Question: new up to date transfering

Stewart's Jewelers · Jan 29, 2012

hey yall, i know there so many different printers and ink out there for this, but i am looking for the most new printer,ink, and transfer paper for the transfer process. If someone could reply or send me an email i would really appreciate the help. thanks.

mitch · Jan 30, 2012

i guess i'm stuck back here in the dark ages using plain ol' laser copies & acetone...

Crazy Horse · Jan 30, 2012

Me too. Plain ol laser copies and the cheapest nail polish remover. Works great.

Douglas · Jan 30, 2012

Laser copies are the only way to go. I tried ink and wasted a lot of time with it. Spend the money and get a laser printer. You can buy a laser printer at Best Buy for $160 and it does a great job.
(HP P1102W)

Birddog97 · Jan 30, 2012

I don't know the brands, but I have been using an HP inkjet printer with Office Depot generic brand ink. I print on Transparency sheets becasue it helps me position the design on my piece (I set my printer for "Fast Dry" or low ink printing and set paper type to "Transperency Paper". Again, I don't know the brand becasue the clerk at Office Depot gave me a few sheets. I went in looking to buy Transparency sheets, but they were about $50 for a 100 pack of 3M brand. I asked the clerk if they had any other brands that were cheaper becasue I didn't know if these would work for what I was trying to do and didn't want to waste $50 bucks on an experiement. The clerk gave me a few sheets from behind the counter. I don't know the brand, but I bet they are 3M. I have wiped them down after each use and cleaned with soap and water occasionally. They have lasted a long time.

I sand my pieces down to 320 or 600 grit and use a light coat of white shoe polish as a transfer medium. I also use a Krylon Matte finish Fixative to keep the pattern from smearing. I like Toms Transfer Magic better, but I ran out and haven't re-ordered yet. The higher the polish on the piece, the less microscopic surface area the medium has to stick to, so you will get flaking. On those high polich pieces, I use the Laser printer/Acetone method. I had an Inkjet printer and found a cheap laser printer on CraigsList.

monk · Jan 30, 2012

there's scads of info on this subject in the forum tips section. use your search bar, the answer you seek has probably been answered a dozen times-- maybe more.

Stewart's Jewelers · Jan 30, 2012

Now are you use the ink it comes with/ is recommend for it or are you using dry-ink, pigment

Douglas said:
Laser copies are the only way to go. I tried ink and wasted a lot of time with it. Spend the money and get a laser printer. You can buy a laser printer at Best Buy for $160 and it does a great job.
(HP P1102W)

Sam · Jan 30, 2012

Stewart: Lasers use a dry toner, not ink, and you would use the one that comes with the printer. As far as I know they all work except for reported problems with the Brother brand. Print out, place face down on your workpiece, wipe the back with acetone. That's about as easy as it gets.

Monk: We could almost have a Transfers Forum, couldn't we!

Douglas · Jan 30, 2012

Use what come with the printer. It's all you need.

rod · Jan 30, 2012

Douglas said:
Laser copies are the only way to go. I tried ink and wasted a lot of time with it. Spend the money and get a laser printer. You can buy a laser printer at Best Buy for $160 and it does a great job.
(HP P1102W)

Douglas, That model of laser jet cost me only $109 at Staples, and I believe they offer free delivery. It has a wifi connection or usb cable. Remember the toner is lased with tiny glue particles, so heat on the bare metal will grab the design and glue it onto the metal, baking paper is both heat resistant, and sort of silicon coated, plus is semi transparent.

I am on the verge of coming up with a superglue medium as the transfer from baking paper, because the silicon coated baking paper will not allow the superglue to stick to it, but the toner design will stick itself to the metal with the glue. When I get this worked out, the design is then so tenaciousness to the metal, you need a pick axe to remove it. Presently the drawback is how much superglue to use, as a little too much and the design toner tends to flood and smudge. I often thin superglue with oil, yes oil, for certain applications in wood finishing, so maybe I will hit upon a full proof mix. Meanwhile any of us tinkerers could have a go?

Rod

rayf24 · Jan 30, 2012

SAMSUNG ML 1660 plain paper cheapest nail polish remover works every time with good detail as well I did play with inkjet all I got was frustration.

Ray

Paul Chung · Feb 2, 2012

Just like to add my 5 cents worth regarding laser/acetone transfers.
I use a piece of parchment paper/baking paper over the transfer before burnishing the tranfer on. This stops the paper being transfered getting ruined by the burnishing.

Willem Parel · Feb 3, 2012

I always did the acetone transfer but just dicovered that using the inktjet with the Epson sheets (the same Tom White recomment for his method) and the Zippo Dammar fluid gives me the best transfer.

mitch · Feb 3, 2012

Willem Parel said:
I always did the acetone transfer but just dicovered that using the inktjet with the Epson sheets (the same Tom White recomment for his method) and the Zippo Dammar fluid gives me the best transfer.

i'll readily concede that is a sharper, darker image than i get with laser copies & acetone! how does it hold up in use? is it pretty tough? does it adhere well to the metal?

(aaah, the classic Gibson Girl...)

Mike Fennell · Feb 3, 2012

It seems that I didn't use my inkjet often enough, because every time I did need it, the ink had dried and the expensive ink cartridges could not be refurbished, so I had to throw away the cartridges and replace them. Eventually I got frustrated with it and threw the inkjet printers away. Problem solved.

Our laser printers have printed hundreds of thousands of pages with no failures. We have never been able to wear one out. Occasionally we donate an older one to a school in order to replace it with a newer, faster printer. We no longer print as much as we did in the past because many people want their transcripts delivered electronically so they can get them more quickly, but the laser always works flawlessly, even if it has been idle for months. You cannot beat them for reliability. A copy machine will also do the job if you don't have access to a laser printer.

Mike Fennell

Sam · Feb 3, 2012

The advantages of inkjet are:
1.) printing on transparency sheets makes for accurate positioning of the transfer.
2.) higher resolution and finer detail than lasers
3.) quite durable and resists wipe-off

The disadvantages of inkjet are:
1.) sometimes confusing settings in the printer driver (maybe better than it used to be).
2.) some printers have short lifespans (my experience)
3.) expensive ink cartridges you purchased for your present printer probably won't work with the new replacement you just got (my experience)

When everything's working as it should, the inkjet method is pretty hard to beat.

Willem Parel · Feb 3, 2012

I use a Dell 924 all in one Photoprinter, the setting is black only !! colour doesn't come of the sheet.
The things Sam has mentioned are true (I never catched him with a lie...

) the Dell cartridges are pretty expensive.
And with other brands you might have problems with the setting or the ink.
I don't know whiche type and brand of inkjetprinters are the best for this.

Beathard · Feb 4, 2012

I use a Kyocera copier, that has a laser printer built in. The toner is a cheap recharged cartridge. Never fails with acetone.

Stewart's Jewelers · Feb 8, 2012

alright so i went with the printer douglas suggested but got it with a scanner. i print it out on paper then acetone and remove the paper and thats what i get.. so i be trying something different.?

rodsta · Feb 8, 2012

It looks like you went a little wet with the acetone...finding that right balance of just wet enough and not too much is the trick..
The cloth or whatever you are applying it with should barely be wet not dripping.

Rod

Question: new up to date transfering

Member

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

Elite Cafe Member

Member

Member

Moderator

Member

Chief Administrator & Benevolent Dictator

Member

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

Elite Cafe Member

Member

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

Elite Cafe Member

Chief Administrator & Benevolent Dictator

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

~ Elite 1000 Member ~

Member

Elite Cafe Member

Sponsors