Laser masking? what do you do?

[bpoulin]

I tried using brown masking tape today, and I loved the results. The image came out so much cleaner. BUT removing the masking from the VERY detailed image was very tedious. I have seen the liquid mask on laserbit's site but it seems SO expensive. Are there alternatives to it? What do you use?

[Litografa]

Paper transfer tape from any supplier of vinyl films. Cheaper is better )

[bpoulin]

Ya know, I was thinking of that, but I just got back into doing signs after a 7 year break, and I'm SHOCKED at the price of transfer tape. R tape I used to buy was $10-15 for 12"x100yd rolls. Now they want $40+!!! It's friggin tape!

[Litografa]

Inflation, expensive oil, financial crisis

[bpoulin]

The oil companies are driving up the price of masking tape... It's a conspiracy I tell you.

[bpoulin]

Do you know a good mail order supplier to get cheap (quality and price) masking?

[SkipW]

That wide blue medium tack painters tape works well for me.

If you are talking about pictures on wood, you can put a good finish on the wood before engraving and the smoke stains will wipe right off with a rag or sponge dampened with Orange Clean or Windex or something similar.

[bpoulin]

It's a mix of vector and raster work, I have found that a low power vector cut of the aztec calender looks FAR better than a raster of it. I haven't tried putting a finish on the wood first... I'll have to try that.

[Litografa]

Cheapest but still good quality choice for wide (more than 2" - 5 cm) tape here in Europe is Oratape from ORAFOL. They have branch in USA also.

Agree with SkipW - if engraving is not big, we also use painter tapes.

[bpoulin]

I like the painters tape, unless the image is too big for one piece, I noticed if you overlap 2 pieces, the overlap etches at a different depth and it's very noticeable.

[SkipW]

I've noticed that too. I have to carefully butt the edges together to avoid an overlap. Does painters tape come in wider sizes?

[bpoulin]

Not really, that's why we were discussing sign masking, it comes in almost any size, and the plus side is it has lower tack than painters tape. I'm kind of currious if I tape down a piece of paper to the work, moisten the paper then cut through it if it will help or not... Has anyone tried this?