Good morning, I have a question for you. I want to engrave clear acrylic with a Falcon 10W (diode laser). I have seen that they paint acrylic, otherwise the laser would pass through it without recognizing it. The question is, what paint is used for this? And how is it removed after engraving (without damaging the acrylic surface)? I look forward to your prompt responses, thank you
They use a tempera style paint, like poster paint. It comes off with Isopropyl alcohol , spray on and wipe off, may need a few goes at it to get it all off.
Idealy, when you get a piece of acrylic, don’t remove the opaque film that comes with it and use that for the engraving. Once engraved, just peel off the film.
If you already have a piece of acrylic that doen’t have this opaque film, you’d probably want to use a whater soluble paint so it’s easily removed, but make sure the quote you put on is really uniform or you’ll get various etching depth.
Another method is to use masking tape. It won’t affect the etching much and you could always adjust the laser strength if it makes too much of a resistence.
Finaly, I’ve seen a method (which I haven’t tried myself) by which you place a dark material under the acrylic sheet, and adjust your laser for that surface. This will do the engraving throug the bottom of the acrylic sheet.
Let us know what worked best for you, or what issues you had so we can all learn from your experience 
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