'weeding'

[Forest Cobbler]

When I'm engraving acrylic or brass with a nose cone, I always protect the surface with adhesive vinyl. I was just wondering if any of you had come up with a quicker way, than using a scalpel and tweezers, to weed out the little bits of vinyl from the middle of the letters. Sometimes the clean up can take longer to do that the engraving does.

Thanks, Valerie

[Michael]

I weed the little middle of letter bits first with my finger nail. You can just scrape them without worrying about scratching the brass.

Then peel the large bit off last.

[Paul_]

We have our machine hooked up to a dust extractor and most of the “middles” disappear during the engraving process. Very little is left to weed. 

[Happy Dude]

The edge of a clean piece of crepe removes all those annoying little bits on the a's and o's etc.

Just a gentle rub is all it takes, doesn't mark the plastic...

[Forest Cobbler]

On 1/20/2023 at 11:55 AM, Michael said:

I weed the little middle of letter bits first with my finger nail. You can just scrape them without worrying about scratching the brass.

Then peel the large bit off last.

I've always done the big bit first,  but this makes much more sense

16 hours ago, Happy Dude said:

The edge of a clean piece of crepe removes all those annoying little bits on the a's and o's etc.

Just a gentle rub is all it takes, doesn't mark the plastic...

Definitely going to give this a go too

 

On 1/20/2023 at 7:55 PM, Paul_ said:

We have our machine hooked up to a dust extractor and most of the “middles” disappear during the engraving process. Very little is left to weed. 

I used to use a vacuum to clear all the debris as the engraving was done, but it never took out the middle bits. Not a chance of persuading Mark to get a dust extractor instead :0

Thanks for all your suggestions, Valerie

[Peter J]

Have you run without the nose cone, (fixed head), solves all that type o fproblem

[Forest Cobbler]

29 minutes ago, Peter J said:

Have you run without the nose cone, (fixed head), solves all that type o fproblem

I have tried but, unfortunately, the flat bed is not quite as flat as it should be so some areas get missed. 

[Forest Cobbler]

On 1/20/2023 at 11:55 AM, Michael said:

I weed the little middle of letter bits first with my finger nail. You can just scrape them without worrying about scratching the brass.

Then peel the large bit off last.

 

On 1/24/2023 at 4:36 PM, Happy Dude said:

The edge of a clean piece of crepe removes all those annoying little bits on the a's and o's etc.

Just a gentle rub is all it takes, doesn't mark the plastic...

Just tried both these ideas at the same time and I have to say that leaving the large area of vinyl till last certainly reduces the fear of scratching the surface, so thanks for that.

But I have a question about the crepe:- Do you usually heat it up a bit first so that it's more sticky? I found that it just skipped over the surface most of the time. Will definitely persevere with it as an idea though.

Thanks again, Valerie 

[Happy Dude]

On 2/7/2023 at 1:00 PM, Forest Cobbler said:

 

Just tried both these ideas at the same time and I have to say that leaving the large area of vinyl till last certainly reduces the fear of scratching the surface, so thanks for that.

But I have a question about the crepe:- Do you usually heat it up a bit first so that it's more sticky? I found that it just skipped over the surface most of the time. Will definitely persevere with it as an idea though.

Thanks again, Valerie 

Hi,

i usually give the edge a quick scour on the finishing machine to bubble it up and clean it, sorry I never thought to include that info.

i understand your concern re scratching, that's a good idea leaving the rest on while rubbing with the crepe but I've never found it necessary when I take the steps above... 

[Forest Cobbler]

That's great, thank you. I had a piece cut straight from a sheet but The Boss did say that he usually scours it a bit before using it to remove glue from a shoe. I should have listened to him

[Gray]

Stupid question but are you leaving the film on they come with? I buy precut sizes from Pantograph Services I don't really have an issue really

[Forest Cobbler]

14 hours ago, Gray said:

Stupid question but are you leaving the film on they come with? I buy precut sizes from Pantograph Services I don't really have an issue really

No questions are stupid

Sometimes I leave the film on, but mostly I don't. I've not found that it has made significant difference in the past, but maybe if I combine leaving the film on and using the crepe that will solve my problems.

Thanks

[Michael]

I always leave the film on and put a piece of scrap vinyl over the top, weed the little bits with my nail first then peel both layers off in one.

 

[Auto Key Wizard]

On 1/25/2023 at 4:26 PM, Peter J said:

Have you run without the nose cone, (fixed head), solves all that type of problem

On 1/25/2023 at 4:58 PM, Forest Cobbler said:

I have tried but, unfortunately, the flat bed is not quite as flat as it should be so some areas get missed. 

So, a nylon depth cone could be used, or correct the machine bed level issue and problem solved. 

 

[Forest Cobbler]

On the advice of Mark from U-marq, a few years ago I tried to correct the level of the flat bed by sticking on a piece of acrylic and then hatch engraving it from one corner to the other, which removed more material in the top left corner than it did in the bottom right. The level is definitely improved but not to the extent where I would be happy to engrave without a nose cone, particularly on larger pieces. Smaller bits are ok, but it is habit now to use a nose cone and vinyl no matter what size plate I am engraving and I don't have any problems with that, beyond how long it can take to remove the vinyl from the middles of small lettering. 

Using a combination of the suggestions from the other guys I think I can speed that up quite considerably. Just got to wait for an order for a brass or acrylic plate now to try it out

[Forest Cobbler]

An update on how I am getting on with a combination of all your suggestions. I have done both a brass plate and an acrylic plate in the last few days.

I don't think our crepe is quite the same as it used to be, it just doesn't seem to get as sticky as I remember, but with a bit of extra pressure the middles of the letters came away.

Leaving the large area of vinyl on while working on the small bits is revolutionary, so much less stressful.

Leaving the protective film on under the vinyl is where I have had most frustration. The crepe removes the vinyl but the film remains and can be the devils own job to release from the tiny middle of an 'e' for example. I think this may be the one that I don't use in future, sorry.

Thanks, Valerie