So I did a test using both Elmers white glue and wood glue. Although both work to make a very nice, clean engrave, I will stick to the wood glue. It is much easier to remove, and as you can see in the photo, came off in basically one piece, while the white glue was very brittle and came off in little pieces. The small letters are only about 9pt, and they came out really nice and clean, definitely better than using masking.
I am very happy with this experiment and will be using wood glue from now on! Guess Iāll have to start making some jigs when I do these, as I like using the dish soap method on acrylic because it doesnāt leave a āridgeā but nice, smooth edges on cuts, whereas the glue, or even masking, does.
Now I wonder about coating the back of my acrylic with wood glue when I cut, simply to make it easy to peel off. Iāve been putting dish soap on both sides and laying it on a piece of cardstock to prevent flashback, but sometimes it sticks to the cardstock and ruins the piece. And I used the cardstock only because it gave something for the camera to focus on, and I didnāt want grid marks to transfer. But the cuts do come out nice and rounded and smooth. Oh, what to do??
Iāve got a big bottle of Liquitex that I bought several years ago. The only thing Iāve ever used it for is when I was making pillow covers for our daughterās shop and painting designs on them.
Interesting that on the label it says, āIncreases translucency, adhesion and paint flow.ā When I painted our floors years ago (on both subfloor and concrete floors to make them look like tile), I used Floetrol to thin my acrylic paints for the designs. It appears the only difference between the two is that Liquitex leaves a matte finish, whereas Floetrol doesnāt change it, but Floetrol is a WHOLE lot cheaper! The Liquitex was $31.59 (years ago, donāt know what it is now) for 1 qt. Floetrol is $9.98 at Loweās.
But because both make more of a permanent bond, would they work as a masking element on tiles and acrylic? Another experiment! And I have a couple hundred tiles I can try them on!
You must have your settings dialed in really well! If you use significant overpower to ensure your cuts will work on various thicknesses or variable materials then copy paper may not be enough. I tend to use cardstock to hedge that bet, itās significantly tougherā¦ or if I am really not sure how much I am overpowering the cut, Iāll even use 1/8" mdf or BB ply.
Lately I just eyeball most settings into a few buckets that are for āfeatherweight (like cardstock), easy(cardboard-ish), medium(Most 1/8ā woods) and hard(1/8" acrylic ish, 0.2-0.25" hardwoods)" materials, if flashback is going to be an issue I need to protect the back with something fairly hefty.
The tradeoff is that I donāt have to fool with remembering the settings when Iām cutting most things. I get more serious when the desired end result is really fine etc, but in general I play it pretty loose.
I think they are too aggressive about overpowering. GF needs to be sure that they are going to cut the material reliably, so they err on the side of overpowering. I donāt like how it increases kerf and (for wood) makes very dark edges.
Interesting that the paper holds up for you, by my logic the flashback might blast through the paper. Maybe Iām overthinking it and donāt need to worry as much?
Anyway, good results are good results, so carry on!
Thank you for sharing this, @evansd2, and for all those who commented. I learn so much from all of you. Great jig, and Iām excited to try glue for masking.
@evansd2, I absolutely love using the glue as masking on acrylic! My daughter called me last week and asked me to make some templates for her. Although she is the one who got me started on having a laser, she has never lasered on acrylic before, and she knew I had a lot of it. Well since you shared this technique a few weeks ago, itās all I use now on acrylic now, and I am so thankful! It definitely makes painting so much easier, and is so much easier to peel off than regular masking.
I just used acrylic craft paint. Iāll probably make her another set but spray paint it instead, as Iām not sure if the craft paint will āliftā with use. Of course, the markings are engraved, so she would see them anyway. But I still think spray paint would work better. But Iām mailing her these to get her started. Weāve hit a cold snap so itās too cold to spray paint this week.
