You roll a few silicon layers over a sheet of vellum or tracing paper, then you remove the silicon layer off the vellum and you place them on top of your acrylic
>Protection Foil
>Rosco grey
>Silicon
>Acrylic
Or do you let the silicon on the sheet of vellum or tracing paper and just add an additional protetion layer
>Protection Foil
>Vellum or tracing paper
>Silicon
>Acrylic
Yes, you let the silicon on the sheet of vellum or tracing paper and just add an additional protection layer on the other side.
As Peauprod. said: “Most people laminate the vellum so that the touch surface is smooth and more protected against the elements. “
You may find the technique on the forum but as I remember, you take two sheets of tracing paper, laminate them, cut off the borders where the platic protections are sticked together, and you’ll have to sheets of tracing paper that are protected on one side.. then apply tinkerman’s silicon method on the other side…
>Protection Foil
>Vellum or tracing paper
>Silicon
>Acrylic
Just did a quick search, can you use tracing paper succesfull because vellum will cost me E160 because I can’t find anything find anything for my size (95*75 cm) only a roll of 22 meters :( ? Tracing paper is alot cheaper, E30 for 10 sheets of my size (A0)
Hi all, I’ve been lurking for a while and the posts here are very insightful, thanks to contributions from all of you!
I have just started building my own ftir multi-touch table. I’ve now got Rosco Grey surface and my ordered GE Silicone 1 is on the way! As I’m planning to layer my Rosco Grey on top of compliant surface, I have a question here:
I found from previous posts that Tinkerman’s roll-on method does not generate satisfying results if rolling directly on Rosco Grey, while rolling on a tracing paper works best. I doubt this is because Rosco Grey has textures on its surface while tracing papers are purely smooth. If so, is it possible for me to prepare the compliant surface with the tracing paper, while peeling it off and applying it on Rosco when it’s cured? Or can I even prepare my compliant surface directly on the acrylic panel, and peel it off and flip it over to apply Rosco? Have anyone got experience about that?
Thank you all and I look forward to hearing from you.
Which Silicone:
In theory many silicons available from your local paint store might work. However to get the results shown most commonly in this thread - you should use pure silicone.
- all the mixtures of silicon and other materials are designed for different purposes like sealing wet leaks in a bathroom. These additives will not necessarily dry well if thinned in various thinners. They also have other unexpected properties like higher shrinkage etc. They may also not dissolve properly in your thinning agent and leave streaks.
Is it Silicone:
There are many brands of proper silicone not just GE. Proper Silicone can be determined by looking on the label to see if it can be used to seal fishtanks.
I.e. glass joining to glass. This will always be good pure silicone. Anything else is a mixture of some kind.
Mixtures may be clearer than pure silicone which is slightly milky. So YMMV. Of course if you apply without thinning then the thinner will not matter.
Thinning:
Xylene is a very aromatic thinner and sometimes hard to get as it is an industrial chemical.
Acetone is nail polish remover (get one without added aromas in case they leave a residue)
Mineral Turpentine is cheapest most easily available thinner throughout the world.
White spirits will also work but is often not very pure by design.
(all of these are aromatic and will give you headaches if not ventilated properly. Do it outside - tough luck for those of us in bad weather areas )
If your paper is held down well then thinning may not be required- just robust application. Also need fewer coats as goes on thicker.
Paper:
Regular tracing paper is ideal. Its thin and has good light transmission properties (its is after all TRACING paper )
End result must have silicone surface touching perspex when all is assembled.
So protecting the reverse side (user’s side) from damage is a good idea. Laminating or laying a thin sheet of clear on top will work.
As mentioned before Laminating two sheets together then cutting round edges will give you two surfaces to experiment with.
Probably varnishing (matt finish) just the one side (remember silicone is on the other) will also work well and give a nice tooth for feel.
I just tried using the Siliconized Acrylic Caulk. The general thought is Siliconized Acrylic will have a closer refractive index then silicon rubber, so this will make a better compliant surface.
I dissolved Siliconized Acrylic in denatured alcohol (not in the picture), but you have to let it sit for about 10 minutes. I had trouble with the acrylic/alcohol solution sticking to my roller brush. I may not be using the right kind (foam). I put toluene on my brush before rolling, and it kept the acrylic caulk from sticking to the roller. The second coat I tried just pulled the previous layer off. I rolled the acrylic caulk on a surface meant to be a white board, so this could be the problem too. I was hoping it would peal off easier.
I don’t know what a good surface is, but it had a texture to it. The surface is still sticky after a week, but I may of put to thick of a coat on which could also cause the acrylic caulk from coming off. When or if it drys, I’ll put it on my ftir coffee table to see how it works (I don’t want to get my acrylic surface dirty).
I just tried using the Siliconized Acrylic Caulk. The general thought is Siliconized Acrylic will have a closer refractive index then silicon rubber, so this will make a better compliant surface.
I dissolved Siliconized Acrylic in denatured alcohol (not in the picture), but you have to let it sit for about 10 minutes. I had trouble with the acrylic/alcohol solution sticking to my roller brush. I may not be using the right kind (foam). I put toluene on my brush before rolling, and it kept the acrylic caulk from sticking to the roller. The second coat I tried just pulled the previous layer off. I rolled the acrylic caulk on a surface meant to be a white board, so this could be the problem too. I was hoping it would peal off easier.
I don’t know what a good surface is, but it had a texture to it. The surface is still sticky after a week, but I may of put to thick of a coat on which could also cause the acrylic caulk from coming off. When or if it drys, I’ll put it on my ftir coffee table to see how it works (I don’t want to get my acrylic surface dirty).
Hummmmm, It looks like the siliconized acrylic just rolls on rosco grey. I had trouble with the roller brush leaving foam particles, but they were easy enough to pick off after the caulk sets. It has a nice texture on it.
Has anyone tried coloring the first layer, then doing away with the paper altogether? If you can get a dark color in the first layer, or just one that will accept the projection on it, then the rest of the layers can be clear coat, and you can do away with the surface above the silicon, or would the silicon be too sticky? Note, I have not tried any of this.
You apply the solution over the vellum ¿what type of material is the vellum?, ¿Can I use another kind of this type of material?. The surface You cut the vellum on the edges. The surface (area) covered by the vellum is the plexiglas (acrylic)?.
I understand that the solution applyed (2 layers) over the vellum passes to the acrylic. Is it the purpose?. The piece of paper (vellum) that you retirement (pick up) the strips in the trash?
Thanks in advance. I want to tell you that this is my first try to do this.
I thought I’d post my success story using some pretty off-the-shelf supplies. I asked an artist friend if he had any turpentine and he said all he had was turpenoid so I mixed that with generic clear silicon I got at the hardware store and rolled on 3 layers (drying for 2 hrs or so between each).
Working pretty well but I don’t have much to compare it to.
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