Laser masking

TransferRite is pretty good tackiness for birch ply – if anything it’s a bit too much, and can pull some wood fibers off if you’re not careful.

I may just order more of that. I don’t love the smell, but I don’t know if that’s the birch or the masking.

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Hmm, anyone tried Glassguard?

https://www.johnsonplastics.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Glassguard

EDIT: Looks like on that site if you look closely, the picture is of transferrite ultra. It’s just rebranded. That’s a bit discouraging.

I just looked in another thread, looks like @Drea may have some insight.

Drea, can you give us your quick review of Glassguard/Transferrite? How well does it stick to various materials, etc?

OK I am going deep on masking here. I have also learned about Greenstar, which one of our peeps is apparently using as well.

@markwal, can you chime in with how well it is working on whatever materials you’ve tried?

Anyone else using this?

I reached out to uscutter.com for an MSDS. They sent me this on the adhesive:

img-171206131119.pdf (243.8 KB)

Short version: The adhesive is a carcinogen class 2B, which apparently means “maybe causes cancer in humans”. If anyone has a finer grasp on how to read an MSDS, please chime in.

US cutter sells Greenstar through Amazon:

or directly:

http://www.uscutter.com/GreenStar-Layflat-Classic-Transfer-Tape-Medium-Tack-Assorted-Widths

I’ve used the Greenstar on Baltic Birch ply and veg tanned leather. It takes some work (pressure and smoothing with my hands and a putty knife) to get it to stick nicely on the birch and the flesh side of leather. Weeds easily from the birch and a holds a bit tighter to the leather. Tighter still if I leave it on in the material stack for a while before using. But even then, it’s easier to weed than the Proofgrade.

I have more trouble with flash back on the birch. If I give enough power to reliably get through the birch then the flash back also makes it through the mask sometimes.

So far I’ve had better luck with the leather. Probably because I’m less worried about making it all the way through all the time. A few missed spots are easy for me to cut through with a knife. So I can dial it back to where it is just barely making it through the masking.

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Sure, I use that stuff on everything - fabric, wood, acrylic, and (predominantly) leather. I like it quite well, and find it to be far more economical than some of the other options that I initially tried. It holds nicely, but still peels off easily.

When using it on leather, be careful to smooth it out completely. Any folds or crinkles will transfer to the surface of the leather (true for any masking, FWIW).

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Chemist here. MSDS sheets are mostly for lawyers and firefighters in industrial settings.
As Paracelsus said in the 16th century, the dose makes the poison. The amount of vinyl acetate in the adhesive is small and you are not wrapping yourself in it.
The information in a MSDS is of use when working with industrial scales, for small amounts they are not very useful and they make every chemical sound extremely dangerous.
If you read the MSDS for salt and sand you would hesitate setting foot on an ocean beach again.

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And definitely don’t try to cut salt block in your Glowforge.

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This is true but is there a better place to start than the MSDS for unknown materials?
You kind of have to learn to read them and not panic but they have done well for me so far.

Only because they make the section about sharks so scary. And in Oz the jelly fish.

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Has anyone tried laser Ram Board?

Tangential, but I love how salt has an expiration date. That Himalayan salt in my kitchen was in the ground for eleventy-thousand years before they dug it up and put it in that bottle, and now I’m supposed to throw it away because it’s passed the expiration date stamped on the bottle. :laughing:

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FDA labeling, too. This is why I have patients who insist they will only take “natural” substances. I reply that cyanide is 100% natural.

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When you take it out of the ground you break the seal. :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

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I use that same example, along with pointing out a Staph infection is totally natural too… I’m sorry but your mom’s sepsis is just the cycle of life so no antibiotics for her!

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Depending on the day, I know more than one person perfectly willing to go along with that.

And I’m pretty sure my insurance company.

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isn’t that called bleach in the gene pool? :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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I think most mothers are prone to making a few too many observations on the lives of their children. Timing, and DNRs in the will, determine who survives an ingrown toenail and who doesn’t.

ah, you were making a different observation than i was. :wink:

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I actually know someone who swears her dad made her executor because he doesn’t trust the other two siblings not to pull the plug over an ingrown toenail. :rofl:

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Isn’t the cure for everything unplugging and plugging it back in?

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