Hello,
Someone has asked me to make them one of those sentiment/word wall stickers … Of course it would normally be vinyl, but I know people have been saying it has pvc (& I don’t have a silhouette or similar machines, just the GF & a 3D printer with a laser engraver option), so I thought maybe I could do it on normal office sticker/label sheet type of thing, & I found some laying around but without the packaging so I’m not sure if it’ll be suitable to use on a GF or not. I did a quick google search of what’s written on the backing & based on what I found it said chlorine free bleached material, FSC, PVC-free, but again I don’t know if it’s the same type of paper or not
Any ideas if it’s safe is appreciated.
P.S. this is my 1st post so I was not sure whether to post this in the problems & support or everything else category (or something else) so apologies if I got it wrong
You can buy laser-safe, non-PVC vinyl-like material. If you search here, you’ll find discussions on it. It would probably be better suited than a paper-based product, which will absorb moisture and detach in a short time.
Beyond the Manual is the place for discussing materials, so I’ve moved this for you. Problems and Support is for issues with the machine or interface, and opens trouble tickets with the Glowforge staff.
What a sweet thing you’re doing for your friend. Office sticker paper is generally fairly innocuous - usually just treated paper.
The bigger problems you’ll get trying to use it is that you’ll need to print the color on it first (unless white or neon is what you’re going for), the adhesive on them isn’t designed for walls so won’t stick well and you’re going to need to piece it all together as the sheets come in only letter or tabloid size.
Cut vinyl lettering is kiss cut - meaning they cut just through the top layer leaving the backing so they can weed (remove unwanted vinyl around letters after cutting) put a temporary sticky sheet on top to transfer the design in one piece and avoid lining up the pieces individually (vinyl transfer paper, often used as masking for laser projects) This masking is likely to pull off the top layer of ink and paper from your office sticker sheets.
Definitely do NOT try actual sign vinyl in your GF, not even a little tiny word, you’ll destroy the mechanisms.
TLDR: It’s probably safe but really not a good choice for the project you describe.
If I were you I’d consider kicking it up a notch and cutting the letters out of thin wood or maybe cardstock. You can buy large sheets of heavy card stock in lots of colors. Matboard would look nice as well. And there are all sorts of temporary mounting products available that you could use to stick them to the wall.
I’d echo this recommendation - cardstock and you can get 3m double sided tape (like they have on the veneer) to put on the back so it’s all together in one piece
Thank you, I hadn’t thought about the moisture I have done a quick search but I don’t live in the US & was trying to avoid online shopping if I could, thought I’d keep it as a last resort if what I have doesn’t work
Hmm so office stickers out the window I guess but yea I was originally planning to print the design on it first then try to kiss cut on the laser … maybe it would work better then on projects on a less larger scale
I bought 300+ pieces of 10 ply (think jigsaw puzzle) cardstock from a local paper company a couple of weeks ago for less than $20 and for an extra charge they cut it down to GF size for me.
I’ve got a piece of thin A4 wood used to make certificates & a bunch of different cardstock I could test on … will go look for 3m double sided tape @deirdrebeth , I only have a thin one which even though it’s strong won’t work for this . . I don’t think removing it will be an issue though @eflyguy , not for the next 10 years at least … we’ve previously stuck some store bought wall stickers a few years back to put in an apartment & it’s been over say 6 years now give or take & it’s still there, probably not guna remove for another lol
honestly, i’d use something like very thin acrylic or even veneer, depending on the look you’re going for. if you want pure black, a 1/16 or thinner black acrylic could look nice.
really, this will be true of most stuff you hang on a wall like this. there are not many adhesives that hold up well and are repositionable on drywall. there are some clings that will work decently, but they’re not laser cuttable (at least i haven’t seen one). we did some signage for COVID in our office on cling, but it was cling vinyl and cut on a vinyl cutter.
The weather is good right now nice, cool & breezy, but our summer gets pretty bad & humid & it’s like that for most of the year, so it might be an issue then. Everybody has ACs inside but still could seap in I guess, idk.
The thinnest acrylic I could find was 2mm white but they didn’t have that thickness in black which the thinnest they had was 3mm (I think there was 1mm but only in clear & frosted), so I bought them I had to hold myself from buying all the colours & sizes haha. & this is from a local plastic factory so I doubt I’d find any thinner than that in any other local place (waiting for a restock to get some of the PG ones sometime), but I asked the people I’m making this for & they were ok with the thickness (of the black acrylic since they wanted it black to start with) so my aim is to start testing it out sometime next week, it should be fine though.
If the backing is paper it’s fine (it looks like it is). It’s the plastic (usually blue or clear) masking you have to pull off (mostly you see that on extruded acrylic).
Keep in mind if you engrave anything it can be worth removing the masking because it’s a pain to clean…but then sometimes you get blow-over on the edges of your engraving. Test, test, test!
as @deirdrebeth said, the paper backing on cast acrylic is fine for masking. it’s there both for protecting the acrylic from scratches as well as to be used as masking.
veneer) to put on the back so it’s all together in one piece
I have done a quick search but I don’t live in the US & was trying to avoid online shopping if I could, thought I’d keep it as a last resort if what I have doesn’t work
I had to hold myself from buying all the colours & sizes haha. & this is from a local plastic factory so I doubt I’d find any thinner than that in any other local place (waiting for a restock to get some of the PG ones sometime), but I asked the people I’m making this for & they were ok with the thickness (of the black acrylic since they wanted it black to start with) so my aim is to start testing it out sometime next week, it should be fine though.
