Something better than masking tape from HD?

[Scott Shepherd]

We use the tape, not the clear coat. Plastic razor blades make quick work of all those little bits.

[David Somers]

I do love this forum Scott! I have never heard of plastic razor blades before. Cool! Will grab some and play with them. Thanks!! As always!! <grin>

Dave

[Glen Monaghan]

Perhaps you could apply a high-tack tape over the top when done, and then peel it back to lift off all the little bits of the tape left over from engraving. Sort of like body waxing...

[Kev Williams]

Not to sound insensitive, but I wouldn't do anything except mask, engrave, and peel. You'll spend more time (and money) prepping for an easy peel that just peeling would take.

Peeling masking of laser engraved items comes with the job. Like Steve says, plastic razor blades work well...

[Ross Moshinsky]

When the job requires it, you do what you have to. Clear coat and transfer tape have their pros and cons. Transfer tape would be lower on my list because it would take 2x long to engrave.

My real suggestion is to be smarter with your material choice. Black acrylic for example may cost $5 more but would take less time to produce with essentially no cleanup after. There are benefits to higher material costs when it drops labor costs, even on fun freebies.

[Scott Shepherd]

Transfer tape would be lower on my list because it would take 2x long to engrave.

You lost me on that one Ross. What do you mean it takes 2x longer to engrave? I've never slowed our machines down to engrave taped pieces.

[Ross Moshinsky]

You lost me on that one Ross. What do you mean it takes 2x longer to engrave? I've never slowed our machines down to engrave taped pieces.

Well I engrave bare wood at 60 speed and wood with tape at 20 or 30 speed. Twice as long. One of the downsides of having 30W.

[Scott Shepherd]

Well I engrave bare wood at 60 speed and wood with tape at 20 or 30 speed. Twice as long. One of the downsides of having 30W.

Gotcha. No speed difference at 75W, just for reference.

[Mike Audleman]

Mike,

I think everyone is right suggesting a clear coat rather than tape, given your experience with all the little teeny bits of tape you have to remove. I will let them suggest the clear coat type they prefer. But I suspect something simple and low cost like a water based sanding sealer would do the trick. Lets see what folks have to offer?

But if you do need a masking tape, the folks at Rabbit have suggested the tape from Harbor Freight. It is a cheap tape, but apparently it works quite well for them as a mask when lasering. If you have a HF near you or can mail order some you might try it. This is quoted from their web site.
Masking tape is used during daily operations to protect the surface of the materials from residue. Example: Place a wide stripe of tape on a piece of wood and engrave your name thru the tape. The fumes/residue is blown down onto the tape.. not into the wood. Redmove the tape after the residue is dry. The wood is protected from discoloration. The best tape for laser application is found at Harbor Freight. The Harbor Freight product has much less glue to burn, less plastic in the "tape" to burn, more paper in the "tape" that burns easily for marking and cutting. My experience says the Harbor Freight tape works very well and is a fair price.


For the use you are describing here though I think a coating is your better bet. And as always, keep in mind you are being given free advice from the laserless one on the forum! <grin> (though I am actively working on that)

Dave

I have a HF only a couple miles from the house. I will stop by on the way home and get a roll or two. And I will report any difference between it and what I have been using from Home Depot.

Mike

I would sand then apply a clear coat. If I have it I use lacquer but spray on polyurethane will work. If you're going to use dna for cleaning don't use acrylic. If you want to use acrylic then use mineral spirits to clean.

Transfer tape is very handy to have around the shop, though not for this job. You can buy it from sign supply houses and I'm sure you have several in Milwaukee. Buy it by the log and have them cut a 12" roll, a 2" and a 6" and whatever else you want to make up the 54".

For transfer tape, which of these products?
www.nglantz.com/storefrontCommerce/breadcrumbSearch.do?breadcrumb_path=Product+Catego ries%2f%2f%2f%2fPaper%2c+Masking+and+Sandblast%2f% 2f%2f%2fMasking&elementsPerPage=50&displayThumbnai l=true&numResults=50&sort_type=ASC&sort_column=

I didnt want to use mineral spirits as it leaves an odd odor in wood thats hard to get out without coating with something. And as these are going in the hands of young adults and kids, I didn't want any chemicals or paints on them. Thats why I chose to try the tape route and only considered DNA as a solvent as it leaves no chemical residue to be concerned with.

We use the tape, not the clear coat. Plastic razor blades make quick work of all those little bits.

Plastic razor blades Oy! Ok, thats a new one. These? http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...ntifier=102953

Perhaps you could apply a high-tack tape over the top when done, and then peel it back to lift off all the little bits of the tape left over from engraving. Sort of like body waxing...

Cringe...body waxing. Being a guy, just the thought of that hurts! Anyway, this? http://www.uline.com/BL_6059/3M-3743-High-Tack-Tape
Think ULINE has a presence in Milwaukee. Don't know if they have a retail outlet here though. Have to call.

Barring that, what about a spray adhesive on a sheet of printer paper or butcher wrap? I can get all the printer scrap I want from work, we go through reams of paper a week here so ending up with some print discards is a free thing. For an adhesive, thinking something along the lines of...
http://www.homedepot.com/p/3M-Super-...ct_description
My thought was to spray the paper. Then stick the medallions to it and peel them off and hopefully leave the masking tape stuck to the paper.

That work you think?

Not to sound insensitive, but I wouldn't do anything except mask, engrave, and peel. You'll spend more time (and money) prepping for an easy peel that just peeling would take.

Peeling masking of laser engraved items comes with the job. Like Steve says, plastic razor blades work well...

You are not being insensitive and I appreciate the comment. I am new at this and this is the first time I have done any mass production work with the laser. Doing one off projects and peeling the tape off isn't a big deal. But sitting peeling off tape from 50 little engravings made me curious if I was doing the right thing in using tape at all or if there was a better tape to use. And if what I am using and the way I am doing it IS the best way, well, then I would like to know that too. I am trying to learn if there is a better and more efficient method of accomplishing the task at hand and I don't think you would deny thats a wise thing to do. Would you not wish to find a better or more economical (both in material and labor) method of completing a tedious task especially if you had to do it yourself or worse yet, were paying someone to do it if you were in business? I think you would. And thats what I am trying to do here. Learn a better way to do this, if indeed there is one. And in so doing, become more efficient at using my laser. And when someone else new comes along looking for a solution to their similar situation, perhaps they will find this thread useful to them as well and can learn from what has been presented here. And, I think that too is worth the effort in asking.

[Scott Shepherd]

Application tape like this :

https://www.fellers.com/fellers-shop...plication-tape

I didn't see it on Glantz's link you posted, but I'm sure they carry it. It's a low cost item, not an expensive paint mask type product. It's made for transferring cut vinyl lettering off the backing sheet onto whatever you're putting it on.

Plastic razor blades like this :

http://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Double.../dp/B004623NU2

If you never use either for wood, and decide to seal things from this point on, you'll still get plenty of usage from both items. We use them both, almost daily.

[Mike Audleman]

Gotcha. No speed difference at 75W, just for reference.

There is a slight difference in the depth of engraving with vs without tape with my 50w machine. For reference I did those key fobs' engraving at 500mm/s (max speed on my machine) at 40% power (20w). With tape and without, the depth was very slightly different. If you set them side by side, you could tell which was done with tape but you really had to look close. I think the small details looked better on the wood with the tape opposed to the one without. Maybe that was a factor of having to sand it to remove the discoloration (another reason am looking for a better way of dealing with this). I have noticed that tape takes up about 2-5% of the power, so without tape, I would run 500 @ 35% and with tape 500 @ 40%. But, thats my machine, my wood YMMV is what yall keep telling me

I was doing these at +500lpi as I wanted the detail on the fiddly bits. I suppose that was probably overkill too and slowed it all down more.

[Kev Williams]

Another suggestion I didn't think about at first: Just engrave the bare wood, and then wipe down with mineral spirits. Denatured Alcohol works too, but mineral spirits seems to cut the goo better. It'll get most or all of the goo off. If needed, then just lightly sand the surface afterwards. By far the fastest and easiest method, IF the spirits cleans off the goo to suit you.

I engrave logos on small wood boxes, this is how I do them. In fact, now that I think about it, I've never masked wood.

My BIL DEEP engraves cedar boxes, and has to mask them, the guck left behind is like half set epoxy...

[Mike Audleman]

Another suggestion I didn't think about at first: Just engrave the bare wood, and then wipe down with mineral spirits. Denatured Alcohol works too, but mineral spirits seems to cut the goo better. It'll get most or all of the goo off. If needed, then just lightly sand the surface afterwards. By far the fastest and easiest method, IF the spirits cleans off the goo to suit you.

I engrave logos on small wood boxes, this is how I do them. In fact, now that I think about it, I've never masked wood.

My BIL DEEP engraves cedar boxes, and has to mask them, the guck left behind is like half set epoxy...

Suppose cedar would do that. It is a high resin wood. One of the reasons its so good at repelling insects.

As I said, I was resisting use of mineral spirits due to the odor left behind and these were intended to be unfinished wood trinkets of the wood nickel nature. DNA is an option as it leaves no odor or chemical residue.

[Mike Null]

One, buy blank wooden nickels. Two, use a solution of a cleaner like Pinesol and water. That will lift all the residue.

[Rich Harman]

When I have used a clear coat I always either sand afterward or wipe with a damp rag. So I choose which clear coat to use based on how long it takes to dry. My best results are realized by sanding, clear coating, engraving, sanding, then clear coating again. Much faster than mucking with transfer tape, and ends up with a nice finish.