Anyone know if it is OK to cut this material on the laser cutters?
I would like to cut some stencils to be used for sand blasting/etching some wine glasses.
I can’t seem to find info on the actual material but it’s rubber with a plastic backing.
Thx!
You can email them about the MSDS/SDS & they should be able to get that to you.
I have requested that info from the manufacturer - thanks for the suggestion.
Do you happen to know how thick is that material?
I ask because I wouldn’t mind trying it out on my CMC (computerized mat cutter)
Received a reply from the manufacturer this AM:
“Over N Over stencils can NOT be laser cut. It is not compatible. sorry”
No other indication of the type of material or why it can’t be cut with the laser - but I will follow their advice.
@TLAR: the material (rubber plus plastic backing) is 0.25 mm thick (as measured by me). If you want to try this with your CMC I can provide a sample of the material. The etchworld.com web page (Blank Over n Over Stencil Material - Etchworld.com - Glass Etching Supplies Superstore) indicates this can be cut with a “Cricut stencil cutter”.
Since it can be cut with a cricut, it can possibly be cut with our vinyl cutter as well (basically a big cricut) if the material is large enough to be held in the machine.
@PearceDunlap would be able to tell you.
1/4" thick may be a problem, but I’d still like to try. The CMC is a “drag knife” not a rolling cutter.
1/4 millimeter, not inch
Our Vinyl cutter is currently set up and calibrated for Vinyl stickers. I’m sure that it WILL work, but I’ve been told that we will not be adjusting the machine to deal with other types of materials. There is another vinyl cutter available at the space, but attempts to get it running have been unsuccessful. The plan would be that one of the two would be for standard vinyl stickers and the other for experimentation.
I didn’t realize it was so thin. That’s 0.010".
You can buy 0.010" thick laser-cuttable polyester stencil material at laserbits.com FWIW, Mylar is one trademarked name for this type of film.
I don’t know if the rubber stuff is required for etching glass, but this might work for you.
Thanks Walter - I missed that!
The rubber is required to repel the media particles. I remember a friend (ages ago) used to do intricate designs on and in glass with media blasting - he used some sort of liquid rubber and would carve his designs in it once is was semi solid.
I cut stencil blanks on my Cricut. BUT that kind of cutter vs the big vinyl cutter at DMS has the ability to do multiple passes of the same cut for some of the thicker materials. DMS has a Cameo that could do it if we get it hacked so we don’t have to pay for the proprietary design software for it. For sandblasting glass though, you can do single use vinyl cuts on the big vinyl cutter and that process works great for either sandblasting of chemical etching glass.
Not vinyl or rubber…
This is a video (not my video) of one of two CMC cutters I use at work:
lol…yeah, I paid through the nose years ago to have some custom cut mats for some southwest prints we were framing w/ double mats. I had NO idea back then about CNC and how any of that worked, let alone that one day I’d have access to CNC equipment.
Do you know where the Cameo is? I haven’t seen it in quite a while.
It was on the top shelf of the committee cabinet last I saw it. We took it out of the box to conserve space. We put it in there since we don’t have the Silhouette design studio license subscription which we need to run it unless we can get it hacked. The only other option I know of is to buy a copy of the Sure-Cuts-A-Lot software (about $60) so we can import fonts and .svg files into it for cutting.
It does have all the cords and mats and stuff, but came with no software.
Version 4 is the latest Sure Cuts A Lot…details as to what it does are at: https://www.craftedge.com/products/products_silhouette.html
Let me know if you need a mat or mats cut in the future
I thought we were driving down the path of hacking that thing.