I’m thinking about painting (craft/acrylic) the draftboard and then cutting. Any thoughts about safety, the gf. fumes, whatever?
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Good morning.
I’ve been using dollar store acrylic paint on Baltic birch plywood. It cuts and engraves well. I don’t see any damage to the machine, but can’t say if it’s a slow creep.
Best I can tell from Google searches is it is fine.
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Someone had posted photos of where they had painted sections of wood different colors and then engraved them (I think religious icons) and it looked fantastic. Unfortunately I’ve searched the forum and haven’t been able to find the post again. Anyone else with better searching mojo?
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The three painted gift tags in this post:
were painted first with regular spray paint and then engraved. No adverse effects to date. @smcgathyfay has indicated she uses craft store acrylics to paint and then engrave using her lasers.
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Most folks seem to use acrylics to paint first and then engrave. If your interested in seeing a bunch of incredible colored engravings, the master of the technique is a fellow named Diego Scaglia Rat. (He sells under the name of “Engraver’s Dungeon”.) Diego is also very generous in sharing tips about his techniques and has several video tutorials on youtube. He’s one of my favorite laser artists 
https://www.etsy.com/shop/EngraversDungeon/items
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For a different perspective check out @brooklyntonia’s work. I believe she uses watercolor on baltic birch, which gives a nice transparency to the pieces. I do believe she colors after the engraving/cutting.
Example:
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A related discussion starts here:
https://community.glowforge.com/t/painting-the-untouched-surface-of-engraves/18008/12?u=scott.burns&source_topic_id=18104
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Reminder - safety & non-PG materials belong in Beyond the Manual. Thanks!