Rodney, you are a mind of information
Regarding the honeycomb, I've never really had any issues as with wood you can sand any slight marks off, acrylic you just leave the film on. Even without the film on I can't say I've had much of an issue apart from on clear acrylic with a rather damaged honeycomb grid.
Raising the part is obviously an option but for a lot of the kind of things I'll be cutting, I've found it doesn't work too well - if your cutting small detailed parts or thin parts they can sag in places and mess up the cutting (and etching if you're doing it all in one job).
Small parts is the reason why I went for 3.2mm cell honeycomb when most machines have 8mm or larger.
TLHarrell, I would have thought that thin wire would work but only on a smaller grid and it might be tricky to get the required tension on it. It would 't really work for heavier objects either but should be ideal for sheet materials.
I'll be interested in how that works out if you do go that way.