Need colored tape or ???

[dave hensley]

Hi,

I need a product (tape?) in a variety of colors (yellow, red, and green mostly) that I can apply to painted sheet acrylic and then laser cut it, removing portions of it. Needs to be as permenant as possible and/or be able to clear coat it to help it stay on.

Is there anything available that would meet my needs?

Thanks!!

[Larry Bratton]

How about Laser Foil from Laserbits?
http://www.laserbits.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=72_212&zenid=f8fmpk8df4hhamf3hgmdhjb6a3

[dave hensley]

That looks cool, but for what I am working on right now, I need something without any shine or metallic look. Thanks!

[Dan Hintz]

Does it need to be tape? Why not just use polyester (laser-safe vinyl, if you will) like everyone else?

[dave hensley]

That's what I was asking really - tape or something else. I am a new laser owner and still learning, so I didn't have a clue what the options where. :)

The main criteria is that it will need to stay in place as this would be a functional part and not decorative. Is the material you mention adhesive backed or can it be glued onto painted acrylic.

[Dan Hintz]

I suppose you could glue it if you wanted to. Do you need to laser it, or can you go with a standard vinyl cutter and apply the design afterwards?

What about doing a reverse of the design in vinyl, applying it to the acrylic, painting through, then removing the vinyl?

[dave hensley]

I do need to laser it after it's on the acrylic since I am leaving small pieces of it in place. Applying it after cutting would be too difficult.

I've tried that technique with some application (transfer?) tape I bought from signwarehouse. Results were not ideal. There are sections where the tape is only about about 1/16th wide and it must not have much holding power as paint gets up under it in those sections. Do you think that technique would have better results with the vinyl?

The design in question is a "hashed" border that is about .2" wide and broken about every .25". Think of a thick dashed line and that is close.

[Dan Hintz]

Leaving small pieces in place doesn't mean you have to laser it in place. A vinyl cutter doesn't leave loose pieces... once cut, the design is transferred (in-place) onto transfer tape. Nothing moves, and small cut pieces (like the center of 'D' and 'B') hang around.

You would get much better results with a quality vinyl.

[Michael Hunter]

Aligning the different colours of vinyl sounds difficult if they are produced separately.

Cutting laser-friendly "vinyl" in-place may avoid the alignment problem, but will make grooves in the acrylic - would that be a problem?
(Even at kiss-cut settings, the beam won't stop completely after cutting through the "vinyl").

It rather sounds like one of those "I wouldn't start from here" jobs. We could possibly be more help if you gave a better idea of what you are trying to achieve.

[Dan Hintz]

Now I'm just confused as to what the OP is after... I thought he simply wanted a mask so he could paint a pattern on the acrylic piece. If so, there's no need to involve the laser, just have a local sign shop cut it out using standard vinyl.

[dave hensley]

Here's some pics of the part I am making - they're replica panels for military aircraft. The yellow border is what I am trying to perfect. If you look closely, you can see where the separations are not clean. I either need a method of painting the yellow on cleanly or adding something like vinyl to the part. I would want to laser the vinyl after it's on the part as the alignment is important and the grooves would not matter.

187201187200

[Dan Hintz]

Sheesh, for that I'd have a local shop cut a vinyl mask for me (actually, I 'd use my own machine, but you get the idea), stick it down, paint yellow, then peel. The fact that the yellow doesn't go to the edge means the mask is one piece and will come up quickly and in one piece. Any use of the laser for this project is a waste of time and resources. If you provide the file, figure on maybe $10 for the mask (possibly quite a bit less if you order a bunch of them) and no time out on your part.

[Michael Hunter]

I thought from the original post that there was more than one colour involved ......

To get the effect shown on the photos, I would engrave and kiss-cut a sheet of yellow-over-black Laserlights, peel off the protective backing and stick it on - job done.

[Richard Rumancik]

Dave, is the material white acrylic painted black, then text engraved through the black, or black acrylic engraved to depth and text color filled with white?

I don't see why your idea won't work, but before I say too much I want to know what you have so far . . .

[dave hensley]

Thanks guys! I'll investigate those options.

Richard, it's actually clear acrylic that I paint white and then black, then engrave off the black paint. I do this so that it can be backlit. The problem with my technique, I believe, is that the portions of the tape I have are too thin to hold onto the acrylic. And when I start applying the yellow paint, I think the wetness is causing the tape to come off more. This panel was actually my second attempt, the first was even worse.

As I expect (hope) to be making quite a few of these, I really want to find a process that gives better results but does not require any more laser time. The tape "stencil" takes less than a minute to laser, but it just does not give me the clean lines I want.

[dave hensley]

Dan - so the vinyl will hold better than application tape? This is the first time I've used the tape and I've never used vinyl. What specifically am I looking for in a vinyl product?

Thanks for the help!

[Dan Hintz]

Unless you have the ultra-hold transfer tape, the vinyl will do a better job at sticking, but still come off in one piece (if you don't manhandle it). Nothing special for the vinyl, just whatever the local shop carries... it's not like you'll be sticking it in the laser.

[dave hensley]

Thanks! I'll see if there's a shop in my area that can provide it for me.

[Larry Bratton]

Dave,
Where are u in NC?
If your close to Charlotte I know a shop that will help u.

[dave hensley]

I am in Durham, so about 3 hours away. What the place you know? I will look into them if I can't find something more local.

Thanks!

[Larry Bratton]

Dave, PM sent

[Richard Rumancik]

Dave, If I understand correctly, the process you used is

1. vector cut clear acrylic blank
2. paint white
3. paint black
4. apply application tape
5. vector cut the application tape to make the "borders"
6. weed out 100+ pieces of application tape
7. paint yellow
8. remove application tape

Do I have it correct now?

So Dan is suggesting that instead of application tape cut-in-place, you buy vector cut vinyl stencils from a sign shop. Correct? If that is the case, you still have to weed 100 pieces of vinyl out of the stencil, apply application tape, transfer it precisely, and paint it yellow, just as before.

So it doesn't seem like using vinyl as a stencil will reduce work; it will add a couple $$ for the vinyl stencils you buy.

The other option (which is more in line what you were thinking before):

1. vector cut clear acrylic blank
2. paint white
3. paint black
4. apply yellow vinyl
5. vector cut the vinyl to make the "borders"
6. weed the background of the vinyl (very easy as it will come off in large sections)
7. do other colors as required (might be possible to do multiple colors in one set-up)
8. roll down the vinyl to remove any bubbles
9. clear coat the whole front face

Issues: You can clear coat over vinyl and paint, but you need to check compatibility with the black and white paint. The vinyl supplier can help. You will have the grooves around the yellow. You don't want to go deep or white will show. Cleanliness - you need to apply the vinyl without getting dust underneath. A very clean work area is needed. Also, the standard PVC warning applies with vectoring PVC.

The third way is to have the sign shop make decals (assuming you don't want to do it yourself), not stencils (i.e. use yellow 8 year vinyl) and transfer the yellow decal. You will have the same registration issue as there is with transfering a stencil. Could be done but will take some learning. The difference is that there are no grooves around the yellow parts.

[Dan Hintz]

The shop has to weed out 100 tiny pieces from the stencil, not Dave. Find a shop dumb enough to do it for a great price and walk away smiling.

[Richard Rumancik]

Okay, I suppose it it is "ready-to apply" then they would have weeded it and applied application tape at the sign shop. So one way or another someone has to pay for weeding.

If Dave makes the stencil on the laser he could cut openings right through the liner and then it would fall out completely. Maybe this could be done on a cutter as well. Don't know - have not used one.

If Dave wants to make yellow stripes in-situ instead of a stencil/paint, I mentioned there would be lines around the outside. As long as the white was not penetrated, it would just score the black. After clear coat it would hide the grooves a bit so maybe wouldn't look too bad.

[Conrad Fiore]

Dave,
We have engraved many panels and dials for backlit aircraft controls. It was always a two step process, engraving and silk screening. In your case, the yellow would be silk screened and the engraving would be to remove the black to the translucent white layer. The backs of the panels would be counter bored for the instrumentation lighting and the panel calibrated for light transmittance.

Conrad

[Larry Bratton]

Dave,
Another thing comes to mind. Why not use Rowmark LaserLights,.004 thick, yellow over black S68. Put it on your plate, raster engrave the black hash marks, then vector cut away the part you want to pull off, remove that and your done. Just a thought.

[Michael Hunter]

Larry .... As I suggested earlier

[Larry Bratton]

Larry .... As I suggested earlier
Sorry Michael, this discussion got so convoluted I didn't read everything.

[dave hensley]

Thanks Conrad! That is something I had not considered. I think I'll have to look into how much it would cost me to set up for this. :)