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Rob Sandall
08-15-2008, 11:50 AM
Hey folks! I just used an allen wrench to push crud out of the honeycomb in my vector table. It fit so nice into the hex shape - and did a pretty good job! I felt really clever so thought I'd share. I'm sure I'm not the first to try this, but what the heck.;)

Mike Null
08-15-2008, 2:13 PM
Try Krud Kutter undiluted then spray with water.

Charlie Bice
08-16-2008, 4:09 PM
Depends on what you're cutting. We cut mostly wood, and a lot of it. About once a week I take the vector grid out and wash it.

Spray it good with a cleaner, like Simple Green, Krud Kutter, or any other you choose.

Then clean it with a pressure washer.

charlie

Rob Sandall
08-19-2008, 3:05 PM
I'll get me some Krud Kutter and give it a whirl.....

Jim Good
08-19-2008, 5:51 PM
Be careful with the pressure washer! I know that some people have reported that they beat the crap out of their honeycomb doing it this way. :eek:

Jim

Charlie Bice
08-19-2008, 5:56 PM
Yes, I do use the 'std' nozzle and not the 'super' nozzle.

The 'std' nozzle will not cut through my skin. The 'super' one will cut through pine :eek:

It is still the only thing that works for us. But then we cut through a couple of trees worth of wood every week too. :D

charlie

Sandra Force
08-20-2008, 6:05 PM
Brake Clean also works great if you have a heavy build up on the grid, even if the buildup is plastic. Spray on let set for 20 minutes and rinse off. Only use on the metal grids. Gets ugly with the acrylic and paper honeycomb.:D

Craig Hogarth
08-20-2008, 11:05 PM
anyone ever try oven cleaner? I've been tempted to try it since it eats pretty much anything, but haven't yet.

Jeff DeVore
08-22-2008, 10:52 AM
Oven cleaner will also slowly "eat" aluminum. After about 30 applications of it the grid will get brittle and start to break easily (don't ask me how I know this). Soaked over nite Krud Kutter will take off almost all of the residue from burned on oak. I also found that just spraying 409 on and letting it soak for a couple of hours and then rinsing off and repeating several times takes off 95 % of the residue.

Dan Hintz
08-22-2008, 12:22 PM
And as proof that oven cleaner is a bad thing to use on aluminum, take a large sheet of aluminum foil (cooking tin foil), spray one side with cleaner, then ball it up. Place ball in middle of parking lot and wait for the flames appear.

Jesse Anderson
07-03-2013, 12:16 AM
I have tried using engine cleaner to clean my grid... The honey comb is so brittle though that i cannot exactly get it looking 100% new.. One night i sat in a chair with a box of q tips and some Goo Off.. I put a Q tip into each hole.. Making sure it was sparkling clean... Not worth the effort... No matter what i use on my grid. I will forever have images of past projects silhouetted into my grid. Sure would be nice to be able to make the Vector grid look Mr Clean "Clean"... I usually just soak in some soapy water in a tub using the shower spray hose to spray it.. Then i will take my at compressor and blow off any water and moisture that is there... No matter how i clean my grid i always get a slight brown oxidation.. But that is probably expected.. Would be nice to be able to have a shiny grid every morning...Having some Shiny honey comb and a clean laser is like waking up in the morning on Christmas and smelling the coffee..'"Chuckles"...

Thank you for all the tips guys..... Oven Cleaner No...Bug and Tar Remover Yes... And soaking over night in fluorosulfuric acid is a no no... Might wake up and not have a vector grid or any limbs...

Bruce Dorworth
07-05-2013, 1:00 AM
Go to Home Depot and but some Krud Kutter. Spray it on and the stuff just starts to melt. Then you just need to hose it off.

Bruce

Angela Smith
08-06-2016, 4:55 PM
Undiluted Krud Kutter seems to work best. I read the threads above and tried Simple Green but Krud Kutter has had best results. I have a 32" x 18" grid and I bought a dog kennel tray to soak it in. Every two weeks or so, I take it out and spray Krud Kutter directly on the grid, turn it over and repeat. Then I rinse with hot water to get a decent amount off. Then I create a diluted mixture in tray and soak it about 15 minute each side. Rinse again. Spray Krud Kutter again on any brown residue remaining and rinse again. Too much time between cleaning means more time cleaning. I did buy a second grid so I can swap them out and clean on my schedule.

Michele Welch
08-06-2016, 10:35 PM
My honeycomb table was absolutely the worst after several months of cutting trees and trees of wood, I sprayed Krud Kutter on it, undiluted, and before I got to the 2nd "row" it was already running off and I could see the "like new" coming back through. A bonus is that it's earth friendly, so I can do it outside and just spray it off and it won't harm the grass or plants. Works like a dream, won't use anything else.

David Somers
08-07-2016, 2:34 AM
I have had good luck with LA's Totally Awesome (as seen on TV!!! <grin>) Dirt cheap at a dollar general store, and pretty low toxicity if the MSDS is to be believed. Worked very well on my steel comb. I sprayed it on, let it sit a bit, then hit it with a light power wash. Have also had great luck with Krud Cutter, but it is a bit harsher.

Kev Williams
08-08-2016, 10:38 AM
Krud Kutter and Naval Jelly are both phosphoric acid based, not sure which is cheaper, and I'm not sure what Krud Kutter looks like. But I do have Navel Jelly in the house, and it actually being 'jelly', it should 'hang on' to the honeycomb nicely, giving it time to work.

Curious if anyone's tried oxalic acid? Most boat-hull cleaners contain some oxalic acid, Bar Keepers Friend is about 10% OA and we use it for everything. You can buy it in pure powder form and mix it with water how you want.

FWIW, oven cleaner's main ingredient is lye, and according to the MSDS, 'Totally Awesome' cleaner also contains some lye...

Mike Null
08-08-2016, 11:10 AM
Kevin
Oven cleaner will rapidly attack aluminum. I've used krud Kutter with good success.

Since Rustoleum has acquired Krud Kutter they've added several products under that name. I don't believe the original krud kutter is acid based but I couldn't locate a good msds so it may be but I use it diluted with water as my general purpose cleaner and it works well.

John Bickford
08-13-2016, 1:16 PM
I used Zep Purple Industrial from Lowes 1 to 3 with water in a large Sterilite tub. 30 min and it came out shiny and clean.

Kev Williams
08-13-2016, 2:10 PM
Zep Purple Power is a Castrol SuperClean clone, both of these work via Sodium Hydroxide, aka Lye. Just like oven cleaner, but likely not as strong but I've found that oven cleaner attacks aluminum only slightly faster than straight purple. At least with the purple you can dilute it down with water...

Keith Winter
08-13-2016, 5:39 PM
Zep Purple Power is a Castrol SuperClean clone, both of these work via Sodium Hydroxide, aka Lye. Just like oven cleaner, but likely not as strong but I've found that oven cleaner attacks aluminum only slightly faster than straight purple. At least with the purple you can dilute it down with water...

Are you sure its bad for grids Kev? Zep purple is the recommended cleaner straight from epilog. Here is their article on cleaning cutting grids http://support.epiloglaser.com/article/8205/11941/cleaning-vector-cutting-grid

Never tried it myself but I've read a number of posts by people who swear by it.

Bert Kemp
08-13-2016, 7:23 PM
I've been using superclean for years from wally world. Cleans easy pezee spray on rinse off with garden hose. Let dry back to work. Honey comb hasn't fell apart yet. Not to bad price wise either like 9 10 bucks a gallon.

Doug Griffith
08-13-2016, 7:41 PM
Why even worry about cleaning the grid? I keep my laser darn pretty clean but have never even bothered to clean the grid. About all I do is vector cut MDF, acrylic, and acetal and the cut quality hasn't changed. Sure, it may look prettier but that doesn't pay the bills.

Bert Kemp
08-13-2016, 10:09 PM
well for one thing eventually the holes will get plugged from all the soot, but the main thing is its a FIRE!! hazzard to have all that built up crud in the holes. It will catch fire sooner or later.:rolleyes:

Doug Griffith
08-13-2016, 10:20 PM
well for one thing eventually the holes will get plugged from all the soot, but the main thing is its a FIRE!! hazzard to have all that built up crud in the holes. It will catch fire sooner or later.:rolleyes:

Amazingly, I don't have that much build up after 12+ years. It's ugly but that's about it. Could be that I very rarely engrave which seems to produce more soot.

Kev Williams
08-13-2016, 11:01 PM
Are you sure its bad for grids Kev? .
I never said any of it was bad, I'm just listing the ingredients of what everyone says they're using! I love Purple Power AND oven cleaner, but they can attack aluminum, as do most acids to some degree. However, it depends on the acid, AND the aluminum. Such as, reasonably strong muriatic acid will etch 6061 aluminum, but has almost no effect at all on 5052 aluminum... I know this from burning up a couple of boat props with muriatic acid, yet when cleaning aluminum pontoons with it, it does literally nothing to the aluminum. The boat prop fiasco was a chemistry lesson learned the hard way. I put 2 props in a 5 gallon bucket, added 2 quarts of 'The Works' toilet bowl cleaner (20% acid) and about 2 gallons of water for about a 4:1 ratio. I figured that that was lean enough, and would clean the calcium off the props in a few minutes. Only I got doing something else and forgot- about 20 minutes later I noticed the bucket and remembered. I Didn't give it much thought till I looked into the bucket and saw the mix was in full rolling boil and the bucket was just about hot enough to melt!
Before and after pics of the one of the props...

342279342280

Realistically, all purple power, or pretty much any of these chemicals will do to the grids themselves is lightly etch them.
Just pay attention to what's going on-- my props are evidence of what can happen if you start soaking stuff in something nasty and forget about it! :)

Glen Monaghan
08-13-2016, 11:45 PM
The Epilog source you reference says to dilute 1:4 with water and then to soak no longer than 10 minutes because the solution can damage the grid... I'd say that's bad for the grid :^)

Keith Winter
08-16-2016, 9:19 PM
Just did a cutting grid cleaning following the Epilog directions. Only difference is the solution was diluted to about 1:10, slightly longer soak. Worked pretty well dunk wait, spray with power washer, dunk again, wait, spray off a second time. Got the majority of the gunk off.

A couple things I found out, the solution is very nasty after dunking your grid in it, and when you pull it out it makes little drips everywhere that are hard to clean. Best to do in a hidden location as it will stain your concrete. Secondly, we will do a stronger solution next 1:10 was actually a mistake, should have done a stronger mix.