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Is there a material i can use for stencils not paintmask?
I need to make some Stencils that can be reused, they are for marking crates with spray paint.
Is there a material i can cut on the plotter for this purposes?
Paint mask is no good as they need to be reusable.
Any ideas?
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14 Replies
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How about using sand blast material and just taping it to the container and spraying each time.
Chris 😀
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Is sand blast material reusable??
Do you just tape it in position??
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Its just a very thick rubber that is used for sandblasting, you will need
a special blade for your plotter to cut it.chris
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oh it has a sticky back to it, any other questions just ask. 😀
chris
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If it has a sticky back to it it’s not gonna last for a runn of say 100 crates is it?
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Hi Lorraine
When I have to do this I use a material that my friend gets from our highway department.
It is a thick paper, not quite cardboard, and it has an oiled surface. You have to hand-cut it with an X-Acto knife, which is a pain, but it can be used again & again.
After cutting, you apply 3M spray adhesive to the back & then you can stick it to your surface for spray painting. Press it down firmly so paint does not bleed under the edges of the stencil.
I was thinking that perhaps you could buy this type of material at a local craft store which sells stencil kits. Yuppies are always doing stencils here. Maybe they would sell a rigid plastic film which could be used…it’s worth a chance asking.
Be sure to factor in your cutting time & materials & charge appropriately.
Good Luck! 😉
Love- JILL -
No it probaly would’nt last that long depending on the image. how about
making a stencil out of foamex or mdf?chris
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Hi Lorraine,
I have cut them by hand from 1mm Foamex laminated with vinyl with the lettering cut out first on the plotter, gives you the perfect guide for cutting to. No easy though but possible.
Or perhaps someone with a router could cut the stencil out of 3mm Foamex.
The “proper” ones I believe are made from zinc plate, I remember using them years ago.Alan
ps, I have made them out of magnetic vinyl for working on metal.
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0.4MM styrene will work the best , it’s thin enough to go thru the plotter and you can cut it easily at slow speed and high force , just enough to almost score it thru (will take experimentation) and then just break it out and use the sharp edge of a scissor to de burr if you have to – its dirt cheap and breaks out nicely.
The alternative is to ask a laser shop to do it for you , they should not charge a lot , we charge about GBP 1.30 for a 600mm x150 mm stencil made from this (tho in big runs) with us supplying material -
PS – spray cans make really bad images with a stencil , the better way to do it is use a stippling brush (the bristles cut flat) and “stab” it thru the letters when painting , no runs , little mess and no overspray and wet paint on the back.
Erm….. the font you use has to be a stencil font , if you want another one , use coreldraws Eraser at the right size to “break” the letters so the insides doent fall out , FAT bridges from outside to inside work best for longevity of the stencil. I have a nice sans serif slightly condensed stencil font if you want. -
The quality of the image is not that important as it’s only for crates and they are destroyed one the stuff is delivered. But they do require marking up.
It’s for an associate company of ours, for those of you who remember when my company was called ‘CP Image’, called CP crates. They already make stencils with this hand cutting ‘thing’ (i’ve not seen it yet hence its a ‘thing’) but it is very labourious and we were looking for something a bit labour saving.
I currently do all the screens (and most of the printing) for CP Cases and would like to try and keep this in the family too.
The paper Jill talks about sounds interesting especially if you can cut it on a plotter – only draw back is it really needs some backing paper so as not to damage the cutting strip
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I thought i might throw my 2 penn’th in!
Have your stencil cut by a local metalworking company that uses a plasma cutter to get a nice clean edge.Darryl
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Lorraine – if you go to a shop with a cold pressure laminator , you can get any media you like lined with a removeable mounting film , IE sticky backed with a carrier , that can be plotter cut We do that with our lexan membrane switches which are reverse printed and then plotter cut.
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Interesting stuff Rodney, also as you mention it is it easy to cut lexan on the plotter??
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