Route in place tactile letters leaving adhesive

[Derf]

Hello,

We are having a problem with adhesive being left on the surface of our signs after weeding away the Rowmark waste material.

Equipment Used:
• Rotary engraver and/or CNC table with euro spindal

Product used:
• Acrocast non glare acrylic
• Rowmark engraving stock with T467MP12 Adhisive

Methods tried to solve problem:
• Control temperature (about 74ºf)
• Light pressure used when applied
• Engraving a couple thousands into acrylic
• Applying pressure to the adhesive on back or Rowmark before applying to acrylic
• Weeding waste material slow and fast


Does any one have any suggestions we have thousands of signs we can make and we really dont want to clean all this adhesive or sub the job out.

It seams like the adhesive wants to adhere to the acrylic more than the Rowmark. This picture is one of the better ones. Some have tones of adhesive.

 

[CanuckSigns]

what type of adhesive is on the rowmark? we have troubles with the 468MP, but the 467MP works fine for us.

Also if possible, switch the acrylic over to a P95 acrylic, the face is more textured, and the tape comes off much easier.

 

[Derf]

We are using the 3M® T467MP

I will look into the P95 acrylic

 

[CanuckSigns]

not sure if it's an option, but we get MUCH better results cutting tactile on our laser vs. our rotary engraver, you don't get the beveled edges though.

 

[Derf]

We have a laser but we want to produce larger volume on our CNCs or buy another CNC just for route in place and setting beed Braille as a semi automated system. If we were doing a few signs here and there non of this would be a big issue but when we get orders for 3,500 the problem is compounded.

 

[Rick]

What I taught was to use a worn engraving tool and go around the letters to cut through that adhesive before I weed them. When you go around the letters pretty fast but you will feel resistance when you hit that adhesive. Where you hit the adhesive, cut through it as close to the letter as possible, then pull the waste Rowmark.

 

[Rick]

oops, even after you pull the waste Rowmark, I have cut through the adhesive with the tool and cleaned the letters up... and the colder the room is, the easier it is to pull it.

 

[Derf]

Yeah we put some acrylic in the fridge and then cut it and it helped a lot. Hand cutting around letters may help but we cut into the backer a few thousands. We may build an inclosed room to house the CNC and keep the room about 68ºf but I want to figure how others are doing it with less adhesive being left behind.

 

[Rick]

I cut into the backer too, the only way I got rid of the problem in most cases was to cut it more than thousandths of an inch (but it left a tool mark) or run the tool by hand...

 

[Derf]

Thanks, Rick I'll keep working on it. I just got some new acrylic to test on so we will see what happens.

 

[CES020]

Cut deeper, and don't press the material down hard until you've weeded it. That stuff sticks well, so just lay it on there, lightly press it down, cut it (deeper than shown), and then weed it. Put a piece of flat stock over the top and press it down for the final time.