I was wondering if someone could possibly give me an idea of what settings I should use to etch on pine with blue painters tape as my masking. Thanks so much!
I haven’t done much pine so I can’t offer any settings, but this might help. I know there was a recent discussion about it just last week I think. Good luck!
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Thanks so much!
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Etching and especially engraving of rasters tends to be better without masking. With vectors it can be done with masking and it’s ok. Just FYI.
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it depends on how much detail. if it’s larger areas or single depth engrave without a lot of detail, masking is great. if it’s variable depth, or detailed, then masking can make things way more difficult to clean up and can mess up the shallowest part of the engrave.
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Thank you! I’m making a plaque for someone, so it’s going to be mostly wording with some designs, but nothing too intricate.
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I have had cause to engrave through that blue masking and found that a minimum power of ten is needed to cut all the way through the tape when doing a variable engrave, It a good thing in those circumstances to make sure that there is no white areas in the middle as the laser will not cut at all there and no matter how tight the min power it will leave a mark.
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The smoke stain that gets deposited can be wiped off with alcohol or household ammonia if you work without masking.
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one warning with the blue tape. unless you have a large enough roll that you don’t need multiple pieces of tape (and most people don’t), be very careful to align each strip. if there’s overlap, you will see where it was in the engrave. and if you miss a little and have a gap, you’ll see that too.
this is why many of us buy the 12" wide rolls of transfer tape and use that to mask. that ensures that you get one sheet of masking that covers a piece of material the height of the bed, so the largest you could cut/engrave.
this is what I use: https://www.uscutter.com/TransferRite-Medium-Tack-582U
there are others out there that others here use, but something like that. if you use masking a lot, that’s going to be significantly cheaper than the blue tape per square foot, too.
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Canadians really get ripped off trying to buy stuff…
Greenstar TransferRite Ultra 582U Medium Tack Transfer Tape 12" x 10 Yard Roll
[ 4.1 out of 5 stars ](javascript:void(0)) 11
FREE Shipping
Only 5 left in stock.
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But look! Free Shipping!
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Thanks, that’s a great tip to consider. I also have clear matte contact tape which would be wide enough to cover my whole piece in one sheet. How do I know if what I have is safe to use with a laser?
are you talking something like contact paper? i would say no, that usually has vinyl in it, which is bad. if not, you need to know what it’s made of. but most clear stuff is either not laser safe or will melt when you cut. paper-based is what you’re looking for.
Ok, good to know thanks.
100 yard roll instead of ten. There’s also a lower tack option but I’ve been satisfied with this. It removes pretty easily with a fingernail or some gorilla tape( the blue tape wanted to stick more and was stubborn to remove)
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Hmm, I only see 6.5 and 8.5 wide rolls listed. Maybe it’s only available to Amazon Prime customers? It’s not available on Amazon.ca either 