engraving wood

[matthew knott]

whats advice would you give for avoiding smoke marks around the edge letters engraved in wood? at the moment i just sanding the wood down but thats a pain in the ar$e, the wood is (i would guess) pine. I thought about sticking masking tape down first and lasering through it but havent tried it yet, anyone got any tips?
cheers !

[Frank Corker]

Matthew using transfer tape is the easiest. It's very easily removed, virtually no burning after engraving with it. Transfer tape is different from masking tape it's low tac. Varnishing before hand will also make it just a case of wiping down with a damp cloth.

[Joe Pelonio]

Frank is right. No laser shop should be without transfer tape. I use the 12" which is about $35 at sign supplies.

[matthew knott]

Transfer tape hey! wonder if it goes under a different name in the UK. Whats it normally used for?
Cheers

[Michael Hunter]

Transfer tape is used by vinyl sign makers to *transfer* the design from the backing paper onto the object.
Get it from sign making suppliers or Identify/Trotec.
You need the type that looks just like thin masking tape - the other (translucent) sort is PVC.

If possible, put it on the wood an hour or two before you intend to engrave to allow the adhesive to settle - otherwise it might come off or lift at the edges.

[Mike Lassiter]

Pine wood has a lot of resin in it that maybe some of your problem too. A different wood may solve the biggest part of the problem. I have experimented with cutting red cedar and using a 2" lens reduced pulses per inch to as low as 75 which seemed to help greatly. Cedar charrs easily because it has a lot of resin in it too. Air assist on and it would cut black around edges, reducing ppi helped more than tinkering with speed & power. Too little power or too fast and it wouldn't cut fully through. You will notice a slightly rougher cut edge but much less charring than with higher ppi. Had to play with it, but got much better cut out with the cedar.

[Martin Boekers]

Pine is tough lots of resin, for standard coated wood plaques a Magic Sponge (Mr. Clean) and Endust works fine.

[john banks]

We don't do pine, but with good air velocity and no transfer tape, we don't need any clean up for beech, cherry, iroko, meranti, walnut for engraving and very little for cutting. Oak, and birch ply need a little more clean up, but the air makes all the difference.

[matthew knott]

Thanks Guys, i popped over the road to a sign place and they gave me some transfer tape. Works a treat, exactly what i was looking for.
Thanks

[Joe Pelonio]

Thanks Guys, i popped over the road to a sign place and they gave me some transfer tape. Works a treat, exactly what i was looking for.
Thanks
Did you talk to them about providing your services for laser cut letters, and engraved signs?

[matthew knott]

We do a bit of work for them now (they do some for us to) they have a big router they cut letters with but i have suggested they have a try with the laser. we hardly ever use the epilog and it still has an anoying fault i need to get to the bottom off, no doubt more expense:(

[Bill Cunningham]

most sign makers have 'end of rolls' that are too short and useless to them, but darn useful for us