The engraved part is very sensitive after you engrave it does anyone have a technique to not
Scratch the engraved areas, also has anyone put a finish on the engraved area for protection like maybe polyurethane.
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There is a tendency to want to somehow “fix” the ash and char on the surface of the engraving. I have found it better to wash it, or at least wipe it down to eliminate the loose material rather than try to preserve it. Even spraying with polyurethane, or lacquer will move and disperse the material before making the mess permanent.
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I use a very soft paint brush to remove loose material then flood it with polyurethane. Gently blot the poly so it’s not a puddle and let dry.
Works pretty well.
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Thanks for the tip i will definitely try.
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I usually wipe the char off with a baby wipe. (Absolutely fantastic way to remove excess char, by the way. Would highly recommend having a box on hand.) If you are concerned about maintaining high contrast on future prints, you might consider masking, lasering, then spray painting the lasered areas before removing masking. (Though, now that I think about it, you might want to add a mild cleaning step before the painting step, if you are seeing charred material that likes to flake off.)
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I have been using hand cleaner for the past few years and had 4 liters on hand when covid hit. Unfortunately, the bulk stuff was a different formula that attacks acrylic while the regular stuff does not,
If you expect to use the baby wipes on acrylic I would tryit on a piece of scrap first.
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Huh, hadn’t thought of trying hand cleaner before. Personally, haven’t had any problems with acrylic, but I use the Pampers Sensitive wipes, and I think those might have a different base. (Maybe water instead of alcohol? Solvents and plastics always require testing. I once worked with someone who decided to remove the adhesive left from a label from a plastic electronics case with “Goop Off”… and he pretty much removed portions of the case from existence.)
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I guess that would be “Oops Off” instead?
I thought the name was Goof-Off which is not a terrible name.
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Is the char the thing that’s causing it to scratch am i just an idiot for not realizing that lol. Because when i put the clock mechanism on i scratched alot of the engraved part and thought its just sensitive.
You’re burning the wood. Any contact will remove the charred parts, which would appear like a scratch.
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I’ve used spray shellac to seal the engraved areas before I remove the masking, works pretty well.
So before you peel the sticky paper you spray 
can you elaborate?
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That’s right, the wood already has a finish on it, so there isn’t a reason to spray that. After the laser is done doing what it does, I just pull it out and spray it before I remove the paper masking. Similar to what evansd2 mentioned, I’m basically flooding the engraved section with the shellac, but I use it out of a can for convenience as I only have to do it so often.
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Wow never thought of that definitely will try appreciate the advice thank you so much.
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Especially for the elaboration thnx.
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