Rowmark™ Engraving Laminates

Material Properties

Rowmark™ engraving plastic laminates are typically acrylic based plastic substrates designed for sign making purposes but can also be used for a range of other creative applications. Most laserable laminates are 2-ply laminates, the top layer (cap) of which can be laser engraved away to reveal a contrasting substrate below – resulting in one-step signage.

Typical applications

Art & sculpture, Models and display cases, Exhibition signs, Point of purchase, Signage & display, Forming and fabrication.

Appearance

Rowmark laminates are supplied with a plastic film on both sides to protect from scratch marks which tends to melt if laser cut when left on the top surface.

Laser cutting

Because of this, the plastic film is replaced with protective paper backing to minimize the scorch marks when laser cut.

Bottom surface

The plastic film and an additional paper backing layer is left on the reverse side to prevent marking caused by contact with the laser bed. You will need to peel this off once you have received your job.

Cut widths & Kerf

As a benchmark, we recommend that minimum cut widths be no smaller than the corresponding thickness of the material. See more on min cut widths.

Cut edge

Rowmark laminates laser cut fairly cleanly with a slightly melted edge. The edge can feel quite tacky / sticky when touched. If handled too much, dirt can easily transfer onto the edges.

Raster & Vector engraving

As standard the laser will remove the top layer of the laminate to reveal the colour of the layer below. The protective paper backing will be removed prior to engraving and after any laser cutting has been completed (to minimize scorch marks.)

Banding

When your engraving covers a large surface area the engraver is more likely to produce lines within the engraved surface. This is caused by the pulsing of the laser. While it appears that the laser actually is firing constantly, when processing a job it actually quickly turns on and turns off which is known as pulsing. It is this pulsing which creates a slightly textured appearance in the engraving. For large surface areas we tend to engrave a bit slower to keep this to a minimum but for some sign making applications it is unavoidable.