Honeycomb table needs cleaning

[J Porter]

After some extended runs, my honeycomb table is coated with resins and plastic residues such that is flares up more than desirable.

What's the best way to clean this off? A blowtorch??

The honeycomb table that I got with my Pinnacle has worked quite well but is there another table which might work better??

TIA
~Arkie

[Rodne Gold]

We clean ours with acetone and a paintbrush and or cotton wrapped swabs, it removes the resins etc , we also made a tool that we insert into the cells to realign them and strighten the walls. We used oven cleaner as well at one time , but it destroyed a grid as it contains caustic soda!! Was an expensive excercise . Oven cleaner works very well , but you got to be quick and not do like we did , which was to leave it on for ages trying to remove every last vestige of resin and get the table back to prisitne condition!!
More problematic then the resin coating (which often stops a lot of the flashback) is the fact the top section of the wall isnt sharp and has bentover and due to usage the wall becomes less than perpendicular to the table surface presenting a large surface for the beam to flash back from , the tool we made fixes this. Its a bit of a painful process to clean and straighten a honeycomb that has been neglected , especially for a large area machine like the explorer that uses a small cell honeycomb.
We actually hardly use the tables unless we are cutting small stuff like model parts, We just use discs or squares of 8mm pex to support the large stuff.
We also use a piece of black anodised aluminium under the grid or the squares as this acts a laser "absorber"
We found a supplier that sells the honeycomb unexpanded in various cell sizes and thicknesses (heights) , this used in lightweight composite manufacturing - like aircraft panels , for rigidity and low weight and is is about 1/30th the price of a table tho has no frame.
We are currently making a grid using very thin stainless wires (using a frame with small pins on the edges the wires go round - sort of like a tennis raquet) Initial results were promising with less flashbacks than the ally honeycomb.
One of my pals has made a pin table , its wood with an ally covering and there are 100s of pins he has pushed thru the underside and thru the ally (needed to stop the wood burning) which the parts rest on (they rest on the sharp ends which point upwards ) Getting all the pins perpendicular was a bit of a mission but he made a jig to do this. He raves about it
Regards

[Chuck Burke]

Arkie,
If you have a pinnacle, you probably bought it at Signwarehous/engraverswarehouse. Contact Eddie Larue or Kevin Huffman in tech support and ask them about their vector cutting table. It works like the one Rodneys friend designed. I have one that came with my laser and after seeing the honey comb tables, much prefer mine.

Chuck Burke
American Pacific Awards

[Kate Raap]

We have an 18 X 32 Honey comb table for our laser, and to be honest I just hate it! It is the worst to clean and I find some of the things I cut through the gasses seem to trap in the honeycomb and cause more "burn" to products. My dad is in the process of creating his own table for our lasers. His brains work mighty well usually. As his says: "I had a thousand ideas this week and this is only one that I will try." He's definately always trying new things to better everything in our shop.

[Doug McIntyre]

Look at http://www.astechplastics.ca/eggcrate.html as an example. I use them as a disposable alternative to a honeycomb table. Never need cleaning and they can be thrown away when they get too burned up.

The more it is used the better the exhaust flow works, although it is a good idea to create some exhaust channels in a new louver by using the Corel Grid Pattern Tool for example.

Any good electrical supplier should stock them - the half inch grid is best.

[Alan Young]

If you already own a cutting grid and just need a replacement core then I believe you can purchase the expanded aluminum honeycomb from www.alcore.com (http://www.alcore.com). They make expanded aluminum honeycomb for the aircraft industry. I have not purchased from them but have recieved a quote a while back. It was less then half of a new one from the laser dealer. They only sell the expanded aluminum honeycomb, not the frame with the guides. But you can remove the old and replace it. They also have different grid sizes.

Alan

[J Porter]

Thanks for the replies. Actually, my idea of cleaning the grid with a blowtorch worked pretty well. A lot of junk burned off, but be careful... the aluminum melts easily.
Interestly enough, I had already done a google for replacement material and found your source as well as some others.
So.... if I wanted to replace just the grid, I needed to see what I was up against. With the aid of a powered screwdriver I took my table apart. While I was there, I simply did an end-over-end flip and put it back into the frame.
Fifteen minutes later the bottom side is now the top and the left is now the right. This should last me a pretty good while and certainly give me time to research suppliers for new material or a different product altogether.
I like the idea of a surface with pins in it. I may take a sheet of acrylic and put it under the drill press, drill lots of holes, add some small diameter nails of some sort and see what happens. I like that approach to support which should provide better air flow.... Joe

[Jeff DeVore]

I use my vector table about 30 hours a week cutting 1/4" oak and I clean it weekly with a can of the Wal Mart brand of oven cleaner. I spray 1/2 of a can on, let it sit for 30 minutes and spray it off with water. I then repeat the process with the other 1/2 can and it gets it pretty clean. Jeff.

[J Porter]

That's pretty interesting considering that every oven cleaner I ever read the label of states specifically NOT to use it on aluminum.
When I get to a point I've got some sort of good substitute or replacement material, I'll give it a go.

[Jeff DeVore]

That's pretty interesting considering that every oven cleaner I ever read the label of states specifically NOT to use it on aluminum.



I've had people tell me this before but this is the method that the distributor told me to use when I asked him. It will take out all the shine and new look of the alumimun and leave a dull oxidized look but I don't need a pretty tool, just a tool. Most of the black anodizing on the inside bottom is also gone but as far as usage I have been doing this for almost 2 years and the vector grid still does what it's supposed to do. Hope this helps, Jeff.

[Rodne Gold]

We used oven cleaner and destroyed a 1m x 500 cutting table with it - DO NOT USE IT!!!!!!!! Perhaps your oven cleaner used was not as violent as ours but I would NOT recommend this way - as I said in my initial post.

[Jeff DeVore]

We used oven cleaner and destroyed a 1m x 500 cutting table with it - DO NOT USE IT!!!!!!!! Perhaps your oven cleaner used was not as violent as ours but I would NOT recommend this way - as I said in my initial post.

Well I don't know if the oven cleaner is more robust oversees or the Epilog vector grid is more robust than the Explorers but as I said that's what the distributor recommended. I have probably used over 100 cans on the grid so far and I don't see anthing ruined but the finish. If it ruins it after 1000 cans then so be it I'll buy another grid. Jeff.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

If you have any friends or family members who pull a wrench for a living, see if they have a steam cleaner at their Shop and give that a try.

I have an older "home" steamer, that while strong enough to do household stuff, it's not strong enough to clean gunk off an engine. This cleaned my heavily stained grid (with woods & other gook) about 50%.

The only concern is if their Shop steamer has too much power and could damage the grid.

Another thought. I haven't used this stuff in eons, but maybe a spray-on engine degreaser would work. Spray it on, let it foam, then wash it off.

Michel

[Robert Stremcha]

Go to your local Home Depot and buy a product called Krud Kutter. It is biodegradeable, gentle to the hands, and it will dissolve EVERY BIT of gunk on your cutting table without damaging the finish. Mine was caked almost full of stuff. I tried oven cleaner, acetone and every type of solvent I could find with no success. I bought a shallow plastic pan (used under a washing machine to protect the floor), poured the gallon of Krud Kutter in, flipped my vector table upside down and let it soak overnight. The next day, a garden hose cleaned it like new.:cool:

[J Porter]

A Great Big THANKS goes to Robert Stremcha.... Krud Kutter is GREAT stuff.
I don't have a Home Depot close by, but a quick Google told me that Ace Hardware carries it too. I got a 32 oz spray bottle for $8 and started spraying. Ten minutes later told me the darned stuff works.
An 18x24 grid is a bit large to soak in the quantity of KK I bought so I just let it soak for a few hours with an occasional wetting. KK removed 90+% of the "crap" leaving only some areas of really black stuff.
I can imagine that if I clean this regularly as Robert does, it'll last a long time.

I haven't yet checked out the oven cleaner from Wally World, but I did notice that KK is recommended as an oven cleaner too. KK is not a corrosive cleaner but rather a blend of surfactants, detergents and emulsifiers with no solvents. It's water based. The label says it's biodegradeable and can be used on a wide variety of materials from grills and ovens to computer screens. I think I'll try it on the next engraving I smoke up.... :)

Thanks again Robert
~Joe

[Robert Stremcha]

You're welcome, and if you soak it as recommended in my post, the rest of that stuff will literally fall of in chunks. This is a great product, and I think it is probably cheaper by the gallon.:cool:

[Jerry Allen]

I have a pin type cutting table that was getting pretty thick with char even though I clean it with alcohol and acetone periodically.
Today I cleaned it with Turtle Wax Bug and Tar (and Tree Sap) remover for cars. It worked great. I used about a half of the can on a 24x18 table and left it on for about 15 minutes. I used a toothbrush to rub it around a little. Then I rinsed it off with water which I was worried would cause the pins to rust, but did not. It took it back to the original black anodized surface without harming it.
You do not need to soak it in a pan.
I don't know how it would work on honeycomb but it worked great on my aluminum and roll pin table and with a lot less work than I imagined it would.