Lasered Acrylic Residue

Hello everyone,
I am experimenting with some two-color acrylic from inventables. I’ve noticed that there is a fair amount of rub-off residue on these pieces, especially noticeable on the dark colors (ex. yellow on black acrylic).

I hate to think that someone would have one of the acrylic pins that I cut rub off residue on their clothing :frowning:

What are your best practices for getting rid of this residue?

Thanks in advance!

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Best to use some type of masking tape while lasering. And when done, I tend to rinse the piece with or without soap and wipe dry.

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Acrylic a nonporous plastic so just wash it with anything that doesn’t damage the acrylic. I’d try dishwashing soap and a soft brush.

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As mentioned, masking to prevent the discolor buildup on non engraved areas…
RED (on something) color seemed to be the worst.
I even had to do a very low power additional pass on a few designs to burn off the red residue that blew into the engrave.

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I had the issue with black on white 2 color acrylic, and got good results cleaning the engrave with a stream of alcohol from a squirt bottle.

This is a really informative video about two-toned acrylic.

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I keep an old toothbrush by the sink, it works great to loosen up those acrylic deposits.

I know, mine does the same. And it’s on the cut edges of my acrylic, even masked on both sides. I let mine cool for 12 hours and I still had residue… If you had any suggestions from trial and error, I’d be grateful!

You don’t need to let it cool, but if you wipe it with a sponge or old toothbrush with some water (soapy if needed) it should wipe off. The residue is just some of the melted/vaporized acrylic from the cut depositing on surfaces, so that’s why the masking ‘protects’ the top, but for the cut surfaces, you’ll just need to wipe it afterwards.

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Thank you so much! It did the trick.

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