Coating melamine before laser engraving for easy residue removal

[Roger Lueck]

Searching for a coating (paste wax, etc.) that can be applied to melamine coated mdf before laser engraving that makes residue removal fast and easy by simply wiping the melamine surface with DNA or?

I currently use DNA and sometimes lacquer thinner (for really tough spots) but the residue can be difficult to remove.

Thank You,
Roger

[Kev Williams]

try either one of these-
484441
Both are pretty much the same, used both over the years, been using the Novus for quite awhile as my old man bought a gallon of the stuff years ago!

I'm in the middle of lasering 350 red/white Duets 4x6" solar electric placards in the GCC, and without this stuff the plates come out of the laser with a haze of red soot on the surface, which can turn the lettering pink if you're not careful how to wash it off-- Wiping the plates down with the Novus before engraving, the plates come out of the laser with almost zero soot at all.

Note that how much soot gloms onto the substrate is relative to how your blower removes the smoke. My Gravograph lasers pull the smoke across the plate towards the back of the machine, very effective smoke removal but also effective at pulling the soot right across the engraving making it hard to clean up. Same applies to engraving woods-- A way to help with this is to use a blast gate on the exhaust line to the blower, to throttle-down the suction; smoke that's allowed to float around a bit above what you're engraving really helps keep the soot/goo issue down. Making the surface slick before engraving helps even more :)

If you have some Pledge or other basic kitchen wax around, try that, it works pretty good too, just be sure to wipe the excess off as much as possible, as it's much thicker than plastic polish, and just the extra thickness can 'grab' smoke and soot...


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[Roger Lueck]

Kevin,

Thank you, I will give them a test run this afternoon.

Roger