ACOT Message Board

My mother forced me into accepting a Xyron 150 this weekend (my first real hobby, you see... she's over-excited and wants me to have every tool under the sun whether or not I even want/need it)... I'm having a problem however: we ran some small letters through it, but they seem to be overly gluey. The letters look slightly soggy even after drying, strings of adhesive seem to pull up with the letters and make a real mess, and even with all that excess sticky mess some areas still don't quite stick down.

Am I doing something wrong? Is there some trick to it that I just haven't picked up? Or am I just trying to run something way too small through it (1.5-2cm tall) and should go larger?

Thanks in advance for your help

 Make sure you rub with your fingers really well over the clear protector sheet before you pull it off.  This will help with leaving too much adhesive on your letters and also help adhere it.

 I take the blunt end of my scissors or my bone folder and rub the back of the letters really well before peeling off the clear sheet.  Yes, there may be a bit of gluey strings, I just use my glue eraser and it comes right off.  I do this after I put my letters on my paper.

Sorry you are having problems.

 lol, I've had a xyron for about 5 years, and just figured out that tip on my own last week.  You are so lucky to have such informative friends on this site!

 Don't feel bad Teri, I just learned that great tip a couple of years ago. 

 Sometimes it's just easier to use a glue pen.

 I have one of these but have never used it yet...  I think it might have a couple inches of dust on it.  I wish you luck..

 OMgosh!  I LOVE LOVE my lil Xyron.  So much so I bought his Mommy and Daddy too! (aka the 250 and 500).

The strings can be taken care of the way others have said already...make sure you rub good before taking off the plastic.  I've also learned a little trick - that maybe hard to explain in words.  As you are pulling the plastic off, pull it off...flat...so that as you are pulling, your hand is almost right on top of the rest of the strip.  In other words...don't pull "up".  I hope that makes some sense...it's easier to show than "say".  Anyway...it helps get that excess off WITH the plastic.

The adhesive eraser works well for any that remains behind.

I'm not sure what  you mean by "soggy"...do you have a picture?

And one more thing...if it's TOO sticky for you, you might want to try the "repositionable" refill instead of "permanent".  Not sure if that's what you have, but it's the thought I had.

HTH!

 Everyone is right on with their tips and tricks for getting the "cobwebs" off. I'm really not sure what you mean about the "soggy" look since it is a dry adhesive. If you are using vellum, it is going to have a slightly different look because it is covering the entire backing with adhesive. If you used an actual liquid adhesive and put a spot of it on the back of vellum, you'd see the the spot and it would be a different color also, same with any other adhesive.  

When I demo the 150 for people, they buy up all I have on hand! It's such a handy little guy! 

 I use a brayer to roll across the top of the clear paper. sorry can't think of the word for that clear stuff works fine like that.  Because I was about ready to toss it out the window. I like the 250 better.