How do I get the smoke smell off projects? Wood, leather, etc

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I am really new to this whole amazing process. How do you get the smoke smell off the projects? Especially when printing earrings and the like. Any pointers would be helpful.

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Depends on the material. For woods and leathers that come pre-masked (Proofgrade) peeling the masking off and putting it into a ziploc bag for disposal cuts about 90% of the smell immediately. The rest will air out in a couple of days.

You can wipe charred edges with a damp cloth or paper towel, use a combination of vinegar and water, or alcohol on woods. Soap and water on acrylics. You can let it sit for a while to air out. Just depends on what you’re planning to use it for and how fast you need it.

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For wood I find that a coating or two of spray urethane seals in the bad smells. :sunglasses:

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I had made some powder to deodorize my dog and grabbed it to try with proofgrade maple plywood. It works pretty well. It was made from cornstarch, baking soda, and a few drops of lavender essential oil - I don’t remember the proportions.
Pro - cuts the smell by lots pretty quickly (an hour? - didn’t time it)
Cons - slotted spoon to fish out the small bits (I didn’t try anything large), sieve to shake off most of the powder, can of air to get rid of the next round of powder, wipe of with damp cloth to get rid of more powder.
So faster than peeling the pieces and letting them sit for 3 days, but much more work.

I have a friend who is allergic to lavender, so I wouldn’ t do this to anything I was going to give to her.

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And then you smell spray urethane instead :rofl:

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In my experience the urethane smell quickly dissipates as the coating dries. Sunlight or another warm place is a good way to speed up the process. Svante Arrhenius noted that chemical reactions (e.g., paint drying) speeds up by 2x for every 10°C (or 18°F) rise in temperature.

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Great question and good discussion! When you remove the material from your Glowforge, it will have a faint smell that may or may not be pleasant, depending on the material. Leaving the material in the Glowforge will minimize this, as the fans will air out the material, and the smell will disappear with time.

You can see some more ideas from the community here: Tips For the Inexperienced

And, since this discussion is providing some new ones, I’m going to leave this thread open for a couple more days to see what arises.

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Looks like the conversation has slowed, so I’m going to close the thread. Post again if you have more questions!