Has Anybody Every Tried A Tattoo-Transfer- Machine for Engraving?

[mdengraver]

http://eachtattoo.com/categories/Tattoo-Transfer-Machine/

 

[Beladran]

wonder if they could give you a test page to see if the X fer works on metals

 

[mdengraver]

I'm going to swing up to the tattoo shop near my house today and see what happens. I'll let you all know.

 

[Willem Parel]

I had the same thoughts and already dicussed it with a friend to try to get more information about this.
So thank you for bringing this in, this is what I came across and this looks very interesting to me because this way you can print directly images from your computer.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ny_tdqaeUPQ

here you can watch how they prep the skin nefore putting the transfer on, I can imagine that there must be also bee a preparation for metal or wood when you have the intention to bring over the image on that kind of material.
But What to use? I don't know, maybe the Cirelli Sauce will work.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=68lFNkc8yhI

 

[mdengraver]

I visited the tattoo shop in my neighborhood today. They said the surface needs to be porous to make a clean transfer. So I guess the metal would have to be coated with something that would absorb the transfer. That first video was interesting. I'm sure there would be a way to do this efficiently with precision. A little experimenting would be necessary.

 

[Willem Parel]

Maybe a kind of primer they use in the car repair shop, the spray fillers they use are porous.

 

[Chapi]

I have access to several different tattoo transfer methods, and while I have not had any luck, Dave Gibson has said that he uses or used tattoo transfers for engraving. Here is the thing though- a refurbished transfer machine on ebay will run you between $usd 300-500, whereas you can get one of those working new hp printers that works with White's transfer solution for 30 on amazon, then pay White another 60 for the solution and and transparencies, and then you don't even have to deal with those unsavory types that frequent tattoo parlors. In fact, if I could, I'd use the White solution on tattoos because that purple genteen violet ink that tattoo stencils are printed from takes a lot of elbow grease to get off if you happen to get it on your skin.

 

[Willem Parel]

Thank you Chapi for this information.

 

[monk]

cirelli sauce is great stuff, except on cheeseburgers !

 

[Bob71]

I use a hp laserjet p2055dn to print and transfer using acetone. Couple that with a scanner and tada. Transfers all day with the ability to size your drawings on your computer. Hope this helps.

 

[Willem Parel]

I use a hp laserjet p2055dn to print and transfer using acetone. Couple that with a scanner and tada. Transfers all day with the ability to size your drawings on your computer. Hope this helps.

Bob, thank you for jumping in, the method you mentioned is already known by most of us.
But in this thread Mark is bringing up a method that's rather new to engraving but it's uncertain if it works.