What is Reddit's opinion of Vinyl Ease 12inch x 100 feet roll of Paper Transfer Tape with a Medium to High Tack Layflat Adhesive. Works with a Variety of Vinyl. Great for Decals, Signs, Wall Words and More. American Made V0821?

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There's not anything made specifically for Glowforge, and most other lasers cut so much faster and with much stronger air assist that their operators don't need to mask everything like we do. Their cuts come out clean without it.

Several Amazon sellers have added that disclaimer for liability reasons -- because loose masking tape can catch fire in your laser and cause thousands of dollars in damage.

That doesn't mean you can't use it. Any paper masking/transfer tape will work.

I use the Vinyl Ease paper tape which is available on Amazon.

This masking tape works great for me. It’s just sticky enough to stay but easy to take off without leaving residue or even pulling at the material. If you with with 12” panels (like 12x19 for example) they fit perfectly as well in one strip.

(Note not an affiliate link)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DF7TDSF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_QXR6W1C53984WY4091QZ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Yep that's the brand I use. It isn't made of vinyl, it's made of paper similar to the proofgrade masking. It's called vinyl transfer tape because the "normal" use for it is picking up vinyl pieces and transferring it to another surface. So while seeing the word vinyl is scary when putting it in a laser cutter, it's not applicable for us.

I'd recommend getting the 12" roll instead of the 6" so you can cover materials in one sheet: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DF7TDSF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1&fpw=alm

Pro Tip: When using plywood, take a picture before putting the transfer tape on, and reference that when placing your design in the GF software. This way you can selectively pick the wood grain pattern on your pieces. IMO this is a MAJOR advantage that is overlooked when using non-PG plywood is the ability to see the wood grain before cutting.

When I want to mask a piece, I use a wide roll of transfer paper which covers the whole sheet of material with no overlap.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DF7TDSF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_HAC1AB8R5B89QR4ZMQQC?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Is it made from vinyl or is it "Vinyl Ease" brand?
This is what I use :
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DF7TDSF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

can you recommend a specific tape?

This one?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DF7TDSF/ref=ox\_sc\_act\_title\_1?smid=A2O113NRFHPFB6&psc=1

This is the tape I use. It does not leave any residue and it's lower tack than Proofgrade masking, so it's not hard to remove.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DF7TDSF

The brand name is "Vinyl Ease" but it does not contain any vinyl. It's just a paper masking tape.

A note on materials: they need to be laser safe!!! If you use certain materials they may contain compound that create hazardous or toxic fumes. For example DO NOT use vinyl, plastics (other than laser safe acrylic) etc. make sure it’s laser safe, most vendors will state this. Also some paints can cause toxic fumes as well. Search the paints’ manufacturer safety sheet online and it will tell you under the sections for fire when fumes are given off when heated or burned. If you stick with the basic materials though there are a lot of vendors. Just note you need to test those materials to make sure you have the settings correct as they can vary from the materials glowforge sells. Some vendors even have recommended specs for their materials. If you don’t know ask the vendor or check the glowforge community website. They have a great google doc with tons of materials and more being added all the time.

Some other need to know to expand on what others said: 1) depending on the projects you may want to buy various materials to complement your design (lights, fasteners and more). You will probably need a digital caliper - a tool to help you measure the width of your material. A fabulous guy has a website where he sells designs (https://bigbluelaserdesigns.com/blogs/tipsandtutorials/a-quick-look-at-kerf). I recommend watching the video above as it explains an important concept of kerf. Also you will need masking tape for wood and other projects. You cover your board or material in masking tape for most things. This allows smoke and burn marks from getting on your base material and only on the masking as it’s cutting. Some vendors offer to have a mask already on it (glowforge materials already have them) but when you buy your own material you may need to add it. I find this one is the best as it fits most of my board in one go: Vinyl Ease 12 inch x 100 feet... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DF7TDSF?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

2) they don’t but they offer replacement parts and the community is pretty supportive. Some have major issues here and there but I think it’s a pretty solid product they just have some things that can go out over a large amount of production. 3) the noise is very loud. It is like a vacuum like the first response said but very much louder. If noise bothers you make sure to keep it in an area you won’t mind it. You do need to monitor it so you can run away from it for a long time (for safety reasons) but I use headphone and drown it out with something else. It’s not loud enough for ear issues but it will drown out some things. 4) I use DelviesPlastics for acrylic and like Woodpecker from Amazon as my supplier - they are priced right and send me quality so far. I’m in between vendors on MDF at the moment. Note some acrylic vendors have issues right now as more clear plastic (and acrylic) have increased in demand due to covid. 5) I recommend using another designer and then send to their portal. It’s a web interface with limited options so a more advanced product will be best. I use illustrator and Affinity Designer, but Inkscape is a free product that is great and does the job as well. If you buy designs or use free ones from others (assuming you have a license to do so) then the web portal is just fine. Also if you have used Cricut or similar design software you can use that and export to SVG and port to Glowforge. So you have a lot of options. Most designs need to be vectors so SVG is the lost common for that, PDF can also be used. If it’s a photo like a JPEG then it will use that to engrave but not make sharp cuts etc. if you design something in their space, yes you can export it. However if you use one of their free or paid designs then you can’t (the export will exclude any parts of their designs). 6)it’s in a web browser so you can use the desktop, laptop, a tablet or iPad, or even you phone in a pinch - the larger screens are nice to perfect the design and placement but you can also send to the laser from your phone etc. you have to manually hit a button on the laser to start (safety reasons). 7) I’ve had it a year or so. If they had an upgraded model I’m not sure Id upgrade only because I’m not sure what they could offer to need it. But if they think of something I would definitely think about it.

Note you can engrave a lot of materials and sized objects but there are limits on sizes that can fit in the device and also how think it can cut. I don’t think I’d cut larger than 1/4 for anything with detail. I believe it cuts up to an inch but really this is for engraving and/or cutting smaller things. Signs and more definitely. But crown molding I’m not sure. Also it can’t cut metal and many types of things. Check the glowforge site for a complete list of what it can cut be engrave. I think any business though can find good value in it. But just want to manage your expectations.

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I bought this recently: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DF7TDSF

I wish it was a stronger adhesive, but it works pretty well

To find some to buy, "paper transfer tape" are your keywords. Amazon has lots, typically with "vinyl" in the name because the main buyers are vinyl sign makers, not because the tape contains vinyl. Make sure it says "paper", as there is also transfer tape made of plastic and you want the paper kind, which is basically 12" masking tape. It leaves no residue behind.

https://www.amazon.com/Vinyl-Ease-Transfer-Silhouette-Adhesive/dp/B07DF7TDSF

I almost never put a piece of wood or acrylic in my laser without that tape on it. Here's a photo of something I engraved with that tape over it, so you can see how there's no scorch marks anywhere outside the engraved area, with no cleanup to get it that way:

https://i.imgur.com/Yfao5dV.jpg

Sign making suppliers will have lots of it to buy as well: https://www.signwarehouse.com/c/transfer-tape-application-tape

I tried the Cricut brand but I actually like this stuff I found more. The Cricut just seemed a lot less forgiving if you aren't really careful.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DF7TDSF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_uckEFbF9D8K68

The one I used was this from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Vinyl-Ease-Transfer-Silhouette-Adhesive/dp/B07DF7TDSF/