Peeling the protective sheet off a piece of acrylic (or, for that matter, any other flat surface with an adhesive wrapper) can be a frustrating exercise. The wrappers want to tear, leaving you with torn corners that need endless fussing to lift them away. The drawing shows my solution to this problem.
As illustrated, peel back a couple of inches of the wrapping, and stick it to a spindle made of a scrap piece of wood a little longer than the wrapper. Usually, the wrapper will stick to the spindle with its own adhesive. If not, staple it to the spindle. Now you’re ready to peel the wrapper off by rolling the spindle down the length of the sheet. Wrappers come away fast this way because you’re pulling evenly, and your thumbnail is needed only when a tear starts at a hole in the wrapper. A C-clamp affixed to the spindle makes a good handle.
—Mark Johnson, Chicago, IL
Edited and illustrated by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #118
View Comments
Having done this for years framing art work I've found that a cardboard tube works much better and the larger the diameter the easier and faster it is to remove the paper backing material.
Gary
San Diego