Wacom drawing area starting to wear out. Replacement advice.

Hayden Zammit

So I use my intuos for everything. It's been a few years now and the drawing area is starting to wear out a bit. I saw that Wacom sells covers that you can buy, but they're like $40 which seemed pretty expensive.

I was wondering if I could just get a screen cover for a surface pro tablet or something and cut it down to shape. They're way cheaper. Does anyone know if this could cause any problems? I just can't understand why Wacom sell their own surface sheets for so much extra, unless they do something special.

ExcessiveZero

what precise model do you have dude?

AtticusMars

Tape a sheet of smooth paper over it, I've read vellum works well but I just use marker paper

Jeff Parrott

Is the area surface that different (feeling)? Mine is pretty worn away but it works just fine. I just roll with it till I have a hole or something in it.

Muzzoid

For an intuos 3, if it starts to catch on the worn out area, i just took some very fine sand paper to smooth out the bumps.

It's good for another year now.

Mask_Salesman

I tape a thin plastic sheet over the top, you know the kind back in the old days that teachers used to draw markers on when using a light projector. Or atleast I think so...

It's about a 1mm thick, very strong and actually has less friction than the wacom pad itself which I prefer.
I've tried quite a few things, mostly prefering plastic over paper/card so I dont end upwith any notches or bumbs.
I've had the same sheet for atleast 6months now at work, it looks well worn but still feels smooth with no grooves or nicks to catch the nib in.

SuperFranky

Mask_Salesman wrote: »

I tape a thin plastic sheet over the top, you know the kind back in the old days that teachers used to draw markers on when using a light projector. Or atleast I think so...

It's about a 1mm thick, very strong and actually has less friction than the wacom pad itself which I prefer.
I've tried quite a few things, mostly prefering plastic over paper/card so I dont end upwith any notches or bumbs.
I've had the same sheet for atleast 6months now at work, it looks well worn but still feels smooth with no grooves or nicks to catch the nib in.

You mean something like a smartphone screen protector thing?

CougarJo

I have an official plastic sheet for mine : http://eu.shop.wacom.eu/accessories/intuos4//262

Nothing special at all about it, it's thicker than a plastic film (and probably not worth 20euros) expect that it's only glued with the litte black stripe (in top of it on the picture) , so you can remove it without problems. But yes I think a transparent plastic film will work fine!

JedTheKrampus

I got a pack of Grafix Clear Dura-lar from Amazon and I've yet to get through my first sheet of it yet. Just cut it down to size and stick it on there with something. I used some thin mounting squares but I'm sure you can find better. Cheap and you'll have enough to last you a lifetime.

Hayden Zammit

what precise model do you have dude?

Its the Wacom Intous 4 Medium

Is the area surface that different (feeling)? Mine is pretty worn away but it works just fine. I just roll with it till I have a hole or something in it.

Lol. Don't have any holes yet, but its starting to catch the nib right in the middle.


Think I'll get some of these transparency films and see how it goes. Could only find adhesive ones on ebay. Hopefully they're ok.

huffer

You can also get surface sheets directly from Wacom and drop them in.

Ben Apuna

I don't remember who, but someone here once suggested flipping the surface over to the other side. I haven't tried it myself.

My wacom's surface was getting worn out as well, but I guess I just kept on using it until the worn out parts got even more worn out and now it's back to a acceptably smooth state.