Soft Scrub for burn marks

[Randy Digby]

Like the rest of you, I have to deal with burn/smoke marks when engraving/cutting laminated plastic. I use a mild coat of dishwashing detergent on all of my plastics and have no problem with red, green, blue, black (no brainer), orange or grey. I have eliminated 95% of my problems with yellow and white by putting down the soap covering immediately prior to engraving. Every now and then I still get the old smear/burn marks near the edges. I have used soap and water, spray cleaner, etc. and they work...with lots of elbow grease. recently I started putting a dab of Soft Scrub on my finger and rubbing the tags. The burn marks come off with little effort. I know there are probably chemicals that work as well, but the Soft Scrub is easy to clean up and if the phone rings while I'm cleaning parts, no harm is done by leaving them covered with the solution.

Now, I only engrave matte material so I don't know what the Soft Scrub will do to mirror or other finishes.

[Chuck Stone]

It's an abrasive, so I'm pretty sure that whatever you use it on will be matte.
(no matter what it was when you started)

[Randy Digby]

I am aware that it is an abrasive. I was just offering a process that might help someone.

[Roy Nicholson]

All info helps.


Regards


Roy N.

[Chuck Stone]

I am aware that it is an abrasive. I was just offering a process that might help someone.

Ah .. sorry if that came across as argumentative in some way.. that wasn't
my intention. You just mentioned that you didn't know what it might do to
other materials, so I put in my $.02 since I've used it as an abrasive on the
lathe. (most of my sanding materials were packed up for moving)

[Dan Hintz]

Chuck,

As a point of reference, I've found toothpaste to be a better abrasive than Soft Scrub in most cases... it's a finer (and more uniform) grit and doesn't foam as much when you wet it to thin it out. You can pick up tubes of the stuff for <<$1 at flea markets, just look for the Chinese knock-offs (though I wouldn't suggest actually using it as a dentifrice, too many recalls from chemical contamination).

[Chuck Stone]

Dan.. yes, I've used toothpaste, too. Depends on what 'grade' you need
at the moment. at one point I was going to make up a chart of the grades
or grits of common products that are abrasive (Brasso, Soft Scrub and
such) but getting that info out of the manufacturers isn't easy.

I've used all sorts of things in a sanding/polishing regimen and it's nice
to know that when you run out of your favorite, you might have a suitable
substitute on hand that you weren't aware of.

[Dan Hintz]

I wouldn't mind seeing such a chart, but I imagine you'll have to create the data points yourself.

[Chuck Stone]

I've got notes here somewhere .. let me go through them and pull something
together. It certainly wasn't conclusive, just products that I had around
here for woodworking.

[Dee Gearhart]

Hello, I am new here, but reading this I will give my input if it helps or offers another choice of solution. My husband is a woodworker and has a scotch brite pad that is red, really fine not like the green ones in stores. I use these, they work well on almost everything, wood, glass, plastic, (of course not the metallics unless you stay with the grain, and not gloss although if you work very very lightly, maybe), You don't use much pressure and they work great. Just another idea in the mix.