I’ve been using 12" TransferRite Ultra 582U Medium Tack Transfer Tape for the past four years to make my own GoofGrade birch plywood. I have enjoyed consistently good results with excellent adhesion and almost no release during cuts. I’ve always purchased the 10-yard rolls on Amazon or US Cutters, but recently decided to invest in a 100-yard roll to save money.
Oops! Bad decision on my part. Despite being the exact same product, the stuff on this roll will not stick to my go-to 3mm birch plywood. I know what your thinking – its the cheap plywood, not the tape, dummy. I wish that were the case – I changed over in the middle of prepping 20 sheets of GoofGrade (all the wood was from the same batch) and the issue only appeared with the new roll.
So, two questions for the hivemind:
Any suggestions to get this to stick? Low heat iron? Tack spray? Mystic prayer beads?
Has anyone tried the 592U High Tack tape and if so, how did it work for you?
Btw, since applying it to wood is definitely an off-label application, the folks at TransferRite have been, shall we say, a tad less than helpful.
Hm. I mean you’re @dwardio, so this seems like a long shot, but did you try this?
Is your wood dust free? (assume so)
Other than that it seems strange. I’d think the high tack would stick better than medium if anything. Maybe the adhesive is harder, so it really needs an even smoother surface than medium? Like hard vs soft rubber tires?
I can’t speak to that specific product but I had a roll of something I was happy with and when I needed to replace it, I just re-ordered the same thing, and the new stuff was nothing like what I’d had before (I just repeated the original order from years back - it was still available…)
I once had a problem with a product that I thought would work better, because I went from medium to medium high tack. The medium high tack didn’t stick to anything. I found that in order to get it to work, I hand to sand all of materials, and then wipe them down to be dust free, and then it would only stick to birch and nothing else (mdf-not at all).
After I used up that frustrating roll (I learned very quickly how much I hate sanding, even with an orbital sander), I went back to my normal-has-never-given-me-an-issue 100 yard roll:
Yes, the plywood comes pretty much free of sawdust, Being me, I didn’t sand this batch (not part of my regular workflow). I was trying to avoid the mess and cleanup, but I’ve read that’s the next thing to try. Thanks for the reminder.
Same exact problem here. Like you I also purchased 100 yard rolls from US cutter. The last time I ordered I ordered 3 (100) yard rolls. The 582U is only slightly tacky and no longer stays on my birch.
This is what I do I take an Elmers glue stick and run it across the paper. This is the only way it is sticking.
