Is it okay to use aluminum foil backing in Glowforge?

Beyond the Manual
21

Have you considered parchment paper? It has good anti-stick properties, it’s food safe (probably doesn’t have Cl or other toxins), and has good heat resistance.

Your process could go something like this:

  • Laminate together
    1. 1/4 board for backing sprayed with Krylon #7020
    2. parchment paper
    3. medium tack transfer paper
  • Laser cut your stencil
  • Use low tack transfer paper to pickup the medium tack transfer paper from the parchment paper
  • Weed the bits your don't need
  • Deposit your stencil on it final destination
22

Stainless steel foil is readily available. It is used in industry to protect parts from oxidization during heat treating. McMaster-Car sells stainless steel bags that are 12" x 18" and paper thin

2 Likes
23

Thanks, @mike10 ! Good find.

24

Here is an adhesive-backed mylar stencil film. You may be able to cut this, weed it, then lift the stencil with transfer tape.

http://www.stencilease.com/db/display.asp?input=3578

As much as I love lasering things, a vinyl cutter may be better for this job, though.

2 Likes
25

I will also applaud your I have a Glowforge attitude but what you need is the equivalent of Oracal Oramask 813 in a non pvc material.
If you can find a material that already comes with a coated release paper backing then all you have to worry about is keeping it from moving due to exhaust and air assist.
Otherwise again this is the bread and butter of plotters like the silhouette mentioned previously.

26

My application is for sand blasting…

@will_bain, I have the same challenge. I own a Cricut cutter and it’s very challenging for finer details. It uses a drag knife blade and can make a mess of acute angle, sharp corners.

So… I have a dream to try lasering my Ikonics Laser Tape with extra margin held down by magnets and placed Mylar backer down on a sticky substrate (perhaps @Jules’ version). Worries are that the Mylar backer to Laser Tape bond is not strong enough to resist the air assist (why can’t we make air assist variable?) and lasered bits would blow away. I can’t use a rigid backer because my target is a thistle-shaped whiskey glass.

1 Like
27

Maybe we could put an adjustable louver on the air outlet at the back of the Glowforge? Partially closing it might create back pressure that causes smoke leakage, though.

28

This stuff looks great, but we can only use it on flat surfaces in our GFs.

https://www.rayzist.com/Education/Education-Lazermask.php

29

I’m having good luck so far with engraving Ikonics Laser Tape on paper masking.

 Laser beam
 Sticky side of laser tape up
 Sticky side of masking paper up

 Speed 1000, Power 30

Then I will apply it to my surface and sandblast through the paper masking.