Cleaning lots of Rowmark.

[Joe Hillmann]

I did my first large order of rowmark tags yesterday. (About 400 1"x3" tags) The problem or issue I ran into is quite a few of them needed to be scrubbed to remove the smoke. Normally I just scrub all the rowmark I work with with a Mr. clean magic eraser then wipe them dry but I have never done this many at one time before. It took several hours to clean and dry all the tags and I expect this same job to come up at least 4 more times in the near future. Has anyone come up with an easier way to wash and dry that many tags? I am charging enough that it doesn't really matter that I need to spend the extra time but I just don't enjoy doing it.

On a side note I found that even though the rowmark laid nice and flat when I was cutting it into tags the heat would cause it to expand and bubble causing the beam to be out of focus and some of the edges not to be acceptable. The next batch that I did I put on my new vacuum table and added a relief cut down the center before I started cutting the strips for the tags and everything stayed nice and flat.

[Martin Boekers]

What colors are you useing?

I find on some that (while in the engraver) that I squeegee down some masking pretty good on it
and that takes much of it away.

This really helps with the colors that bleed into the engraved white are from the plastic dust.

[Scott Shepherd]

Most all of those type things, we engrave, pull the material out, apply transfer tape to the face, put back in and vector cut. The end result is something ready for the customer for the most part. If you leave the tape on, it's a "protective" layer that they can peel off when installing, or if they want it off, we can peel them. We talk about the finished, masked plates as a "premium" level of service You'd be surprised how many people like that idea.

Either way, it means you don't have to really clean anything on the face. You can clean the entire face prior to putting the tape on, but for the most part, the transfer tape pulls off the residue when it's removed.

[Gary Hair]

For that many pieces I would raster and clean them then apply transfer tape and vector. This should eliminate any cleanup after vectoring and it also helps to protect the face of the tag for packaging.

Gary

edit: I should have read Scott's post, it's exactly what I wrote...

[Scott Shepherd]

edit: I should have read Scott's post, it's exactly what I wrote...

Don't worry, no one listens to me anyway

[Joe Hillmann]

It looks like I was working backwards. I was vector cutting them, then removing the masking, then rastor engraving them then washing and drying. I was handling every piece three or four times. With your method it sounds like the only time you handle individual tags is to take them out of the laser to pack them up.

Thanks for the ideas, they should save me hours of work and allow me to deliver a better product since the masking should prevent any scratches.

[Joe Hillmann]

Now another question, any suggestions for transfer tape to use? I've never worked with it before so I don't have a clue what I should be looking for in all of the choices that are available.

[Rodne Gold]

We clean it after laser engraving and cutting with benzene , just be careful , its highly flammable and is a carcinogenic with prolonged use , we use gloves and use it in a very well ventilated place .
You need to leave wider gaps between items to stop heat warpage when cutting, at least 1/8" or a bit bigger. alternatively you can share cuts to minimise wasteage . IE make L cuts and then just complete the edges
________
LLLLLLLLL|
LLLLLLLLL|
LLLLLLLLL|

[Tony Lenkic]

Most of my tags I do pre-cutting them on rotary engraver with bevel cutter then place in laser to raster.
If straight edge cut is required than I do as Scott and Gary, first engrave than apply low to medium tack application tape to vector cut. I also leave app. tape for customer to remove during installation.

[Scott Shepherd]

Now another question, any suggestions for transfer tape to use? I've never worked with it before so I don't have a clue what I should be looking for in all of the choices that are available.

It's called "Transfer" or "Application" tape. R-Tape is one company that makes it. It's available at any sign supply company. Search for R-Tape and you'll find it. It comes in various types, you want the paper type, and you'd probably want medium tack. They make low, medium, and high tack. Medium works fine. Get some squeegees too. We have 14" wide rolls, with a large 18" "squeegee" and we just put the material on the table, push the tape over it with the squeegee and then trim it. Takes about 1-2 minutes to do the entire process.

Signwarehouse and Fellers are a couple of places to look for the tape. Not knowing your location, I can't be more specific for one in your area.

[Joe Hillmann]

How long can the transfer tape be left on before it becomes difficult to remove? I know with masking tape if you leave it on more than a few days it becomes stuck. Is there a similar risk with transfer tape?

[Tim Bateson]

To prevent warping and smoke on the back, cut only 75-90% through. They snap/fall apart and the back is clean.

[Mike Null]

My business is made up of cutting such tags and name tags. I engrave first then cut. When necessary (any white combination) I use the Mr. Clean eraser. Making these is like minting money so a little cleaning time is just part of the job.

BUT---Rowmark just introduced a new material at the ARA show called Ultra Grav--which is supposed to minimize this problem. You can get it at Johnson Plastics and JDS Industries. http://www.rowmark.com/

Also http://www.ultra-grave.com/

[Scott Shepherd]

How long can the transfer tape be left on before it becomes difficult to remove? I know with masking tape if you leave it on more than a few days it becomes stuck. Is there a similar risk with transfer tape?

Not an issue. It's a light tack tape. You're more at risk of it falling off than it never coming off. It's sticky like a post-it note, not like masking tape.

[Tim Bateson]

I use the Light/Medium tack, but also a lot of blue painter's tape. Its cheap & has a lot of different uses.