A newbie question, maybe

[David Brasfield]

Can regular clear packing tape be used as a mask over wood? I have no idea what it is made out of, but PVC seems unlikely.

In this case, the goal is simply to protect odd shaped pieces of wood from smoke.

Thanks,
David

[Barb Macdonald]

But my supplier says it's made of Polyester, so it should be fine that way. I use sign-maker's pre-mask, but maybe your way is cheaper? It may be a pain to remove, would be my (completely unlearned) comment. Pre-Mask, or transfer tape always removes nicely.

hth

gotta go, yet another nasty storm coming, and I always unplug everything....

have a great day:)

Barb

[David Brasfield]

But my supplier says it's made of Polyester, so it should be fine that way. I use sign-maker's pre-mask, but maybe your way is cheaper? It may be a pain to remove, would be my (completely unlearned) comment. Pre-Mask, or transfer tape always removes nicely.

hth

gotta go, yet another nasty storm coming, and I always unplug everything....

have a great day:)

Barb

Hi, Barb!

Thanks for the reply and the info. I don't know about cheaper, but at 3" X 150 yards @$0.90 a roll, it seems a good choice for smaller items. It is also probably the equivalent of medium tack transfer tape, since it is suggested for use on boxes weighing less than 40 pounds.

Beware of the storms!

We lost 30 feet of our home and a lot of additional damage when an F4 ransacked our property back in December of 2000. It killed 11 people.

David

[Skip Weiser]

Can regular clear packing tape be used as a mask over wood? I have no idea what it is made out of, but PVC seems unlikely.

In this case, the goal is simply to protect odd shaped pieces of wood from smoke.

Thanks,
David

I usually use the blue 2" wide med tack painters mask tape, but a couple of times I've been out of it and I've used the clear packing tape. My brother showed me a trick for when you have to use that. Stick it to your pant leg once or twice first. The lint on the cloth cuts down the holding power of the adhesive. Works like a charm.

Skip

[Sandra Force]

Another choice is masking tape, cheap, easy to get the width you need and can be gotten at any blog.

[Bruce Volden]

Gotta go with Skip on the painters tape (good advice about the pant leg thing too!). This blue tape is also the BEST for "pre-engraving" ie; you only have one shot at things (gunstocks??)

Bruce

[Kim Vellore]

If there is something like the yellow postaid sticky pad but with glue all over instead of only the top it would be perfect.

Kim

[Paul Brinkmeyer]

My brother showed me a trick for when you have to use that. Stick it to your pant leg once or twice first. The lint on the cloth cuts down the holding power of the adhesive. Works like a charm.

Skip

Wouldn't you know it...I have always used my shirt, because it was closer to my work, but I will try the leg thing to see if it works better.

(Can you tell the day is about over??)

[Skip Weiser]

Wouldn't you know it...I have always used my shirt, because it was closer to my work, but I will try the leg thing to see if it works better.

(Can you tell the day is about over??)

If you have dry skin, your forehead also works. Makes it as smooth as a babies backside.... lol

[David Brasfield]

Well, I tried it tonight, and It basically melted away from the edges. I was cutting some thick material, but I didn't get good results with it.

I did get excellent results from the blue painters tape.

I am doing a lot of 24 x 30 sheets, is there an inexpensive source for transfer tape 24 inches wide that works as well as the painters tape?

Thanks!

David

[Scott Shepherd]

www.fellers.com or any sign supply company that's close to your house. Probably best to find one locally if you can, as one roll won't meet the minimum for free shipping.

[Dan Hintz]

If you have dry skin, your forehead also works. Makes it as smooth as a babies backside.... lol

If you have oily skin, duct tape works well to remove blackheads and the like :p

[Larry Bratton]

I'll post this again at the risk of being redundant.

I get a product from Piedmont Plastics Corp. called P-flex. It is a very thin (2mm) I think, polyester film. It has adhesive on the back and is clear in color. They will cut it into sheets for you. I buy it to fit my laser table size, 24x36. It is about $2.50 a sheet. It makes a great mask for anything you want to use it for. I sell a ID plate for apartment unit doors. I make them from 1/4" mdf core melamine. I have a template made on my cnc router that takes 24 ea. 6"x4" plates. I cover the whole thing with P-flex and engrave the numbers etc. Then when finished, I remove the template and paint fill the engraving. When dry, I pull off the remaining P-flex mask and I have 24 finished plates. It also makes a good mask to keep residue off wood. I engraved some raw basswood plaques the other day and masked them with it and it worked perfectly. http://www.piedmontplastics.com/

[Gail LaPorte]

:mad: Do not laser over the making tape it makes a mess out of your letters and is hard to get out after (It leaves a very ridged mess)Been there done that.

[Bill Cunningham]

You can also find a local signmaker and ask them if they have any roll 'end' of transfer tape.. My next door neighbor does cut vinyl, and wide format sign printing, and she brings me all her roll ends.. Theres lots on there for me, but not enough for her, and it saves her from throwing them out.. She also saves me decent sized coraplast (sp?) pieces that are great for quick templates, and packing engraved signage.. Some good sized pieces of White,Black, and Red Acrylic also end up in my yard.. Junk to them, gold to me!!

Lately They are using quite a bit of a outdoor sign material, that has a thin aluminum white 'enamel'? coated face on both sides. One side smooth the other side is mat.. It etches, but I don't know what I can use it for yet.. I'll find something.. They just toss the scrap pieces (some are quite large) in the dump, because there is not enough aluminum in it to salvage ..

[martin g. boekers]

I have a hard time seeing the burn on tape sometimes so I keep a stash of bad plastic, mat board etc. Then I position the file somewhere in the center of the layout page. After you do this there are a couple ways to go. You can rough draw a vector outline around the layout piece then do a vector low power burn to the mat board. This will be used to position your item on. Then go back to set raster settings and do your burn. If you have some unusually "tight" acrylics you can do the raster burn to the mat board and the looking through the piece you can see where to position it. This method especially works for quantities as the acrylics aren't always as exact as we would like them.


Marty

[John Noell]

...is there an inexpensive source for transfer tape 24 inches wide...
I too am looking for wide tape to use for masking during cutting and rastering to reduce clean-up and would appreciate specific recommendations. (I found too many versions when searching and know too little to pick among them.) Thanks!