ooznest.co.uk/product-category/machines/cnc-machines/

but the drive system is X-Carve as they have a good forum

All this talk about cutting plastics...Who can I pay to make me a small set ?

I cut plastic on the 150w laser at my local maker space with great success

Check if you have a local MakerSpace. I can cut for free at my local library on a $20,000 laser cutter.

Go to Pololu.com and check out their custom laser cutting options. I’ve had success with this service

I'm interested how plastics are made. petg, printed or silkscreened then cut? or cut then printed?
All my custom stuff has been on acrylic reverse digital print then clear petg protectors under neath.
No one I have found is able to print on petg and cut.

The plastics I've purchased from jjp as a whole set or the custom ones cpr has made for me are reverse printed on a large sheet, white coating behind and laser cut.

Thanks for the input everyone. Now to decide.

I use a Workbee with spindle I bought on AliExpress. Ooznest Duet control. You can buy the whole thing off ooznest, but you will pay about $500 more. It's an open source design, so there is a lot of info out there on them. But if you aren't mechanically inclined as well as tech inclined, don't bother. Also plan on getting good at CAD, and learning Fusion 360 or some other modeling software. I use Solidworks.
Screenshot_20200224-180711_Gallery (resized).jpg

Also avoid the belt driven options like Shapeoko. They tend to be less robust and more finicky with belt tension, especially when it comes to cutting circles. Screw driven workbees are the same price as the older belt driven version...you're crazy not to get the screw driven one. You can go up to 1500x1500 and still get screws. Due to space limitations, I went 1000x750, which gives me a 21" wide cutting area on the narrow dimension.

AH nice... so what would a setup like yours cost?

Roughly $1400 give or take. You could save a couple hundred not using the Duet, but it was much less hassle to get going by using this route.

Thanks! So many thing I could see using that for.

Thanks for the recap. Post here once you use it!

Thanks for the update!

So, have you actually cut any plastics yet (can you post some pics)? I've been mulling over your exact scenario in your original post as I do custom mods and would really like to be able to do some per-order plastics. Apart from initial large commitment runs, I currently make plastics by hand which is quite the pain, and while I typically can do straight cuts on PETG fairly well, I do have difficulty getting nice smoothly rounded curves and drilling the holes in precise locatiions. Figured if I had a small home DIY machine I could more easily cut the pieces and just finish the edges as needed.