Need help with sheet stock issue

[Colleen Williams]

Hi all,

I am throwing myself on the collective mercy of this wonderful group because I can't find a solution...

I am trying to fabricate something for a very specific usage. For this purpose I am using laserable plastic sheet stock that is black on top with white behind. The item I am working on involves engraving a circle in the centre (which is to be white) and then cutting the shape of the finished item itself. The problem I am having is that, as we all know when we cut plastics or acrylics, the dust drifts back over the surface of the sheet. That dust is causing me grief because it is catching in the white areas and making an awful mess that I can't get rid of. In essence I no longer have a nice bright white circle, but rather I now have splotchy white/grey/blackish circles.

I have tried rinsing them with water (this just made them even worse), I have washed them with dish soap, even with a toothbrush scrub and that didn't do anything much to them. I even tried plastic/acrylic cleaners and buffers. Nothing seems to be working on this problem.

This is going to be a big job of a couple of thousand pieces over the next little while and I don't want to have to spend a tremendous amount of time cleaning each and every one as that would severely cut into the profitability of them.

Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do to solve this problem.....please.....okay, I admit it - I'm begging!

I look forward to any help or suggestions that anyone might have

[George Brown]

I am trying to fabricate something for a very specific usage. For this purpose I am using laserable plastic sheet stock that is black on top with white behind. The item I am working on involves engraving a circle in the centre (which is to be white) and then cutting the shape of the finished item itself. The problem I am having is that, as we all know when we cut plastics or acrylics, the dust drifts back over the surface of the sheet. That dust is causing me grief because it is catching in the white areas and making an awful mess that I can't get rid of. In essence I no longer have a nice bright white circle, but rather I now have splotchy white/grey/blackish circles.


How about cutting out the piece first and then rastering out the circle. Raster the circle from bottom to top, any dust would then not settle on white area.

[Gary Hair]

A couple of things -
1. Try engraving from the bottom up, that will keep the mess away from the freshly-engraved area.
2. Use simple green to clean it. I spray it on, let it set for a minute or two and rinse it off with a scratchless pad, like a teflon pan pad.

If worse comes to worse, raster the center and tape it off before you vector cut.

Someone will likely mention using brake fluid but I think it takes more steps to apply and then clean it off than just using simple green - in my opinion anyway.

Gary

[Steven Wallace]

Colleen, Just trying to get some info. I am not sure about the cleaning but when you are engraving have you set your machine to engrave from the bottom to top? If not, when you set up your print job, select the "Advanced" tab and under the "Advanced Options" click on the "Bottom-Up Engraving" button. This should cause the dust to be sucked away from the freshly rastered area. Hope this suggestion helps.

[Doug Griffith]

How about cutting them all first, wiping off the residue, then placing in a multi-cavity fixture to do the engraving. That might be your quickest method.

[Scott Shepherd]

I agree with others, bottom up engraving. We use a product called "Rapid Remover" to remove any debris. It's wonderful, but you cannot leave it on the plastic, it will eat it up, but it does work wonders.

It's a sign supply product, so anyone that sells sign supplies should have it in stock. I think Joe turned me on to it and I've not used anything since. It's really that good.

[Colleen Williams]

You guys are the greatest!!!

I didn't try from the bottom up. That was just going through my head as I was sitting here pondering the whole scenario. The majority of the dust is not coming from the cutting, but rather from the engraving itself.

I will try doing the bottom up procedure.

Scott, I have rapid remover here! How long do you leave it on for? Do you just spray it and then wipe it off, or spray and wait a second....

Thanks again guys for taking the time to help me out.

[Steve Clarkson]

I had white that engraved black, but it still got the white part dirty....dna worked great for me......and then I ran out, so I tried Goo Gone and it worked even better.

[Scott Shepherd]

Scott, I have rapid remover here! How long do you leave it on for? Do you just spray it and then wipe it off, or spray and wait a second....



If possible, just lightly spray a paper towel or rag and run that over it. It's not super time critical, but I left some plastic to soak in it for a while and came back and it was eating the top layer off the plastic. If you lightly mist the paper towel so you're just wiping it, instead of leaving a bunch of it behind, you'll be find. If you are concerned, you can always finish up with a wipe down of Rapic Tac, which neutralizes the Remover.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Mr Clean Magic Eraser will clean the residue out of the white. Wet the sponge and then wipe the plastic. I found it works even better then DNA and Goo Gone. It even worked on some very dingy black/white tags I thought were completely trashed.

[George M. Perzel]

Colleen;
Everyone has their favorite cleaner and all will work under the right conditions. Definitely bottom to top.
If you are using Lasermax material, try cleaning with naptha (lighter fluid). I have not found anything better but never heard of rapid Remover until now and will give it a shot. Also some laminates engrave cleaner with the air assist off-according to the tech gurus at Rowmark-depends on the color.
Good Luck

[Scott Shepherd]

George, Rapid Remover is an adhesive remover used to break the adhesives up on tapes, vinyl lettering, etc. Once you peel off the vinyl letters, you can hit it with RR and get all the glue residue off.

I've not found anything close when it comes to making the edges of plastic "not sticky" any more.

[David Harvey]

I engrave IPI's Black/White 2-ply for a customer weekly. I experienced the same problem with the dust/stain. The way I solved it was to 'turn off' the air assist during engraving. Instead of the dust being blown around, a small flame is produced during the engraving. This flame actually burns away the dust, or maybe, it is the dust itself going up in flames, I don't know. But the end result is absolutely no cleaning required, not even a dust off, and the white areas are pure white.

You may want to try this, it works for my system and the material that I use...maybe for your's too.

[Mike Null]

I tend to agree with David. I engrave and cut a lot of laminate. I turn off air assist and engrave normally. The first thing I do on red/white, green/white black/white is to put the pieces in water then brush--don't rub the particles away.

My theory is that these particles are in suspension in the water and brushing will remove while rubbing will work them into the white.

[Colleen Williams]

Scott, the rapid remove was amazing - right before your eyes it was gone so to speak. You are right too, the sticky edges and slight filming that sometimes get with you are cutting were gone on contact. No having to try and scrub them down somehow.

I'm going to give a try to a couple of the other ideas here as well because it would be nice to not have to really clean each and every piece, however, now that I know something that will definitely work I'm happy. My husband was laughing at me yesterday when I was doing the happy dance over a "bright white circle";)

I certainly appreciate all the help from everyone.

[Scott Shepherd]

Shhhhhhhhhh......... it's a secret :)

Glad it worked out for you. You can now get back to Happy Dancing!

[Steven Wallace]

Can we get a video of the happy dance, no use just letting your hubby see that. :)