Zalr04b

Have you changed the way you manufacture the ZALR04B Love frame? The soot from the engraving appears to be much darker and denser than on past units. When we go to clean it, it is very difficult to get rid of the soot without leaving a brown tinge. We have also tried the Mr. Clean eraser pads with limited success. One of the problems seems to be that when you use a cloth in water and engrave in the calligraphy fonts (Scriptina or Beautiful ES), the dampness of the cloth lifts the paper from the product.

Thanks in advance

There are a few notes to be aware of for cleaning light colored products that have dark engraving on them:

• Be sure the cloth is damp, not wet
• Clean in small sections, with short strokes, using a clean portion of the cloth - once that section of cloth is too dirty it serves to just move/push/smear the residue around
• Wipe from the outside edges of a line of text or an artwork element towards the middle, wiping any residue onto the engraved area rather than out to the unengraved area

Some items may have more residue than others, but all items are capable of being properly cleaned.

Tim G

I've been using this piece for a long time and have NEVER had the problems cleaning it that I have now. As EllysGifts noted, the soot is much heavier than before and using a very lightly spritzed towel does not remove the soot, it smudges it. I used a white pencil eraser to get it off, but it took much more work than I've ever had with this piece. Something has changed, either the manufacture of the blank, or the settings on the machine have changed. It's a bit of a pain. <g>

ZALR04 is one of our best selling pieces and as the other stores have mentioned, this piece has been cleaning up very poorly in the last few months. The sample we have lasered clearly has a different finish on it than the new pieces coming in. The new blanks seem to have a coating similar to the old desk mottos. And this finish collects the dust in a way that makes it impossible to remove. drooker said what we've all been feeling- it sure is a pain! Please bring back the old finish!!!!!

What is the easiest way to reduce the amount of soot? I think that if I engrave it less deep, there will be less soot. So, do I speed uo the laser, lower the power, or both?

Has any one figured out the settings to reduce the soot? Or, how to clean it. Nothing we have tried has worked. There is always a "soot shadow" around the lettering.