I am looking for a laser-safe material similar to a vinyl that would be sticky on one side. It will be used to cut a matte that will be attached to a glass plate and then sandblasted. The material has to hold up to a bit of sandblasting which will result in the plate being etched in the places not covered by the matte.
I have some VViVid Vinyl but they haven’t been able to tell me whether it is a safe material to laser and I’m risk averse to damaging the Glowforge and killing everyone in the house with poison gas.
I’m sad to say I haven’t had opportunity to test it yet. The paper seems like it might be good to use though. But it’s a little more papery and less vinylly than I was looking for. Still, it might just do the job just fine! I really can’t say one way or the other. But worth your time checking it out I’d think.
Rayzist sent me samples when I asked but I have not yet tried them. Assuming it works, I wish there was a place to buy this stuff by the square foot, I just don’t need a $100 roll.
Hmm, here is a hacky idea… Vinyl isn’t safe to cut, but HTV for t-shirts has a similar feel. People have been cutting and engraving things like Siser Easy Weed.
You can separate HTV from the clear carrier. It just peels off. So maybe this would work:
Get your cheapest, thickest, nastiest, stiffest T-shirt HTV
Peel it off the carrier
Adhere the HTV to your glass with something like 3M 77 spray, or maybe Krylon Easy-Tack. Smooth it down well!
Engrave away the HTV
Sandblast
Questions are:
Can you get a good engrave on the HTV, making a clean design? Evidence on the forum says yes.
Will the HTV stand up to sand blasting? I have no idea but it would be easy to try with a scrap.
Heh, no, not at all, I didn’t mean it that way. I just realized I was parroting the search and that’s not super helpful, I should just tell you how I got there and let you dig in.