Cleaning foil off acrylic

[slavikkrupka]

Hi everyone, I have been made this thank you card for a friend of mine. Love the engraving foil on acrylic, but it’s so hard to clean some small areas, do you know some easy way to do it?

[rbtdanforth]

@slavikkrupka

but it’s so hard to clean some small areas,

I would try it first on scrap but the Gorilla tape may make it super easy or rip up everything. An alternative many use is those plastic razor blades, I create so many straight cuts on scrap that are sharp that I use those. They wear out quickly but not so quick that I run out of them.

[eflyguy]

Laser foil bonds due to heat. Acrylic gets very hot under the laser. Areas of detailed engraving will likely get hot enough to bond unwanted areas. It’s advertised for use on wood, which does not absorb heat like acrylic.

You might be able to work around it by changing the settings to prevent heat build-up. Slow it down, lower the power.

[slavikkrupka]

Thanks!!

[evansd2]

Which foil is this? Do you have a product link?

[slavikkrupka]

It’s engravable laser foil from JPPlus.com

[evansd2]

So I always assumed laser foils were like a polyester sticky material that worked a lot like vinyl stickers.

Is that how this works? Or do you engrave an area to activate the adhesive and then pull the non engraved areas off the finished piece?

[ChristyM]

I think it’s more like the latter, but it seems that you engrave or score around the edges and then peel away the parts you don’t want. You don’t engrave the parts you keep.

JPP_TechTips_LaserFoil.pdf

[slavikkrupka]

Yep, same way, do not engrave just score. For this small pieces you need a lot of patience…