Hello all. I have a simple question about how well transfer paper seals around the edges of an engraving once the part is engraved. Will it stay sealed around the edges well enough to leave it as making to paint the engraved area and not have the paint bleed under it?
I know the paper sticks well to a smooth surface, but does it stay sealed tightly around the edges of the engraving, or does the heat cause it to curl up?
I have a small intricate engraving (think of something like that star wars disc) that I want to paint certain areas. The material is acrylic with a smooth polished surface. Some areaās would have up to 3 colors, one inside the other, with (very) thin borders between the colors. So I thought the best way to color it would be to use transfer paper and re-wrap the part for each color: wrap the part; engrave a color; paint. Then remove the paper and repeat the process until all painted areas are finished. Then finally engrave the rest of the pattern.
I think this will work, as long as the paper will stay sealed around the edges of the engraving and not peel up. Soā¦
will it CURL UP around the edges or stay flat and sealed?
Is there one brand of paper that seals better along the edges than another? Or are they all pretty much stick the same? (I was going to buy TapeManBlue paper)
I figured Iād have to run some tests to find out for sure, but thought Iād get some feedback on whehter the transfer paper would seal well enough to also use it as paint masking.
Another questionā¦ After digging deeper into the transfer paper,I noticed there is some labeled as VINYL (blue & green label) and some as SILICONE (blue & orange label). Then I also found some with the same blue and green label that says itās polyproplene. Then yet another that says BOTH āsilicone, vinylā (blue & orange label).
Also confusing is the COLOR: They all listing the COLOR as āCLEARā, but in the details say ānatural colored paperā. So is the āclearā part just refering to the adhesive?
So which would work best for acrylic (acrylic Acetate)? The polyproplene says itās āHigh Tackā, and āAll purposeā use. My part is round, so I would think the āhigh tackā would be best.
Yes, Iāve been working on the reposition aspect. Since the engraving is small, the repositioning has to be very precise.
Iām using a ROTARY CHUCK and have built a side jig that works to LOCK the chuck using the holes around the edges (shame they didnāt build in a locking pin). Then Iām using theaded jigs premounted in the chuck for remounting the parts back in the chuck each time.
Thereās another problem in your future: your profile says itās a diode laser machine, which means it (probably) has a visible blue-ish beam.
Blue-light diode lasers generally engrave well only on acrylic sheets in the black / red end of the color spectrum. They do poorly on colors in the white / yellow-to-blue end of the spectrum and generally donāt affect any transparent medium.
Sticking a white or transparent (-ish) sheet atop acrylic means the diode must cut through / remove a layer of material it does not normally affect, before it gets down to business on the acrylic.
Unless you know the machine can properly engrave the acrylic without a covering layer, then verify that it can also cut through that layer, this may not end well. Good results may not be impossible, but achieving them will not be It Just Worksā¢ simple.
ednisley, Yes, my lasers ARE diode (I have TWO), AND I DO engrave on COLORED acrylic. While I mostly engrave on black acrylic (I make custom fountain pens and embelish black acylic and ebonite with BCHR style patterns), Iāve also engrave several colored acrylic pens.
! use a Ortur AL1 with a 1.5w module and rotary chuck for most of my pen engraving. But Iāve also used the 5w module to CUT (colored) acrylic parts. I also have a Ortur LM3 with 20w diode and 3w IR module, and I recently used the IR module to engrave on some BLUE acrylic. Iāve used the 20w module to engrave on several colors of sheet acrylic.
If youād like to see some engraved colored acrylic, check out my colored theme pens at the link below (forum monitor: please remove the link if itās not allowed).
Check out the LoR pen at the bottom (my lastest) with the colored acrylic windows.The windows are on BOTH sides and were all cut out individually with the 5w module (I came up with a secret trick to keep it from cutting through the other side).
Great work on those pens: youāre far beyond the inital hurdles and deep into challenging fun territory!
Because results on transparent-ish film depend strongly on wavelength, as do results on acrylic, the next step is experimentation to find the best / least-awful tradeoff among all the variables.
Somebody around here surely has more experience than I do, so ā¦ Iāll yield to their ideas.
I havenāt done any cutting or engraving on acrylic but I have done the type of masking your describing.
The ordinary masking tape does a fairly good job but the glue can tend to be a bit gooey from the heat of the cut. If this job is to be as nice as the work you did on the pens, you might invest in some Blue laser masking tape with Mid - Low tackā¦it should hold to the surface of the acrylic because itās so smooth. Also, if the detail is really fine I would imagine lower tack and very light grade tape might work best because of glue and tearaway paper fibers.
What size is the job? And borders between colours?
You could use an Ink roller to get it real flat and exclude all air and ripples.
If you have the ordinary tape already just rub it with dark ink and itāll take less power to cut the tape as itās now darker.
At narrow borders keep the border in place using a Tonge suppressor and a wooden toothpick to tease out the section.Tweezers are real handy also.
Dab-Down and away from the cut-line to avoid paint getting under, with progressive aplications with a little drying time before you repeat to avoid saturation/bleeding.
If Iām correct and your colours are all separated then do all your cut lines first and remove section by section.colour by colour. I remember thinking about re-masking like you speak of but it was unnecessary at least in my case.
This, I did in black and silver and then lasered, I did one with red petals on the top three rose buds and a three or four colour Viking dude on wood but no photo right now.
Interesting array of lasers your usingā¦Best of Luck!
Pete: Yes, that was the way I was going to do it. Mask the part and engrave each color at a time, then paint. The remove the mask and apply new, then repeat with the next color. Time consuming, but it should be the best approach.
Size: Iām engraving a graphic onto a pen (cap & barrel). The graphic has a few parts (shaped kind of like faces with eyes) that I wanted to paint so they stand out. There are thin borders between the colors (like around the face and then around the eyes), so as long as the masking stays secure at the edges, I thought Iād be OK. I just knew that because theyāre so small, I couldnāt paint them by hand once the entire graphic was engraved. So I had to come up with a better way to aproach it. Masking and engraving & painting the colors separately was the only thing I could think of to give me the best chance.
Masking tapeā¦ The BLUE tape wonāt work with my diode. I have used some PURPLE low-tack a few times. It worked for some projects like the cutting to protect against soot. But because itās low tack,it doesnāt seal well enough on the edges AFTER engraving to use it as a paint masking. Thatās why I was considering higher tack transfer paper. I didnāt consider coloring the blue tape though. That might work (and I have plenty).
Removing the maskingā¦ I was more concerned with it staying in place moreso than coming off (that mindset could change though once I actually have to try pealing it off. LOL). I usually do a light sanding and buffing after the engraving to smooth out the raised edges, so I figured that would remove any masking that might remain.
Outsourcingā¦ Iād prefer to do the painting myself, but as a last resort, I also considered approaching the groups that paint those little miniaturatures. This kind of job should be right up their alley.
I knew Iād have to experiment, but I was hoping to get some suggestions on the best type of masking to look for before I spent $20 on a roll of something that wouldnāt work.
Thanks again for the suggestions (and the compliments on my pens)!
You know that medical tape that Docās use to hold a bandage in place or some cotton wool to cover an injection spotā¦Itās really light and seems ultra thinā¦ enough to let light throughā¦but not see-through.
Itās on a small roll, like plumbers tape for sealing threads.
Iāve been wondering about that tape for ages.how it would do for masking, but had no job small enough.
It could I guess be got from a pharmacy.
The ordinary tape I was thinking of is not blue, itās normal painters tape cream/white, and with ink from an ink roller pad on a microfiber cloth rubbed on light and quick cuts easy by laser and is cheap and available in different thicknesses and tack.
