printable transfers

[Bill Wright]

I need to print panel layouts on a laser printer and then fix them onto aluminium panels, presumably by ironing them on. Does anyone know of a product that will do this?

Bill

[harry]

[Clive Arthur]

Print in reverse onto transparent film, then use spray adhesive. That way the markings are protected.

Cheers

[Brian Gaff]

The problem I see though is that the surface of untreated Ally is an oxide and nothing tends to stick to it very well. Most of the panels that I used to inspect were anodised then screen printed. Brian

[Theo]

Look at 'waterslide decal paper' on Amazon.

Theo

[whisky-dave]

you have to be careful of transparent film as most laser printers can't take it as they melt. You can get laserwriter compatable stuff. We've had a few people do it and the roller needs replacing. I use an inkjet for such things.

[Clive Arthur]

Good point, and I've seen it done. Luckily it was the boss who did it.

Cheers

[The Natural Philosopher]

Hmm. I have used both peel and stck vinyl and water slides for this for my aeromodellinmg

Never ironed anything on.

The pro way is silk screeen and anodising or silscrreen and ink.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Inkjet ink fades like a bitch. Laser does not. Get a large compatible product.

[whisky-dave]

That depends on the paper and the ink.

injet printers tend to have better resolution and colour too. Which might not be important for labels. But then again transparncy film is normally low resolution.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Have you looked at the photo etch process onto anodised ally? Gives superb durable results - although the colours available are more limited that with a printer.

You can either make the original panel like this or use a thinner one as a skin, and glue over the original.

[Dave W]

I print in reverse onto laser-grade film which can then be stuck on to a flat surface. Maybe using that meltable tape used for sticking fabric together with a hot iron. If you can accept a crap finish, laser print in reverse on ordinary paper then iron it on - the toner melts onto to the surface.

[misterroy]

I did a quick repair on a iron on edge on a drawing table. Not having done it before I put a piece of paper between the iron and the edge. The toner text lifted near perfect onto the edge of the table.

[Steve Walker]

One option is to print with a laser printer onto Press-n-Peel paper and acid etch the aluminium.

SteveW