Plaque tape failed

[Paul Brinkmeyer]

Now this should not be that hard, but I just started to add plaques to my list of can do's.....But can I??
The first job I took on was for 6 plaques 8 X 8 plates on a wooden base.
Lasering went OK.
Applied "Plaque tape" to cover the 2 verticale edges
Searched past posts to get ideas on how to line things up, picked one and folowed that.
Looked great when I was done, customer loved them.
One week later 3 of the plates fell off???
Now I re-called all the plaques.
I know I have to replace the plates that fell off, as they are bent from falling and I want them to be good, BUT....I do not want any more to fall off.

What went wrong? The tape stayed on the plate and the wood is clean as can be. Do I need to prepare the wood first? Is the finish to slippery? I got the wood from JDS.
Are there better tapes, got this from LaserBits.


Thanks for any idea's on this. (If you know of other hidden dangers to watch for, feel free to share that as well.)

[Joe Pelonio]

If the wood has an oil finish meant to be engraved without leaving residue, it may be that the adhesive will not stick to the wax. I'd suggest trying one
where you use denatured alcohol to clean an area in the center of the wood
(so that if it damages the finish it won't show) then try the tape there.

I find the best tape to be what I get from my local sign supply called "banner tape" that's made for hemming vinyl banners, it seems to stick to anything forever but nothing sticks to wax.

[Scott Shepherd]

I'll second Joe's recommendation. I bought a roll on his recommendation a few months back. Stickiest tape I've ever seen in my life.

[Brian Robison]

I get mine from jds and it's been very good.
Usually destroys the plaque or the brass when you
try to remove it.

[Mike Null]

I'm with Brian. I buy the best quality from JDS and have had only one failure in 9 years. That was a plastic sign in a kitchen in a high humidity environment.

No plates ever came off plaques. I buy my plaques from JDS as well.

[James Stokes]

I use carpet tape myself. You can get it at just about any hardware store and it sticks very well.

[Stephen Beckham]

I'm with Brain and Mike - the Gold-Line Premium Tape (Tesa) is the only stuff I use. My partner calls it the Gorilla Tape compared to his ATG brand and uses it on his frames when he needs the extra grab. Otherwise, he doesn't like it because it tears or destroys anything it's taken off of.

BTW - the 2" disk tape destroys what they touch as well if you have to do lots of 2" disks.

Steve

[Bill Cunningham]

If I think the standard double sided tape supplied by the engraving supply places won't work due to high humidity etc, I just put a smear of GE or 3m Silicone adh. on the back, and let it sit overnight.. I have engraved a number of legend plates, and other plastic stuff for use in hyperbaric chambers, and told them to fit them into place with the slicone on the back, and tape them overnight just to keep them in place.. All have withstood years of bounce dives to 165 feet, and the resulting vapour clouds that appear on returning to 1 ata. as well as the periodic 'hose-out' of the chamber for cleaning..