printer toner instead of powdered graphite

dlilazteca · May 18, 2015

Was wanting to make some transfer wax, saw Mr. Dubber use chapstick and powdered graphite, and was thinking I could sub the graphite with black toner.

Just wanting to use what I have on hand.

What do you guys think/recommend.

monk · May 18, 2015

carlos: i attempted to duplicate mr. dubbers' formula. worked fairly well. to the graphite i also added some sirchie fingerprint ink. i think a dab or 2 of windsor & newton black was added. beware-------
do NOT use medicated chapstick. it will stink you out of the place in short order. use plain chapstick.
i'm not sure, but i thought the toner powder was toxic right out of the cartridge. check it out before doing this.
the odor in the finished wax is not objectionable. when cookin it up in yer wifes" kitchen--- not good at all. you'll find out who really is in charge of the household !

MICHAEL · May 18, 2015

I made some of Mr Dubbers transfer wax using the Chapstick / powdered graphite from autozone. Works a little better than the toilet bowl ring I was using. You could grind up some lead from a pencil / use that. I would think toner would dry out. I made up mr Dubbers formula about 5 years ago in a mint tin / it's still like new.

dlilazteca · May 18, 2015

Sirchie I have that in stock, will use that instead. Thank you brother.

I'll have to do it in the shop, I have a small oven.

Michael, thank you, I just didn't want to have to order anything through the mail, but I autozone sounds reasonable going to try the fingerprint paint first.

Saludos,
Carlos

Toad · May 18, 2015

Carlos, what I did was get graphite sticks from michaels craft store and grind them up with a mortar and pestle as I could not find graphite in the powered form. I mixed that with chap stick in a little tin container that I bought at the Log Cabin shop in Lodi, Ohio.
Hope this helps,
Todd

FANCYGUN · May 19, 2015

You do not need a lot of heat to melt the Chapstick so an oven is really overkill. I just use a simple alcohol lamp that sits on my workbench. I mix mine up in a little tin that has a cover which can either be bought or recycled from a Skoll or mints type of container. Almost anything will work. It's best not to over think things

dlilazteca · May 19, 2015

Thank you everyone for your advise,

"when cookin it up in yer wifes" kitchen--- not good at all. you'll find out who really is in charge of the household !"

Jay,

I told my wife, "you know what woman im going to heat this up in the oven and theres nothing you can say about it," then I walked over to my shop and used my small convection even in there. I showed her who's the boss.....

I ended up using the Sirchie fingerprint paint, I slowly went up in increments and made the mix stronger (darker) I was able to get a transfer and a mirrored image from two pieces of tape it works good enough. Im just curious now if the graphite would work better? Im just one of those inquiring minds. Ill give it a shot just to see the difference. When ever I drive by an autozone ill check it out, I just wonder do I go in there and ask for graphite?

Thanks all for your help.

Christian DeCamillis · May 19, 2015

Carlos,

The chapstick transfer method was something that Mike taught and was taught to Jason Marchiafava When he was an apprentice here with me he showed me . It worked well but I had a difficult time seeing it so I had some graphite powder laying around and thought that making it black would make it show better. I tried it and it worked great.

That's The history of it, the reason for the graphite powder was because it's what I had laying around. There is nothing special about the powder except that a liquid might make the consistency of the chopstick different. You could probably use virtually anything like colored chalk or babypowder I don;t think it would matter except for the color. If you prefer red than use red chalk. Once in Sweden I was teaching a class and Magnas who was the sponsor of the class couldn't get graphite powder anywhere but he found black paint pigment which is a powder and we used it it worked great.

I love this transfer method because it reverses so well. I have heard of other ones that also reverse well. the only issue with it is that on heavy lines the transfer can goosh out a little if time isn't take when burnishing. You could try adding a little bees wax or something to stiffen it up a little . or maybe something else I don't know a knowledge of chemistry could help.

I have a printing press and a friend of mine use to use the printers ink I had and he liked it better than the chap stick method. I never tired it because the chapstick method worked great for me.

MICHAEL · May 19, 2015

Carlos. The graphite come in a little tube. It is used for lubricating keyed locks on cars or security locks. I also forgot to mention that I heated my mixture slightly with a heat gun to mix. I use a heat gun for heating parts to be held in my glue pot also. This is a good discussion. It's good to know you can use other methods if you don't have what you need. I have found when I transfer images it is best to press lightly with fingers to transfer image without smudging. Then I use my burnisher as it starts to become harder to see. Hope this helps.

Beathard · May 19, 2015

Wouldn't lamp black work?

monk · May 19, 2015

lamp black would work too. as the pigment granules are very small in size. don't fiddle with tempera powder. it doesn't mix well in the liquid wax.

dlilazteca · May 19, 2015

Yes, a great discussion, as far as the finger print paint goes I was very surprised that after its mixed in with the chapstick it really does not smear on your fingers you can easily wipe it off with a napkin, I am also no chemist so I don't know why it works like that.

Saludos,
Carlos

Beathard · May 19, 2015

Didn't like modeling clay?

Mike Fennell · May 19, 2015

I use toner and chapstick. I melted the chapstick with the heatgun I use on thermoloc, mixed in the toner while it was liquified and let it set. Laser printer toner is the blackest stuff I have found and gives good contrast. It is especially good for reverse transfers.

tdelewis · May 19, 2015

I would think that any fine powered substance would work. Toner is a fine plastic powder however and can be pretty messy if you are not careful. In the printer it is applied by a static charge and the plastic is baked on to the paper. Because it is a plastic acetone will dissolve it easily.

Big-Un · May 19, 2015

Graphite is also located in the pinewood derby section at hobby stores.

Bill

Latergaters · May 19, 2015

I tried eye shadow and some crappy mango Burts Bees I wasn't using. I couldn't get it to work right but I was also using some weird AAFES brand tape from the BX.

monk · May 21, 2015

dlilazteca said:
Yes, a great discussion, as far as the finger print paint goes I was very surprised that after its mixed in with the chapstick it really does not smear on your fingers you can easily wipe it off with a napkin, I am also no chemist so I don't know why it works like that.

Saludos,
Carlos

yes, carlos-- a little sirchie goes a long, long way. esp on ones' nose & face ! shown is a 13 oz container of wax. it's way too hard to use right out of the container. it's so hard, it will barely adhere to your finger. one day i'll thin it with something and create the worlds finest transfer wax ! maybe ?

printer toner instead of powdered graphite

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