ArtPrint Linoleum from McClain's Tests

Wow. What a lot of work you have put into this effort. I think maybe this is something I won’t attempt on my own.

What I really want to know is did it smell like poison, and did it make a horrible mess of your machine? https://community.glowforge.com/t/linoleum-a-comprehensive-test-and-why-you-might-not-want-to-try-it-yourself/15320 seemed like a strong cautionary tale.

Also, now I’m going to have this in my head all day.

Linseed oil. Solidified by. Oxidation.

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I wonder if a heat gun on a low setting would get you the right temp? Then put into a press or under some books.

Also I have seen laserable silicon that Johnson Plastic (laserbits) sells. Also a hot stamping company sells a similar laserable product. Wonder if that might actually work better for your Lino prints than Linoleum.

When engraving linoleum with hand tools, it’s recommended to warm it slightly. It’s really mostly a solid form of oil that at room temperature and reasonably high above room temperature is stable and firm. So some variables there in terms of prep.

Linoleum like this is sometimes worked by hand without being attached to a block, but you might consider whether you could get small blocks of it cut and engrave with the crumb tray out, and then use a hand tool to remove the additional material around the part you engraved.

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The engrave took 40 minutes on the big “final” stamp, and it left some residue on the fold-down flap. But not a ton. I cleaned it off with isopropyl on a rag and it seems fine. I need to get some more zeiss wipes though and check out the lenses in there.

It smelled like… a super organic, vegan muffin that was very overcooked. Not great, but not terrible.

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Maybe? I was misled in my expectations I guess, because this is decidedly NOT for making little stamps by hand-pressure alone.

What is the reason for using linoleum as opposed to other stamp-making materials? Various laser-safe rubbers for stamping have been discussed here before, but linoleum stamps seem like a thing.

Apologies for my ignorance. I am unfamiliar with the process and didn’t think about the fact that it goes through a press.

Maybe? I had my expectations in the wrong place I guess, because this is decidedly NOT GREAT for making little stamps by hand-pressure alone.

Rampant stupidity on my part. As you’ll see below, I wish I had ordered laserable rubber :unamused:

Today I’m grumpy because this stuff doesn’t behave anywhere near what I expected.
On a trip to michael’s I found some $2 stamps that I ripped the stamp off, sanded, and glued my “stamp” onto. Also a stamp pad to test it out.

So thumbs up for that, it looks like a real stamp!

With the minimal pressure, the stamp made from squishier rubber looks like this:

Nice coverage, exactly what I want.
What about that dumb stamp i made yesterday?

Hey, that looks fine too. Have to press harder than the orange rubber stamp, but it’s doable.

Now the big one (at ~7 cm square) with as much force as my arm/wrist/hand can muster:

It’s gotta be too much surface area to nicely apply pressure onto the paper :angry:

So here’s a test with me standing on the stamp with one foot:

laser-003

So I’m glad I didn’t waste my inventables gift cert $$ on some lino(not like the real $$ i wasted on this stuff) because what I really want is RUBBER. LASERABLE RUBBER. And all the places I’ve called today do NOT carry it #grumpface

I totally thought this could be used for hand-pressure style stamps. My stupid mistake. It does work for teeny tiny ones at hand pressure though.

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Well, it’s helpful to everyone that you ran some tests though, so it was not done in vain. Thanks for testing and posting the results. :sunglasses:

(I don’t think they look bad at all, actually. I like the rough stamped look sometimes.) :smile:

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Since i have SO MUCH of this(does anyone want some? ;D ) I thouht I’d run another test because it isn’t bad for small stamps. The size is really what seems to be the problem with lino.



Rather than burn through a bunch of the stuff & dirty up everything, I cut out all the places that would have been engraved flat. This stamp is 38 mm by 36 mm.

The cuts were Speed = 300, Power = Full, 2 passes

Here’s a shot of the SVG

(Our friend’s kid is dying of some kind of rare cancer and these were supposed to be custom gifts for them)

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I am so sorry for your friend!

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Oh me too. :frowning:

This went from Fun to Bummer real fast, sorry about that :cry:

You may find this posting, where I use art stamp laser polymer, to be of interest:

Although I did buy some laserable rubber from the same source, I still haven’t tried it. I like the relative cleanliness of the laser polymer in the machine. It vaporizes the polymer and ends up not leaving much residue on the stamp (there is some, you can rinse it off with soap and water).

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Clever. Lots faster too :grinning:

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Due to pure luck & coincidence and… charm maybe? I met a cool lady at Denver Comic Con several years ago who runs a small lasery business in Denver(I was selling comics at possibly my first or second time exhibiting at the con).

We’ve chatted off & on over the years and i DM’d her yesterday to see if she knew a place that had any laser rubber in Denver.

“No,” she said, “But I have loads of it.”

One hour-plus round-trip later and I’ve got 4 sheets of Low Odor Laser Rubber to experiment on! :star_struck:

I thanked her profusely and last night I was able to figure out settings that made a usable stamp.

Pardon the crass results(blurred for rude words)

image

I would guess it’s from the same place as you ordered yours from @cynd11

Now I’m waiting on the real deal to go.

Here’s the settings that made a successful stamp last night.

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The low odor rubber is pretty expensive at rubberstampmaterials.com, about $20 per sheet not including shipping. I found it cheaper here:

5x A4 sheets for $49, free shipping:
https://smile.amazon.com/Laserable-Rubber-Stamp-Engraving-Machines/dp/B01MAT50B6

$11.69 per sheet at a couple of places, not sure of shipping.

https://www.johnsonplastics.com/premium-low-odor-laser-rubber

https://www.signwarehouse.com/p/8-14-inch-x-11-34-inch-sheet-of-premium-laser-rubber

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Thanks @aj_stewped and @GrooveStranger! Nice to have a starting point. Now, if I could just find a cheaper source for the art stamp laser polymer…

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