Smears

Everything Else
1

After printing on draftboard, there are smears from the engraved letters onto the board. Can those smears be wiped off without making the project appear to be damaged? Want to ask before i try it.

2

I’m assuming that you are using the proofgrade (PG) material that came with the Glowforge (GF)?

If so, the masking that is on it is used to protect the material from the soot. When you peal the masking off, there shouldn’t be much left to clean up. I, sometimes, give it a light sanding to clean up the wood. Other times I just wipe it off with a lightly damp cloth. Depending on how much soot there is, wiping it off can smear it around.

Did you leave the masking on the board before you lasered?

3

Thank you so much and yes, I left it on.

4

I may be a little slow with this, but how do i remove it? Is there some place in the manual where I can find instruction?

Thank you so much and yes, I left it on.

5

Peel it off.

6

It is just masking tape. All you have to do is find an edge and pull. If the area is really small, like the inside of a letter, sometimes I use my wife’s Cricut tools to grab the masking and pull it off.

A good way to see how people do things is to look it up on youtube. We have a few members on here that make videos of their processes.

7

I think I got it now. I had to keep pulling at the masking. Thank you again.

I may be a little slow with this, but how do i remove it? Is there some place in the manual where I can find instruction?

Thank you so much and yes, I left it on.

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8

The longer the masking is left on the more difficult it becomes. This takes months and years, and it is never impossible, it just gets a bit harder.

Some people like to use a plastic razor blade.

Another option is to use the sticky side of gorilla tape. Peel off some gorilla tape, stick it to your project and pull it off. I don’t think I’d try this with really delicate pieces, but it works fine for everything else.

9

I have actually used this on some fairly delicate engraves. I find that it works better than my fingernails, though I admit I have not tried the plastic razors.

I have also had some luck with 91% isopropyl alcohol and a soft tooth brush. It evaporates pretty quickly, and doesn’t usually leave any staining. As with everything, test it on a piece you don’t care about before you take my advice on anything.

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10

Will work on wood but will destroy acrylic. I had been using Hand Sanitizer but recently that too was damaging the acrylic. Then I read just yesterday that a number of producers of Hand Sanitizer had started to put in Methanol that also damages acrylic and is not so good to hands either to increase production and lower costs.

11

Yes, I have heard that about acrylic as well. I don’t usually have the same problems getting the masking off acrylic, though.

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12

Thank you everybody so very much.

13

Once you get into acrylic work, use a toothpick or wooden cuticle pusher to assist with removing the masking. I found that razor blades and other metal objects scratch up your acrylic piece. Lol

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14

… or plastic razor blades.

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15

Thank you for sharing your experience. Have you used acrylic mirror?

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16

I have not. Sounds interesting!

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17

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