Plastic lids for my food truck

Beyond the Manual
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Hello,
I really need some help. I own a food truck and offer meal plans from it. I wanted to reduce waste and ask for people to bring back their reusable containers for a discount. I wanted to put our logo on the lid and the container. has anyone had success with plastic? if so can you point me in the right setting directions? I don’t want to burn up the glow forge or 1 million containers. They do have a code: 5 PP they are BPA free. Dishwasher, freezer, microwave safe. the lids we are using will fit under the head just fine.

thank you
angie

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I don’t know anything about engraving plastic, but I do know that the folks that do know are gonna need to know what kind of plastic you’re talking about. Check to see if there are any codes on the containers, or check with your supplier. Knowing that will get you better responses.

These containers will fit under the laser head, right?

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thank you. I updated the post.

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Cool. Do some searches here on the Forum. You may find some helpful stuff. I came across this pretty quickly:Plastic Codes - What is Laserable?

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Polypropylene foam catches fire easily. No idea if the lids would do so, but they would leech chemicals if you burn them with a laser…they’re designed for high heat, but not flame.

I’d highly suggest making stickers for the lids and applying them. You can easily print them out using an inkjet printer. Going to be much faster, more economical, less damaging to the environment. And you won’t melt a bunch of lids. :wink:

A laser isn’t always the right answer, although they’ll probably yank my membership card here for saying so. :smile:

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I agree with @jules. On top of that lasering stuff is generally not food safe. I like Jules’s sticker idea, Also might suggest a stamp.

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Well, I guess the High Priestess is allowed to sacraligious (can I verb that?) as much as she likes.

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How about making a stamp or stencil on the Glowforge for the lids?

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Second the stamp idea. Use Stazon permanent ink and the ink won’t smear once it dries. Comes in several colors.

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will the ink dry on plastic. my containers are tupperwearesqe. I have a vinyl cutter I was also looking into making stickers, jut wanted something to set my truck apart … still wanting to do the hamburger buns for special events. LOL

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It sounds like the lids are polypropylene. While the Stazon will dry to the touch, it’s possible it could rub off.

Tell you what, I’ll try it here and let you know the result.

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I would consider buying stickers from a company that makes them specifically for this purpose (I.e. labeling food containers).

Try reaching out to Mabel’s Labels or a similar company.

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Thank you so much! :slight_smile: i’ll look up that ink. im also looking into purchasing the containers, but at $2 each, I thought I have this machine I hardly use should give it a try. thank you for the help. I really do appreciate it

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Seems to hold up pretty well.
image

This was Ultramarine color, and was allowed to dry for 10 minutes.

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If you really want to use the laser, you can also cut custom weather-proof polyester labels. There are several threads here about doing that using stock from Online Labels. Print & cut alignment on a calibrated machine should be adequate for most applications.

I’m not sure about the food safety aspect implied by @ChristyM but, this will presumably be on a surface that shouldn’t have intentional direct contact with food.

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Hmmm. I didn’t imply anything about food safety. I was suggesting that a waterproof/dishwasher proof label might be a better/easier solution under the circumstances. As a bonus, it can be easily branded with a color logo, etc.

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I see. My apologies. I didn’t mean to put words in your mouth. I was just trying to read between the lines.

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I am assuming people will wash these containers before re-use?

I wouldn’t think that would hold up to any kind of stamp or print-at-home label.

As stated above, sometimes the laser isn’t the best tool for a particular job.

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If these are solid polypropylene NOT foam, then start here: