Tyvek

[Steve Clarkson]

I thought that I read somewhere that Tyvek was safe to laser......is anyone doing it and if so, do you have any settings I can start testing with?

Thanks

[Dee Gallo]

Steve, I haven't, I don't, but what the heck are you lasering it for? Isn't that a house wrapping material?

[greg lindsey]

Steve, tyvek is perfectly fine for laser cutting, in fact it cuts very well. I have cut thousands of yards of it. In fact (my 15 mins) if you look at any of the space shuttles prior to launch, notice the white dots in front and below the windows, those are tyvek covers, covering the thruster engines. I made those, actually made several thousand of them for flight and wind tunnel testing. I have one that was awarded to me by NASA complete with the mounting ring, it came off Discovery after it's last mission. anyways I cut it with 50 watts at 100 speed. Probably an overkill with the power but had no ill affect on the material, but, do not stack unless you need some really good tyvek bags, they stck together, and are extremly hard to seperate, almost impossible actaully.

[Mike Null]

I would have thought a vinyl cutter would work better.

(maybe no backer is the problem with that)

[Joe Pelonio]

Besides the lack of backing, the fibers make it tear if you try to use a plotter. I had made a banner with it, using vinyl lettering, and it got creased so a guy tried ironing it and it melted. That would confirm the problem of edges sticking together on a stack.

[Steve Clarkson]

Greg......are you kidding me??????? Something you made actually went into outerspace???? That's AWESOME!!!

Dee......my use was going to be a little less important than Greg's.......I was just going to use it for stencil material since it is almost impossible to tear.

[John Noell]

We use old x-ray film for stencils. Cuts great, stiff enough but flexible.

[Bill Cunningham]

Years ago, I was dumb enough to run a 8.5 x 11" sheet of it into my laser printer..That was back in the days when a laser printer costs a couple of G's...It melted-It smoked-I freaked-I panicked-I spent two hours digging pieces of melted tyvec off the fusing rollers..Ask me if I ever did THAT again... Nope don't bother...Sometimes I learn quick :o

[Ken Shea]

Years ago, was that in 2009 :D

Too soon old too late smart :(

[Andrea Weissenseel]

Steve, why don't you use mylar for stencils ?

[Steve Clarkson]

Andrea,

I usually do......but I have a painter that wants really big ones for walls (actually, I think she is "painting" with plaster to get a 3D effect......) and she gets the tyvek for free from the builder.....so it's kind of an experiment.

[Joe Pelonio]

It's way too flexible and has memory (curl) from being rolled up. It will work only if you use a temporary spray adhesive on it, for textured walls it can really make a mess. I would be using plotter cut vinyl made for that purpose, such as Arlon Cal-mask. It's stiffer than regular stuff and has a low tack adhesive. Especially good for airbrush work.

[Bill Cunningham]

Years ago, was that in 2009 :D

Too soon old too late smart :(

Nope.. That would have been about 1997... And I ain't done it since! :p