Owner's Manual for EPILOG Legend Model 6000
December, 2000
58
Section 10 – Engraving Techniques
WOOD CLEANING TECHNIQUES
When laser engraving or cutting wood, resin in the wood comes to the surface, mixes with the smoke and is
deposited as a residue. If the wood has a coating of polyurethane or lacquer the coating protects the surface of
the wood from the resin/smoke damage. You can remove the resin from coated materials with a wet chamois
or a sponge with a web cover. Some people like to use 409, Windex or other mild cleaning product, but water
works well and is usually the most readily available wetting agent. The chamois that Epilog recommends has
a sponge in the middle of it, and is available in the automotive car wash section of any Wal-Mart or K-Mart.
If the wood is not coated with polyurethane, the resin and smoke will stain the surface and you will need to
sand the surface to remove the resin.
Never use a paper towel to clean the wood surface. The paper towel will shred and it is impossible to get the
shredded fibers out of the engraved recesses of the wood. Most wood products that are designed for laser
engraving will have a polyurethane coating so that they are very easy to clean.
WOOD COLOR FILLING TECHNIQUES
Color filling engraved areas of wood adds either greater contrast or a splash of color to your wood
presentation. Normally, color filling is not required for lighter colored wood materials such as maple or
cherry, but walnut can often benefit from adding a black color fill to provide more contrast. You will need to
take some precautions when color filling wood, because if you are not careful, the liquid color fill material
will absorb into the grain of the wood on the surface of the plaque where it is not wanted.
The best way to add a black color fill is shown below:
1)
Apply a thin coat of Johnson’s Paste Wax to the surface of the wood before you engrave it.
2)
Engrave through the paste wax into the wood. Do not wipe off excess paste or residue after
engraving.
3)
Fill the engraved voids with Turtlewax “Color Magic” black liquid car polish. The car polish will
absorb into the engraved wood grain, but will not absorb into the wood grain that is covered with
paste wax.
4)
Wrap a paper towel around a block of material that has a flat surface. Rub the flat surfaced paper
towel over the surface of the wood to clean off the excess car polish and paste wax. The flat surface
prevents the paper towel from getting into the engraved recesses.
You can follow the procedure above to add different colors to wood, but instead of car polish, use water based
acrylic paint (the kind in the tubes works great!)
