Painter's Tape

[Rockytime]

Awhile back there was a discussion of painter's tape. I think JT described different painter's tape and their adhesive. I'm trying to recall that information. I have several kinds. 3M 2017 Ultra. It has a very strong adhesive and has a crepe like surface. 3M EL500087064 which has a little less strong adhesive. I also have green Frog tape which I don't use because it is only 3/4" wide. So I'm wondering what others use. This isn't exactly earth shaking information I need but I'm curious.

[dgman]

Les, I don’t use blue painters tape at all. I hate having to take time to remove all those little bits of tape off of the project. I use clear packing tape on top of the pattern. A little spray of mineral spirits on the tape and pattern removes it nicely.

[Rockytime]

You put clear packing tape on the top of the pattern? How do you adhere the pattern to the wood?

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

I use strickly 3m painters tapes. I mainly use the blue under all my pattern projects and as far as picking small pieces off it beats breaking fragile fret work from rubbing with thinners to get glue residue off. For delicate work I use the purple tape and it is less sticky. If using Frog tape their green is equivalent to blue and their yellow is purple. 

Here is a link to some 3m info that maybe helpful.https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/1321181O/scotchblue-diy-surface-guide.pdf

I recently encounterd some problems with my puzzles so I am trying an even lower tack tape made for the music world and guitars have not tried it yet. But it feels really low tack.  

[Wichman]

I started with just spray adhesive to the wood, far too much work to remove the pattern.

Then I tried packing tape, better, but clear packing tape is a royal pain for me: static electricity makes it very hard to manage.

Then I tried blue painters tape, still have 1/2 a roll somewhere. Okay, but takes several strips for each piece of wood.

Last year I started using clear self adhesive shelf liner (Duck brand). I have paper cutters and use them to size the shelf liner to the piece of wood, one piece of shelf liner per side and done, note that the shelf liner stays tightly rolled until the backer is removed... then it relaxes and is fairly easy to apply. In my experience the shelf liner maintains good adhesion for extended periods of time and then removes easily with little or no residue (the welcome sign took several months to complete, the only issue was the paper pattern overlap not staying down, problem with the paper and not the liner).

Your mileage may vary.

[Woodmaster1]

+1 on shelf liner. I use it then spray adhesive the the pattern. 

[dgman]

2 hours ago, Rockytime said:

You put clear packing tape on the top of the pattern? How do you adhere the pattern to the wood?

I use 3M 77 spray adhesive on the back of the pattern, wait about 30 seconds then apply the pattern to the wood. Then apply the clear packing tape  to the pattern. I burnish the tape with a small block of wood to eliminate any air bubbles. I don’t have any problem with glare as I have a lighted magnifying lamp and a secondary light to the side of the saw. After I’m done cutting, I spray a little mineral spirits to the tape. The mineral spirits will soak under the pattern and loosen it up.after a couple of minutes, the pattern and tape lifts right up!

[Sycamore67]

I sand the surface first with 220-320 and wipe clean as it helps with adhesion.  I use mainly blue 3m tape and 33M77 to adhere the pattern.

But the choice of pattern mounting system is also depend on the project. I would do it one way for fretwork but different for puzzles, Intarsia, etc.

[JimErn]

9 hours ago, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

...  as far as picking small pieces off it beats breaking fragile fret work from rubbing with thinners to get glue residue off. ...

I do not use tape or shelf liner under the pattern.  I use 3M-77, stick the pattern to the wood, cut it, and then brush the pattern with mineral spirits liberally, wait a minute or two, lift the pattern off including all those bits you have to do individually with tape.  I lightly wipe the work with mineral spirits, never had to scrub it at all, and have not (knock wood) had a problem with breaking fretwork during that process.

Edited July 19, 2019 by JimErn
cause spell checker does not know that the correctly spelled word is not the one I meant to spell!

[kmmcrafts]

I use to use painters tape.. then ran out of what I had on hand.. I then started using clear packing tape.. both worked okay for me.. peeling the pattern off was sometimes a chore but not knowing any other easier way that's just how I did it for most of 10 years.. Oh.. also use to use the 3M-77 exclusively.. Don't know how long it took for the light bulb to light up about printing the pattern on a full sheet shipping label.. but that was sure a smart move for me.. Eliminates a spray the pattern with messy glue step.. and for me just makes the whole process easier...

Then about 4 years ago I read online somewhere about the shelf liner and gave that a go.. second best move was to use that.. sooo much easier to pull the pattern back off..   

So now I use the shelf liner to the wood.. then use the label paper peel and stick to print my pattern on.. works for me.. I like the clear shelf liner over the masking tape because you can see the wood grain to be able to place the pattern exactly where you want / need it.. was always guess work where the bad spot in the wood was once covered in painters tape..

I often thought about trying a white colored shelf liner.. cut it into printer sized papers and try printing onto the label paper all together.. I have not got brave enough to try to run a shelf liner paper through my printer though, LOL  But this would eliminate so many process's and supplies etc. 

Edited July 19, 2019 by kmmcrafts

[JimErn]

44 minutes ago, kmmcrafts said:

 Eliminates a spray the pattern with messy glue step.. and for me just makes the whole process easier...

I fought that messiness for a while too.  Now I cut the pattern to a size smaller than the whole piece, position it.  I always leave a "tab" of paper that will reach the edge at one point.

When it is positioned, I use one of those black paper clamps and clamp the "tab" to the piece.  Then I hold the wood allowing the paper to hang down from the clamp, hold it over a trash can, spray the paper template, and just raise the wood smoothing the template down.  No fuss no mess

[bcdennis]

I use the widest blue painters tape I can find.  I don't mind pulling the tape off, especially on the delicate fret work.  My shop dog usually runs around with blue tape on it though. 

[kmmcrafts]

I might add: another reason I stopped using the 3M-77 was the fact that the cold temps in my shop during the winter.. the spray can freezes up and doesn't spray worth a crap.. and once frozen even after you thaw it.. it never works the same... so in the cold months it was a fighting battle as well... so the full sheet labels take care of that issue too...Now... not so much an issue if I keep the can in the house and then ( actually remember ) bring it back inside the house when done.. That is just as much a pain as the spray glue itself.. Personally I find the cost quite comparable to buying standard paper and the spray glue... IF you buy the labels in bulk.. probably not economical for the hobbyist though?  

[MTCowpoke22]

I used to just spray glue the pattern onto the wood directly. I'm not sure if I used too much glue, but I always had a hell of a time getting the pattern off, even with mineral spirits. Even if the pattern came off, I still had sticky adhesive on the wood that had to be sanded or rubbed off. There were times with fine fretwork on plywood that I would either break pieces, or sand right through the top ply trying to get the glue off. Now, I use the green frog tape because that's what I can get in bulk around here. I usually try to get the 2" or 3" wide stuff, but cover the entire top surface of my wood piece. Its night and day difference for me. The pattern pulls up easily, and if any pieces rip and stay, it doesn't take much to get them. I also tape around the edges to keep my plywood stacks together while cutting. No more fighting with paper stuck to small fragile patterns, no more sticky glue adhesive to try to sand off the finished product. I've thought about trying the shelf liner others here talk about, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

As you see everyone has developed their method. When I started I use to spray pattern and attached right to wood but that is so messy and gets in the grain of the wood especially because I like to use red oak for my projects and then there is walnut that it gets into and was too messy and too time consuming to clean. Wide blue tape is my go to method from then on and has had no problems. I do not use clear tape on top seems like a waste of time. The help from tape in cutting comes from the blue tape. But again no right or wrong way just your way. Happy scrolling. 

[crupiea]

Just very light spray glue on the pattern. let sit for at least 20 minutes so it is barely even tacky.  

Cheapest spray glue walmart sells. 

[OCtoolguy]

6 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

I use to use painters tape.. then ran out of what I had on hand.. I then started using clear packing tape.. both worked okay for me.. peeling the pattern off was sometimes a chore but not knowing any other easier way that's just how I did it for most of 10 years.. Oh.. also use to use the 3M-77 exclusively.. Don't know how long it took for the light bulb to light up about printing the pattern on a full sheet shipping label.. but that was sure a smart move for me.. Eliminates a spray the pattern with messy glue step.. and for me just makes the whole process easier...

Then about 4 years ago I read online somewhere about the shelf liner and gave that a go.. second best move was to use that.. sooo much easier to pull the pattern back off..   

So now I use the shelf liner to the wood.. then use the label paper peel and stick to print my pattern on.. works for me.. I like the clear shelf liner over the masking tape because you can see the wood grain to be able to place the pattern exactly where you want / need it.. was always guess work where the bad spot in the wood was once covered in painters tape..

I often thought about trying a white colored shelf liner.. cut it into printer sized papers and try printing onto the label paper all together.. I have not got brave enough to try to run a shelf liner paper through my printer though, LOL  But this would eliminate so many process's and supplies etc. 

I don't know how it might differ from using the shipping labels but I run them through my laser printer with no problem. Maybe I'll get brave and try the shelf liner and see if the heat from the laser causes any problems.

 

[OCtoolguy]

3 hours ago, crupiea said:

Just very light spray glue on the pattern. let sit for at least 20 minutes so it is barely even tacky.  

Cheapest spray glue walmart sells. 

After reading your suggestion of letting it cure for a few minutes, I gave it a try and you are right. It is still tacky enough to stick without much mess. And the thinner the coat the better. I have an almost full can of 3M77 sitting on the shelf but I found a small can of Elmer's spray glue that my wife had bought for something. I gave it a try and it is so much easier to work with because it's a small lightweight can and it just seems as tacky. Much cheaper too. Actually, I have tried all the different ways that have been suggested here on SSV and I like the shelf paper a lot but the shipping labels are the best. For me anyway. A pack of 100 on Amazon was about $8 and I don't use too many of the large size patterns or I try to re-position my smaller patterns and print them all on one label sheet. It takes some messing around with Word but once done, I save it and can come back and do it again if necessary.

 

[Rockytime]

I use Duck brand shelf material very often. But there are times when cutting a piece with lots of fine detail I prefer a little greater tack so I use painters tape. With fine detail using shelf liner the pattern lifts on small detail. I use a roller to apply the shelf liner, then use a small Delrin burnisher making sure the liner is securely fastened to the wood. Hence the question about painter's tape. JT supplied a helpful 3M chart showing properties of the various tapes. It shows a lower tack purple tape.

[Kepy]

I am a firm believer in the blue painter's tape.  I keep it in several widths and use whichever one works best for the project.  I have an old fridge that has all the motor works out of it so isn't very heavy and that's where I store my paint, stains and glue and haven't had a problem with it freezing.

[Roberta Moreton]

On 7/18/2019 at 11:05 PM, Wichman said:

I started with just spray adhesive to the wood, far too much work to remove the pattern.

Then I tried packing tape, better, but clear packing tape is a royal pain for me: static electricity makes it very hard to manage.

Then I tried blue painters tape, still have 1/2 a roll somewhere. Okay, but takes several strips for each piece of wood.

Last year I started using clear self adhesive shelf liner (Duck brand). I have paper cutters and use them to size the shelf liner to the piece of wood, one piece of shelf liner per side and done, note that the shelf liner stays tightly rolled until the backer is removed... then it relaxes and is fairly easy to apply. In my experience the shelf liner maintains good adhesion for extended periods of time and then removes easily with little or no residue (the welcome sign took several months to complete, the only issue was the paper pattern overlap not staying down, problem with the paper and not the liner).

Your mileage may vary.

Me too!

[danny]

So out of All these Methods of which I have tried them all My Hang up lately is the Tape pulling up fine pieces of the wood. 

Any tricks to eliminate this?  I am leaning back to going with the Shelf Liner Method.  Worked OK back then.  Danny  :+}

[OCtoolguy]

1 hour ago, danny said:

So out of All these Methods of which I have tried them all My Hang up lately is the Tape pulling up fine pieces of the wood. 

Any tricks to eliminate this?  I am leaning back to going with the Shelf Liner Method.  Worked OK back then.  Danny  :+}

Danny, no matter what method you use, using a heat gun will make it easy to remove the tape/pattern. I can't buy mineral spirits here in the "People's Republic of California" so I covet the quart can that I have. So, I always use heat to remove my patterns.

 

[danny]

Cool Mr Octooguy....any hints on the meaning?  Never thought of using the Heat Gun. 

I am into another project now and same painters tape etc. so I  will dust off the heat gun.

Will let you know DTR....   Danny  :+}

[jerrye]

Dollar Tree clear shelf liner costs less than WalMart's, and adheres just as well. To attach pattern to shelf liner, I use a double sided tape from Dollar Tree that comes in a Scotch Tape type dispenser. Pull off what's needed and apply. Unless I find something better, I plan to stick with this.