Enclosure finishing idea...

[mikitz]

So far I've found Ruz's guide for etching very effective.. but I have an idea for a different look and was wondering if anyone has tried this or thinks it might work:
- paint enclosure and wait for it to dry
- print the design with a laser printer using photo paper (just like etching but not inverse)
- iron on the design, peel off the paper to reveal toner
- clear coat

Has anyone tried this? It would be a lot cheaper than buying the waterslide decals, I wonder how the toner would age under the clear coat?

[Hemmel]

I've tried something similar, however I didn't use photo paper but magazine paper. Ironing over the paint melted the paint and the transfer got very "mushy".
Waterslide worked better.

[GGBB]

I've tried something similar, however I didn't use photo paper but magazine paper. Ironing over the paint melted the paint and the transfer got very "mushy".
Waterslide worked better.

I tried the same way using photo paper and had the same result - the paint and photo paper coating seemed to melt together but not consistently.  Very big mess - had to strip back to bare metal.

[mikitz]

Ok thanks for letting me learn from your trials... its back to etching for me! A reverse etch might give a similar effect.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Would love to see a toner transfer that scratches off. Much like those popular wall designs that you stick to your wall, scratch the design on, and peel the paper back.

[mikitz]

Hold it! I found this... http://www.homedepot.ca/product/ultra-high-heat-enamel-aged-copper/979917
?

From the Rustoleum website:
Resists heat up to 650C (1200F)
That's hot

[davent]

You can use acrylic medium for transferring toner printed on regular paper to a painted enclosure. Glue it on with the medium, let it dry, re-wet with water and rub the paper off, the dry/re-wet/rub cycle needs to be repeated a number of times to get all the fibers.

Blue lettering done with a stencil then all the black lettering and outline done with a toner transfer. Failed three times with full face decals for the black, toner transfer took one try.




Drill bit is 1/16".



dave

[Jdansti]

>Has anyone tried this? It would be a lot cheaper than buying the waterslide decals, I wonder how the toner would age under the clear coat?

deadastronaut does this. I'm not sure if he's done it on painted enclosures, but he does on bare metal. I think the toner would be well protected under several coats of clear coat.

[duck_arse]

You can use acrylic medium for transferring toner printed on regular paper to a painted enclosure. Glue it on with the medium, let it dry, re-wet with water and rub the paper off, the dry/re-wet/rub cycle needs to be repeated a number of times to get all the fibers.
Blue lettering done with a stencil then all the black lettering and outline done with a toner transfer. Failed three times with full face decals for the black, toner transfer took one try.



dave

that black over "teal" looks fantastic. what the hell is medium, though? I've got a bottle of something called "artist's fabric medium?" to add to paint to make it stick to cloth.

bloody hell, I need a laser printer .......

[deadastronaut]

>Has anyone tried this? It would be a lot cheaper than buying the waterslide decals, I wonder how the toner would age under the clear coat?

deadastronaut does this. I'm not sure if he's done it on painted enclosures, but he does on bare metal. I think the toner would be well protected under several coats of clear coat.

yeah, never tried it over paint, due to the heat etc, but on bare metal its fine as long as you scrub the fibres off...otherwise it goes grey.

daves stuff looks great..

[GGBB]

daves stuff looks great..

That's putting it mildly.

[davent]

Thanks guys!

Acrylic Medium is basically acrylic paint without any pigment, clear paint. I use something called GAC200 from Golden. They offer lots of different mediums with varying properties that are best suited to different applications. There's gels and liquids, matts and glossy, all need a clearcoat to protect.

http://www.goldenpaints.com/technicaldata/faq/iv_choosmed.php
http://www.goldenpaints.com/storelist/index.php

Another brand that looks to be widely available is Liquitex.

Basic tutorial of the method. I don't scrub as hard as he does to remove the paper but do it in a few cycles, once it seems like i need to scrub to get more paper off i let it dry again, takes very little time, re-wet and more paper will come off easily, gets difficult... let dry/re-wet/rub... comes off after a number of cycles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7DFuJt3mvw

[GGBB]

Dave - have you ever tried this with either of the following:

A different type of paper such as photo paper that might be easier to scrub off.

Ordinary acrylic clear coat as an alternative to the acrylic medium.

[davent]

Hi Gord,

Just regular printer paper usually pulled from the recycle pile.  Not really much of a problem to get the paper off, it does all release , i'm just going easy trying to keep my impatience in check. When i was trying heat transfer for pcb etching there was always fiber caught up in the toner no matter what i did so it appeared grey, this wet transfer yields a pure black toner transfer.

Only once did i try something other then the GAC. Was the acrylic spraying lacquer clearcoat i use and that was onto a very rough textured bare aluminum chassis so not a good measure of capabilities.

Poured on a puddle spread it around and proceeded as usual. Goes down as a fail but wasn't a fair test. The much thicker GAC200 has since failed in similar circumstances, the toner on high ridges get worn away in rubbing the paper off so to work... transfer to a smoother surface, i use another medium to level out those overly bumpy finishes that the GAC won't level in the transfer process.

For the above mentioned chassis a waterslide decal worked fine granted the surface was by now smoother after the slight filling of the lacquer and sanding back to get all the transfer off.

Gord looks like you may have some experiments to report back on...

Take care!
dave

[GGBB]

Yes - I will have to try this.  I have been wanting to find some way of doing toner transfer to a painted pedal and this looks like it is pretty simple - that video makes it look downright easy.  I don't mind waterslide decals, but I find that anything other than solid text doesn't look that great - could just be the decals I am using I suppose.  This looks no more difficult than waterslide with hopefully better results, and a bottle of the medium is about the same cost as a pack of waterslide paper.  There's a Curry's near where I work so I'll have to give them a call.  And I _just_ ordered more waterslide paper.

Thanks Dave.

[davent]

Your welcome Gord, I use Curry's too, the only other option here is Michael's and their prices were far higher last time i checked.

Toner transfer/waterslide just more tools/options for the paint box.

Have fun!

[thom]

Hi Gord,

Just regular printer paper usually pulled from the recycle pile.  Not really much of a problem to get the paper off, it does all release , i'm just going easy trying to keep my impatience in check. When i was trying heat transfer for pcb etching there was always fiber caught up in the toner no matter what i did so it appeared grey, this wet transfer yields a pure black toner transfer.

Only once did i try something other then the GAC. Was the acrylic spraying lacquer clearcoat i use and that was onto a very rough textured bare aluminum chassis so not a good measure of capabilities.

Poured on a puddle spread it around and proceeded as usual. Goes down as a fail but wasn't a fair test. The much thicker GAC200 has since failed in similar circumstances, the toner on high ridges get worn away in rubbing the paper off so to work... transfer to a smoother surface, i use another medium to level out those overly bumpy finishes that the GAC won't level in the transfer process.

For the above mentioned chassis a waterslide decal worked fine granted the surface was by now smoother after the slight filling of the lacquer and sanding back to get all the transfer off.

Gord looks like you may have some experiments to report back on...

Take care!
dave

Hi Dave,

Your finish looks so good I thought I'd give medium a try.
Do you use a sheet of paper the size of the enclosure and apply medium all over, or do you cut around the text/graphics and then apply them?

I found that with the latter technique, the medium left around the image is quite visible once the paper has been rubbed off (i used this: http://www.artsupplies.co.uk/item-liquitex-gloss-medium-&-varnish.htm)

[davent]

Hi Thom,

I leave the paper bigger then the area that will get covered by medium so that the medium gets feathered out flat at it's edges by the oversized sheet of paper. If i do get an edge i spray on more of the GAC and knock it back with sandpaper.

When i first started playing around i was cutting out small pieces and sticking them down and getting a real mess along the edges, big ridge loaded with paper fiber that was a pain to clear up.

For smoothing the paper to the enclosure i lay a sheet of waxed or parchment paper overtop then roll it flat with a brayer, works great. After you lay the paper into the medium you want to smooth it quicky as the paper could start to wrinkle-up and then you can get a wavy surface. (Smoothing by hand works okaty but the brayer is ideal.)

Hard rubber brayer, also tried applying medium with a roller and an airbrush but a regular bristle brush is best.


For the compressor only applied medium in the area to receive toner.



Dull areas are the medium over the clearcoat, still fibers to be removed.


And the Liquitex medium should be ideal.
dave

[thom]

Thanks a lot, Dave.
I've never been happy with the results of using large decals, so that could be the solution.
Would you recommend applying the medium on clear coat rather that straight on the paint?

[davent]

The compressor is an exception in that i'd been trying to do it with waterslides so was working over clearcoat, has five or six different types/brands of (waterborne) clearcoat by the time completed. So before doing the transfer i sprayed the GAC on and let it dry to be sure the toner would glue down well.

I usually apply transfers as i go during the painting. I paint with acrylics and when i get results i want to preserve/protect  i spray on an isolation coat of GAC200 then continue painting or put on a transfer, if it's not working i can remove things more easily and not screw up the paint i'm happy with.

If you're painting with acrylics you can apply the toner transfer directly to the paint. If painting with something else or powdercoating you'd need to clearcoat with your medium before doing the toner transfer.

And if painting with acrylics you could use your paint as the transfer medium since all that medium is, is acrylic paint minus the pigment. Haven't tried this yet but watched youtube tutorials

dave