Are there any of you professional shapers that use Jet/Lazer printed lams for your Logos. At the moment I do but have not kept any of my boards longer than a year and am not located in a high UV (UK)area. My main question is have your lams started to fade do normal logos fade as well and what are the best coulors
I’m no professional shaper, but I’ve used nothing but logos printed on a regular color copier, and they’ve not faded any faster than the board itself yellows.
I would’nt call myself a pro shaper as it’s not my main way of making a living, however I have tried jet printed artwork and it did fade a lot on my indo gun but that was in Bali. Do a search as there was a thread on Ink Jet printed logos a while ago. At the moment I’m sticking with my screen printed logos but may try some more jet printed stuff on my own boards as I have a new printer ,an Epson, and I’ve been told their ink is more fade resistant. I had an HP before. All the screen printed logos I’ve had made ,have never faded that I’ve noticed, even after years, the ink used is very dense. I like the idea of computer printed logos because of the flexability and ability to do small numbers. Getting logos screen printed is’nt worth it unless you get a lot as its pricey,though I suppose it depends on how much of a hobby shaper you are and/or how much money you have to throw around. For me screen printing is best, not only are they fade resistant, but they look better to start with because of the pigment density.
Sun kills inkjet, lazer or any other computer printer inks here in california. Most computer printers cannot print white which is a must to back colors on dark boards. Red fades first, look at all the old Greg Noll laminates. Screenprinting can be inexpensive using a speedball type hobby kit with easy to follow instructions (avaliable on eBay or any art supply store). If using computer printer inks a coat of clear krylon spray will retard the fading somewhat. See http://www.surfcrazy.com/
Never have had any of my HP printed lams fade yet (5 years on some). The trick to color intensity is the rice paper selection. Too thin and you’ll get bleeding or weak colors; too thick and it won’t be transparent. For lams with a white background, enclose the design with a border, paint the back white enamel (lightly), cut out to the border, and laminate. Use the heavy rice paper for this. Check the archives for more paper info.
take it to a kinkos and have them color copy it… whatever they use has been working for us for years…
I just found out that you have to make sure that the rice paper is REAL thin. I got a some from an art store, the thinnest they had, but when I put on my lam last night it didn’t quite go clear, the paper around the print is kind of off white tannish color. I guess I’ll have to go shopping for some really thin stuff.
What is the thickness like? Something like the tissue paper for packing gifts?
I just trim it really close to the border so there’s no extra paper…
I’ve also had great success with a good quality printer, good quality ink, and just plain white printer paper, trimmed close at the border and were you want the stringer to show through…
I’ve only used rice paper on a few boards, and it came out ok with resin tint…
This is a printed lam. on tissue. I painted the white backing on the sand coat of red pigmented epoxy/eps stick. Then lammed over with UV/poly & 4 oz. (the epoxy I use is designed to accept poly top coats. No fading. More bang for the buck.
ahh bruce your gona get flack’’ haaaaaa’’
.27 .43 .57 .72 what thickness are you talking about?
I’ve use thick .72 that is clear as glass?
It’s the quality of the paper not the thickness!
I noticed fading on my laminents and after a bit of research discovered that not all ink is equal… what you want is Archival Ink and not all injet printers use this stuff… I switched my printer to an Epson R1900 (it is nice to have the wide carriage) which uses the Archival Ink and have not had a problem since. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-archival-ink.htm
Mike
The archival ink was tested and from what I read the tests indicated it would not fade for 200 years. The big concern is to get manufacturers ink/dye versus the cheap stuff. I use OEM from Epson in my printers (740) which I got two off Craigs List in the free section. Yeah Huie, I’ll probably get flack for that too. But I’m just practicing “lean manufacturing” like is mentioned by Nels on another thread.
Since I don’t think I’ll be around in 200 years (unless they develop body transplants in my time), I doubt anyone will come to me demanding a refund.
I’d think UV inhibitors in the resin would help?