i`m working on my first board at the moment which is going reasonably well. today i glassed the top of the board and as i wanted a logo on there, i printed it off on paper with a good quality printer at work.
unfortunately, when i applied the polyester resin, i got a red-ish effect surrounding all the black ink, like some pigment had reacted and run into the resin. is this due to the ink that the printer used or can i not really do this with polyester resin? would the same have happened with epoxy?
any help is appreciated so i don`t mess up my next boards logo!
Maybe (just maybe, I’m not sure about that) you should have waited longer for the ink to dry? I usually print logos the day before I have to laminate them and never had a problem.
Is your printer an ink-jet or a laser? I heard that lasers don’t work too good for this. Normally, if the ink is dry (and providing it’s aqua-based), styrene won’t interfere with it. Same as with acrylic paint: if it’s not dry enough, you may run into trouble…
I print from a laser printer, let it dry then give the logo a spray with some clear acrylic that a buy in a can from the art shop. The clear coat seals the ink together and wont run when glassing
I ALWAYS have problems with lams printed off on a printer. So now, If someone provides me with one, I always add it on AFTER the glass job and before the hotcoat. Just put a 4oz patch over it, just like you would do on a resin tint. I’ve had too many things go wrong with laser printed lams.
dont print it out on your fancy (probably laser jet) work printer - print it at home on your crappy (ink jet) printer - it will not bleed because it the ink jet is water based - the laser jet is petroleum based so it will bleed!
thanks - i printed it on normal a4 plain paper a couple of days ago. i ll have to recheck the works printer - probably a laser jet then. next time, like someone said, ill use my crappy home printer! - got to get a new cartidge for it first though as its run out!
think i`m going to try and get hold of some rice paper - i was searching before on here and it appears calligraphy paper might be the same.
ive just checked my works printer that i did it on and it is indeed a HP Laserjet - doh! Nevermind, a lesson learnt there. The running isnt too bad, more annoying than anything - if thats the worst thing that goes wrong on my first board, ill be very pleased! As long as it rides ok, thats all im bothered about at the moment - really enjoying doing this and can`t wait to get on with my second one.
Ill have to get some pics up that ive been taking as i`ve been going along.
i`ve made a new board - this time with epoxy resin research though - i used my home HP Colour InkJet printer on thin rice paper and the ink has run again!
Arrgh!
Id really like to make a board which doesnt have graphics that have run! Anyone any ideas on whats causing this. the only thing i can think of is that the print was made an hour or so before glassing and wasn`t fully dry although it did feel dry to touch.
I have another print which i made at the same time for the underside of the board - ill glass that tomorrow and see if it runs - if it does though, im stumped!
try screen printing your own logos on rice paper. you should be able to get a Speedball kit from any good art store. i suggest buying acrylic paint instead of the fabric paint. i’ve worked w/ acrylic and it works.
if you go this route, you’ll have to thin the ink a little to get it through the screen - ask them about it at the art store. don’t use too much paint or the logo will be raised and leave a high spot when you laminate. once you’ve screened your logo on rice paper, dry it w/ a hair dryer. handle it as little as possible prior to laminating.
thanks - i might give that a try. I ideally want to print from a computer though if possible to get a well defined print. I tried applying the other print from the printer a few days after i`d printed it. This one ran too. Its not too bad, but you just get that blurring round the edges which is a bit annoying. This was quite a coulourful affair and i think the red and blue ran most.
I specialize in printing surfboard graphics digitally and logos on rice paper, it took us quite a while to crack the code to making them look good no bleeding no shadow from paper ect. It takes the correct paper, printer settings; dpi, rip, resolution, dry time curing, correct ink. I am now a pro at this, was a real pain to figure it out, many variables ; the generc home printers don’t look vivid or sharp, kinda cloudy.
pm me if yoiu want to talk, I do logos very reasonable cost no min either.
I was a printer designer for HP for ~11 years and used their printers to print lams up to full boards.
The issue you are seeing is a result of a process called underprinting where they print color ink under the black regions to get a darker black and prevent bleed on paper. It almost certainly uses dye based ink.
If you want good lams on an inkjet printer the most important factor is to use one that uses pigment based inks, not dyes. All epsons, and some higher end HPs use pigments for color. Most use pigments for black as well.
