I second the idea of using something to scrape off the tape. (I often use a credit card edge.) Sticky tape is my second go to method. FWIW, I usually remove the masking from the top of acrylic, especially when engraving. The masking can get gummed up in the engraving and can be hard to clean. It’s a lot easier to take off one big piece than deal with all the little cut pieces later as well. Any soot usually wipes off pretty easily. I do leave the back masking on to prevent flashback marks though.
As far as actually cleaning acrylic, I tend to stick with a plastic cleaner. Alcohol can craze acrylic and cause minute cracks. I ruined a few big projects that way :-/
Something else that might interest you is @takitus post about defocusing when engraving on acrylic. Good stuff
I repeated the design this morning and duct tape worked great. Thanks all for the tip. You have to apply pressure, leave for a couple minutes, then pull.
A couple things I’ll try also (put on the freezer for 5 minutes, this should reduce adhesive thackiness).
Acetone is a definite no for acrylic, will destroy it.
And I agree with @kittski, if engraving it’s best to just remove the mask prior to doing it.
Will also try the defocused stuff. Seems interesting…
A couple of things - freezing it might make it harder. An old trick in peeling a sheet of the masking paper from acrylic is to warm it with a hair dryer and it pulls off easily. Likely the same with bits. Cold may make it harder to do so experimentation is called for
Also, be careful about peeling and then engraving. With clear acrylic especially you can get ghosting around your image. If you do peel, try making an outline score first that cuts the paper so you can peel off only what you’re going to engrave and leave the rest on the sheet to keep it from getting scratched.
Cold only defeats film adhesives when they are being applied. For removal, even just letting stuff sit in the sun for a few minutes will help.
I had to pull graphics off of a tractor trailer last week. it was about 40 degrees (f) out, and took at least twice as long as it should have. If I hadn’t had my propane torch it would have taken twice as long again.
