Sanding the laser char

[BikerMart]

I am curious. Way back when I was interested in producing photo-etched kits for '0' gauge locomotives, I recall that, in the drawings, one had to add an extra few thou to allow for the 'meniscus?' left by the etching process to be filed off.

Does the same hold for the laser-cut wooden pieces in model ships? Is there any allowance made - does there even need to be - for the 'char' to be sanded off and still leave a piece that fits correctly?

 

[Chuck]

Yes ...any good laser operator/kit designer knows that you should make allowances for the kerf of the laser as well as the removal of laser char.  Too bad though that many do not or havent figured out how.   For parts that are to be shown finished you should always remove the char.  Nothing shows a lack of patience more than not removing the char from finished pieces.

 

You dont want your model to look like a kit when its done if the design is good enough to not to make that apparent.  In most instances however it will fall short that without some level of kit-bashing.  

 

Use the edge of a blade to scrape the bad char as much as possible and then some fine sand paper to remove any remaining brown stuff.  

 

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