Cleaning Wood after laser engraving

[David Sacks]

Well, I have just installed our new laser. Loads of fun, what do I clean the wood with after laser engraving?
Thanks!

[Mike Null]

David

Welcome to SMC.

If you plan to sand and finish the work after engraving then the sandpaper will do it. But if you want to engrave pre-finished woods (my preference) then you can use plain water or water with one of the household cleaners in solution.

Sometimes it is best to mask the area to be engraved as permanent discoloration or even charring can occur. Don't be afraid to lower your power and engrave something more than once in order to protect the surface.

I usually use transfer paper as a mask.

My most important chemicals are the household cleaner/water solution and denatured alcohol which I use for nearly all plastics.

Enjoy your new toy.

[Dan Hintz]

David,

Come join us at the Mid-Atlantic meet May 9th in Smithfield, VA... looks like a group of about 20+ laser guys/gals. I'm north of you in Columbia...

[seaver dave]

I've had great luck cleaning pre-finished and unfinished wood with rubbing alcohol.

Dave Seaver
_____________________________
Epilog mini 24 CNC maxnc bench milling machine

[David Sacks]

Thanks for all the replies -
I'm using pre-finished wood -
What is transfer paper? - is it just masking tape?

[Steven Wallace]

Like the other's, welcome to SMC. Masking tape can be used in a pinch but it really has a high glue factor and this could possibly be transferred to your engraved piece causing you extra steps in your clean up. What is being talked about in the paper mask, is a low tack paper protective surface. Comes off quite easily after engraving. Some have special techniques to do the weeding (taking off the centers of letters like; qeopadb.) but even that is easily done. I typically use the mask and engrave wood at 1200dpi as it gives a rich dark color. All but two of my projects have been pre-finished. Hope this helps and you enjoy the fun and profit of lasering.

[Michael Hunter]

For natural wood and really top quality stuff, I mask with transfer tape. I use a fingernail and/or a stencil brush to weed out the little bits.

For pre-finished wood on not-so-critical jobs, I just engrave it as-is and clean it up afterwards using ordinary spray-on furniture polish. The polish makes a good job of cleaning up the vector-cut edges too.

[Bill Cunningham]

I find windex or any similar glass cleaner will clean the residue off wood,, just a couple of squirts, and a wipe with a clean cloth..

[Stanley Waldrup]

We use Denatured Alcohol here. Workes great. it will even remove Pencil marks....
Wish I could join every one, But Care Giving for a parent Will have to take priority this year.. Any chance we can get in on the File sharing.
Stanley

[Martin Boekers]

I typically use Endust, Pledge seems a bit waxy and wipe with a "magic Eraser" or similar knockoff.

I've used rubbing alcohol , but I've had it "fog" some of the darker finishes

Marty

[Bruce Boyer]

for quick smoke residue on typical walnut plaques

we dampen a chamois sponge, like the ones in auto parts stores,
then rub briskley across the residue. Quick and fast.

we mask high gloss plaques and acrylic with transfer tape. locate at sign supply stores for picking up vinyl letters and transfering to substrates.
this is a low tack tape and can be ordered by width, we use 6" and 12" rolls normally. it normally does not leave a sticky residue.

we also use a product called rapid remover, a citrus based product to clean sticky and smoke residue, also found at sign supplies. it is also helpful cleaning left over rub n buff.

[Barbara Sample]

I was also taught that if you rub butcher's wax on the plaque and then engrave it, it will fill easy and clean up quick.
Barbara

[Eric Seest]

I use concentrated Simple Green. Seems to work good on finished wood and plaques.

[Paul Woodrich]

First choice for wood residue removal - Wal-Mart cleaning isle "Spray Power Orange" produced by CROWN... amazing stuff. Spray it on a lint-free sweatshirt and wipe the product. Second choice is Scrubbing Bubbles knock-off from the Dollar Store. The best advice is to create a barrier between the wood and residue by whatever means (spray lacquer, masking, hairspray, etc.) such that the residue cannot leach into the wood fibers. Heavy engraving and a good belt sander cover a multitude of sins.

[Kevin Huffman]

If the piece of wood has just been engraved, we use a little bit of Pledge with lemon to remove any residue. It works great.

If the piece of wood has been sitting for a while and the residue has melted/re bounded with the wood, our only recourse is using sandpaper.