Donek Dragknife and vinyl question

[myxpykalix]

I asked about this in an earlier post and now that i'm getting closer to the finish on these cabinets i need a more detailed answer.

I want to do a chemical etching of some glass panes i will be putting in the cabinet doors so here is my questions...

If i had a dragknife and i create a design for the glass, lets say for examples sake it is a round circle with the inital D in the center. The D would be clear and the circle would be etched.

I think i understand how vinyl is cut and applied but what if your table is not perfectly aligned as i'm sure mine is not how will that affect cutting thru material with such small tolerances because you are cutting thru the vinyl but not the backing? Or am i still confused about the process?:confused:

[myxpykalix]

I watched his tutorial with the cow but what i want to do is just use the vinyl as a mask while doing the chemical etching.
So if you've seen the cow tutorial then my glass pane would be like the coroplast and the vinyl that is applied to the glass is like the black vinyl applied to the cow.
From there you do the chemical etching overtop of the vinyl then remove the vinyl....:confused:

[donek]

I watched his tutorial with the cow but what i want to do is just use the vinyl as a mask while doing the chemical etching.
So if you've seen the cow tutorial then my glass pane would be like the coroplast and the vinyl that is applied to the glass is like the black vinyl applied to the cow.
From there you do the chemical etching overtop of the vinyl then remove the vinyl....:confused:

send me your artwork and I can cut it for a test.

[jzarski1]

I have a vinyl cutter. I can cut them and mail them to you. The offer is open, just shoot me a pm.

John

[myxpykalix]

Thank you both for that most generous offer, i appreciate it much.:D
I have not created the artwork yet but will do so shortly.

What i'm thinking is it will be some type of flourish probably with say an initial in the center. Here is a question that may be better answered when i have some specific artwork but in general how do you designate the part you keep and the part you peel away and when you have a design that is cut how do you know what part to peel away and what to keep? Especially in light of the fact that it is actually reversed when you are using it as a mask?

I noticed in the cow video he cut several cuts then just picked up the sheet and peeled away parts. Maybe because i couldn't see it firsthand i couldn't see what he was seeing but for intricate designs that could get confusing.

[Mayo]

If you have an uneven table, a spring loaded cutter adjusted properly should be able to cut just the vinyl. Or, place an even surface underneath the vinyl - like a fresh sheet of MDF or melamine. Don't use corrugated under the vinyl that is being cut.
You can use a very light mist of 3M Super 77 spray glue to hold the vinyl to the MDF or whatever you use. Use too much and you will regret it.

And now for the how to stick vinyl 101...
The process for cutting and sticking vinyl is fairly easy with the right tools and supplies.
You will need:
vinyl - masking vinyl or cheap 2 year lifespan promo stuff.
Transfer tape or clear Contac paper (which isn't paper)
firm squeegee or new bondo spreader or credit cards
masking tape if the design needs to be held in registration
exacto or blade to "weed" or remove the unwanted parts of cut vinyl
Windex or similar glass cleaner and paper towels

First clean your glass.
Are you etching the inside surface of the glass or the outside surface of the glass? If it's the inside surface, you will need to cut your design in reverse. See below for what parts to keep or not to keep...

After cutting your vinyl, you remove (weed) the unwanted vinyl parts where your etching will happen. If necessary, trim the whole piece so it fits within the area you plan to etch. Don't forget to leave a margin of masking to contain the etch. If you don't cut the masking correctly, and try to put masking on top of masking, there will be an air gap which can allow etching to seep in so be careful of that.

Cut a piece of transfer tape (I've used clear Contac paper in a pinch) the same size as your vinyl design including the area surrounding the cut out parts. To make it easy, if it's wall cabinet door size, just lay the transfer paper sticky side up on a clean table. Then lay your cut and weeded vinyl (with the vinyl facing down) onto the transfer tape. Squeegee the entire back of the vinyl to bond it to the transfer tape.

The transfer tape has just enough stickiness to hold all the vinyl in position, but not so much stickiness that it never releases it after you have it stuck down to your glass doors.

You can now use masking tape across the top edge of the glass to help align your masking where you want it on the glass. The transfer tape will be the top surface and you use the masking tape like a hinge across the top, putting half of the masking tape on the glass and half of it on the transfer tape.

With everything in position on the glass and the squeegee in hand, flip the whole assembly up (using the masking tape hinge) and slowly peel the paper backing away from the vinyl, making sure that the vinyl is remaining on the transfer paper as you pull down the paper backing.

Be careful not to let the vinyl fall down and stick before you are ready because it will likely be out of registration. Hold it away from the surface until you get about half of the backing paper rolled down off the vinyl. Now you can start using the squeegee starting at the masking tape hinge and working down and across, but not using so much force that you crease or rip anything. Light to moderate is OK at first.

As the squeegee gets close to where you have rolled down the backing paper from the back of the vinyl, you can continue unrolling the backing paper until it's almost off or take it entirely off if you can hold the vinyl away from the surface while you finish squeegeeing.
Once you have moderately gone over the entire surface you can then squeegee more firmly over all of it. If you see any bubbles in the masking, try and work them to the closest edge to get them out.

Now you can slowly remove your masking tape hinge and your transfer tape. Double check all edges of the vinyl to make sure there are no bubbles or creases that would allow your etch to seep under.

If everything looks good, apply your etching.
After your etching is done, remove the vinyl masking using the exacto blade. If it is difficult to remove, you can warm it with a hair dryer or low temp of a heat gun if it's held far enough away so that it doesn't melt the adhesive - you just want to warm it.

As far as what parts to keep and what to peel away - anything you want etched would be removed, leaving an open area for the etching to work in. You will need to contain the etched area with a solid border or shape of vinyl - an oval, rectangle, solid wavy border etc. which would be like a picture frame - except that once removed after the etching is done, the picture frame is clear glass.

Think of the etching as frosted white.
The clear glass is your masking.
Your masking (regardless what color the vinyl actually is) is going to be everything that is clear glass.

[myxpykalix]

Is this image suitable for vinyl cutting or does it have too much detail to be practical? I've looked thru my dover books for frames and flourishes and couldn't find anything in a 2d b/w suitable. Is there someplace i should look for "flourishy" type designs that i might put an initial in the center of for the glass panes?:confused:

BTW Mayo Thanks for the detailed instructions. I've copied and pasted them to a txt file and when i'm ready to start the process i'll follow your steps closely.:eek:

[coryatjohn]

I would think that image would be extremely difficult to make using a vinyl mask. Since you're essentially using two colors (etched and not-etched), there will be no grey scale.

[myxpykalix]

I'm so used to thinking in 3D, i need to start thinking in 2D and in a "2 part" flat visualization of a etched and non etched sections.

[ssflyer]

Jack,

I think you'd have a really hard time getting a good profile of a greyscale (almost a heightmap) image - doable but not the easiest.

Try searching Google or Bing for "floral frame" and choosing, "Line Drawing" as the image type. You may find something a lot easier to deal with.