Over use, the laser bed gets a build up of sticky markings, can anyone recommend a good product and/or process to clean it?
For what I laser cut, 99% IPA cleans the surface funk quite easily. Just a spray and wipe, for the channels maybe a straw brush would work.
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Ah great to know!
I was a little worried about using an alcohol based thing as I didn’t want the bed to become excessively flammable, but if it’s fine once dried that’s good to know. Thanks!
For science, I think I’m going to do a flammability test. Once dried it should be fine, but I don’t think the laser should ignite the alcohol on its own either, especially with the ‘air assist’ it has. Any flames should be extinguished immediately, if not faster evaporation because of the airflow.
EDIT: Confirm, no flame. I even sprayed IPA directly in the laser path while it traveled. Since IPA is a clear liquid, the beam should pass through imparting no energy, and the black aluminum bed shouldn’t get hot enough to ignite it.
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Have my 3 laser panels clipped together with 3d printed parts, and then glued with a magnet sheet that had a pre-applied adhesive film.
I take the whole thing off and wash it in the kitchen sink with dish soap and a scrub brush, rinse good with hot water, and be sure to let it air dry well. I’m sure it’s wicking a little moisture into that adhesive layer (I’ve squeezed around the edges, and can see it continuing to seep a tiny bit for a while) but so far hasn’t fallen apart yet.
Isopropyl also has worked for me with the yick from cutting wood, but only so much I want to soak it trying to get down into the grooves. (Not worried about the flammability problem, it evaps, just don’t want to go crazy and have it getting onto/into the heated bed that I also leave in place below all this.)
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Ah thanks for doing the test, great to hear! I think IPA is the way to go for me, pretty sure I have some knocking about already.
Thanks again!
A metallic brush would help here, but as a quick solution, this small Offcuts Cleaning Comb plus vacuum cleaner is pretty helpful between the projects as well. While reviewing the 10W laser module, I quickly drew this little thingie in GIMP. Here is my file on Gumroad.
Tried everything with no sucess then looked at domestic cleaners the bingo. remove the plates to a safe area , wear gloves and a mask and spray them witn Sillit Bang limescale & shine, leave for 3 minures then use a brush to rub it between the slots, rince with water and dry. Put the fixing screws in a small drink measure glass and spray Cillit into the glass ,leave overnight. Beware Cillit is a very corrosive liquid nont forget the gloves and the mask. Eugene Ireland
I use Goo Gone BBQ cleaner. Just spray, wait, and rinse.
Does anyone know what the bed is coated in? I was gonna use Ethanol to clean the bed, planning to soak the bed-pieces in it maybe overnight then scrub them. I just don’t want to ruin the coating even tho I’m not even sure if its anything special or just standard black paint
For anyone interested I went through with this and it was/is no joke … The goo that came off of these 
… I took each bed plate, ripped up a kitchen paper towel, sprinkled it on top where the open grooves are, then wrapped the whole plate in two or so paper towels, then wrapped the whole plate in tinfoil and drenched the paper towels in ethanol - same for the screws they got their own little package. I let this soak in on my balcony in the sun, then over night and unwrapped them today, the paper towels looked a bit stained on first sight so I thought - good this worked - then I liftet one of the plates up and tilted it, I was about to take it inside when I saw that it had dripped a thick black drop of goo onto the paper towel I took it out of, so I took them all, propped them up at an angle. When they were mostly done dripping I took them to the sink and rinsed them, the smell of that was overwhelming, should have probably worn a mask for that… but I also only learned that gloves are absolutely necessary after I toughed the initial goo once and my hand immediately smelled like a smokers lung (probably - never smelled one but … )
I scrubbed them with an old toothbrush and more and more brown stuff came off, they are currently soaking in hot water and dish soap in the sink… I hope after this they are done and looks good, some of them looked a bit rusty on first inspection now but that might still be residue from the burned goo. The screw came out perfect - I took them out of the tinfoil rinsed them and they look brand new completely spotless!
Just like tobacco tar, sodium sesquicarbonate can be used for cleaning.
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