decals the easy way.... etch cheating. :)

[deadastronaut]

i was fiddling around last night, and thought about the usual printing a toner design method, and ironing onto boxes ready for etching etc as you do...

now ive always stuck with bold images with no shading for etching purposes, and thought well why not try an actual photo/picture...

and see how that comes out...and voila' it comes out pretty good..

i sanded the box quickly, not too fussy as i knew i'd be sanding it back off anyway, ironed the image, rubbed off the paper...which leaves it very dull as expected...





when wet with water the image comes out nicely, but i wanted too see how it would be with a shot of clearcoat on it...

so i gave it  quick clearcoat (car laquer) and voila' a nice clear image...and a nice non chemical (etching) quick way of doing decals etc...

any image you like too......how cool is that!!!!!...





i only gave it a quick spray just to see what it was like and if the toner would 'accept' it.......

with a proper sand down preparation, and a few coats of clear it'll come up lovely ad shiny ...sorted!!!!!.

obviously like henry ford it'll be black...but i'm fine with that,  until i find someone with a colour laser printer of course...

but the plus side is absolutely 'any' image you like can be put on your lovely little precious darling boxes...even cooler than a sausage on a fork picture if that's possible.



i'll still be etching of course as i like the depth, and permanent durability effect of it, but i thought i'd try this easy way of getting a graphic on a box..

plus you don't have that irritating noticable edge..as in waterslides etc..

the other cool thing is everything white becomes silver, as you move the box around it catches the light in the image...

i can imagine a shot of transaparent candy colour coat on it would look nice after too...

have fun...its 12/12/12.....

[Perrow]

That's really nice. The transparent coating thing will probably make it look stunner.

ps. For once we don't have to worry about the date format, it's an international date

[Perrow]

And look, I have 1234 posts 

[deadastronaut]

i'll try a full picture today, i need to nip out and get some more laquer anyway, so i'll see if theres any 'transparent paint'' too....probably not, as its a car bits shop...but hey you never know right!.

btw like the sad sod i am,  i put the box  under rgb coloured strip lights in my kitchen and it gave that transparent paint look to it,  looked really nice...

so it should come out pretty cool...

[J0K3RX]

Hey Rob, I have done this before But, mine came out a little different, it looked good while the clear coat was wet but when it dried it started to turn a grey'ish color My toner transfers had tiny fibers of paper stuck to the toner and they were stuck so well that when I tried to scrub/rub them off it would start to remove the toner from the image. It's fine for etching but for this it looks not so good... I was wondering what paper you are using to transfer the image? I am using semi glossy photo paper.. cheap stuff, that's all I really need for etching boards. What kind/brand are you using? I have really wanted to go this for a long time!!!

Edit: Here is another thing to keep in mind.. NEVER buy refilled toner cartridges!!! I had a couple that I got for half price and the toner would rub off during the pcb etching process   I am using full priced Genuine HP toner now for etching and I just stick the refilled toner in there for regular printing, emails , schematics etc...

Thanks,
~ Jim

[deadastronaut]

hi jim,  yeah i thought someone must have tried it before...

i use 150gsm glossy (tesco's) paper..

haven't had to get a refill yet, but i'll get the proper cartridge one for it when i do, ive read that the refills suck...

just had a look at the box in daylight, the text is still nice and black, the image is a little greyish though...but still a pretty good image.

i'm just about to try another image...(might need a cartridge sooner than i thought..

edit: yeah i have 2 printers one for everyday crap, and laser for this stuff..


edit:  ive just been told by my missus that she will have access to a nice colour laser printer at work after xmas..whoooohooo...can't wait to try a full colour one now..

[deadastronaut]

ok i thought i'd try an image with lots of black in it...i shot a coat of clear on it, see how it goes when dry..




i use a toothbrush (wet) to get rid of any left fibres/residue,  if you let the box cool down naturally you can just peel it off cleanly..

as long as the box is sanded the toner grips pretty well, well enough to scrub with a toothbrush anyway.

[J0K3RX]

Rob, looks really damn good! I wonder if that pour on clear stuff that somebody (can't remember who) used in the turkey day shootout would work better for making the toner get deep black? Might be a little more scratch resistant also? The few that I did I put about 5 coats of clear on but they still scratched really easily...

[pakrat]

Jim, it was mustachio who used the pour on clear and it looked GREAT. I bought this stuff called Aristocrat pour on to try it, but a friend of mine who is a painter said you get a lot of drips off the bottom using that stuff so I haven't had the balls to try it yet.... mustachio's result looked excellent though. I also have trouble with clear spray scratching, cracking etc.... It looks good for a month or so, then some pitting or cracking appears 
I'll probably stick with spray clear for etches so you can still "feel" the etch through it.

[deadastronaut]

@jim:   yep you were right, i left it for a few hours while i painted my hall ceiling

and yep it went grey..not all over but very noticable...weird eh!!!..shame coz it looked the nuts at first..

i reckon its good for text and fine line stuff, but just not big black areas....

still it was a good experiment,   


maybe that thick clear stuff mustachio used might work...

[pakrat]

Rob, I guess it's sorta the same thing when you etch a board. After it's rinsed the toner looks nice and dark, but when it dries it looks grey. I wonder how well color toner transfers.....

[EATyourGuitar]

has the aspect ratio of the girl been changed? she looks a little stretched. it could be the lens on the camera that makes it look that way. hard to tell.

[Perrow]

has the aspect ratio of the girl been changed?

No but the asspect ratio has 

[J0K3RX]

@jim:   yep you were right, i left it for a few hours while i painted my hall ceiling

and yep it went grey..not all over but very noticable...weird eh!!!..shame coz it looked the nuts at first..

i reckon its good for text and fine line stuff, but just not big black areas....

still it was a good experiment,  


maybe that thick clear stuff mustachio used might work...

That's too bad man I was hoping you would get good results and then I was gonna have a go at it again... Not sure why it does that unless it has to do with the coating on the paper getting embedded into the toner? Anyway, not like you can't easily sand it off and do something else...  

Edit: I think P-N P will work! From what I have seen on the internet it looks real nice and dark even when dry...

[deadastronaut]

@eat:  yeah i just did it for a quick dark test...

@jim, yeah strange how it behaves when drying,...

ive sanded it back again now...i'll have to wait till after xmas to try a colour test...but i'm guessing that'll dull too...same toner pigment or makeup...

looks ok for text, but yep i'll stick to the tried n tested ferric etching for now...gotta try these things though eh..

cheers guys.

[R O Tiree]

Rob, if all you're leaving behind is the toner, how about printing a negative image and then etching as normal? PnP Blue is a little flaky in my experience and this might be a bit more robust?

[davent]

Isn't the grey a result of all the bound paper fiber left behind in the toner. Check it out with a jewelers loupe. You should try a wet toner transfer with acrylic mediums, i'm using that instead of decals. Haven't tried it on bare aluminum but great success onto painted enclosures and onto plexiglass. Laser print or photocopies.

Info and links to pictures, in this thread.
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=100194.msg880923#msg880923

dave

[J0K3RX]

Isn't the grey a result of all the bound paper fiber left behind in the toner. Check it out with a jewelers loupe. You should try a wet toner transfer with acrylic mediums, i'm using that instead of decals. Haven't tried it on bare aluminum but great success onto painted enclosures and onto plexiglass. Laser print or photocopies.

Info and links to pictures, in this thread.
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=100194.msg880923#msg880923

dave

Very nice Dave!!! Can you explain this a little more? What do you mean by "wet toner transfer"? need to know

I also found this other post on here.. I think somebody tried and commented on the color laser also with interesting results.. read for yourself
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=72234.0

Here is my Black Forest (Renamed Dragon Attack) before I had it fully loaded. I used high gloss transparent laser/inkjet sticky printer paper. It's not really sticky like glue but rather like those reusable window decals that you can apply over and over. I just stuck it on there and poked any air bubbles with a pin and flattened it out with my finger then went over it with clear coat. Real simple, took about all of 5 minutes - print/cut/peel/stick/poke... take a smoke break and the clear coat. And considering that was my first one I don't think it looks too bad!  

[pakrat]

Looks really god Jim. A little heads up on the sticky paper.... I originally used the non glossy version of that paper on my tube screamer executive and i was able to still peel it off after 6 coats of clear. I fiinally just printed on regular photo paper and glued with spray adhesive. I just bought a bunch of the glossy sticker paper.... does it work well?

[deadastronaut]

Rob, if all you're leaving behind is the toner, how about printing a negative image and then etching as normal? PnP Blue is a little flaky in my experience and this might be a bit more robust?

thats what i normally do when etching, but i was just trying out 'cheating' (clear over toner) ha ha...


@dave:  yeah that looks cool,  hmmm you may be right on the fibres, i scrubbed it with a toothbrush to get all reisdue off, it looked nice and clean, but obviously

little micro fibres must have still been on there as the 'grey' was only in patches when dry...hmmm...

@jim looks nice...i just don't like the 'noticeable 'edge' when using stickers'waterslides etc'....i'm a right fussy sod eh..


i'll stick with etching, but i'll defo try a colour laser in the new year for kicks...