There is a covering on the premium wood that you purchase through Glowforge. I’m assuming that it is meant to be protective as well as making it easier for the Glowforge to recognize the material.
The challenge that I have is in removing it after a print when you have many words where you need to remove the covering from the inside of letters like o, p, b, etc. that have a closed loop. This can be tedius.
Are the prints the same quality if you print without the protective coating on them? I’m assuming that if I ever buy boards from another vendor that they may have a coating on them also?
Okay. I printed a design twice, first with the protective covering on and the second print after removing it. Seem like there is some scorching along the cuts. The etches looks fine. Maybe there is an easy trick to remove the scorching afterwards? Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks so much!
I have a salt pool so I have some of the salt for the pool in a bus pan I got from Sam’s club. shake the charred things in that tub and cleans right up.
I keep the larger peels of the masking about as while Gorilla Tape sticks to everything, the masking sticks massively to the bottom of the masking much more than anything else. By lifting a corner with a fingernail or dragging the masking across an edge it will stick hard to the underside if the tiniest bit and be easier to remove. Where there is engraving, the masking is best removed as you are engraving paper instead of material where it is very light and the gunk will go there no matter what.
I bought a rock tumbler to do that salt trick but was very disappointed as the salt takes up the carbon but unless replaced each time, puts it back all over every piece.
Much better, I find using hand sanitizer and paper towels will remove excess carbon and wood gunk very nicely and dry quickly. With some cases, the sanitizer will dissolve the masking glue and all the intricate bits fall off together. Unfortunately, it will also dissolve the glue in MDF setting it back to the original sawdust.