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Laser cutting HIPS (Polystyrene)

Polystyrene, High Impact Polystyrene, or HIPS for short is a very cheap alternative to acrylic. It comes in various sizes, although is limited in colour choices

Benefits of laser cutting polystyrene

  • fast processing
  • it’s quite cheap

Drawbacks of laser cutting polystyrene

  • relatively poor choice of colours
  • comes mostly in thin sheets
  • quite smelly
  • “melty” raised edge if you’re not careful
  • not suitable for engraving