Laser transfer an image

[Bob Kline]

Is there a product that, when placed upon a surface (of wood, leather, plastic, etc.) and then lasered, transfers a dye or some other substance to the surface of whatever it's placed upon? In other words, is there a way to put an image on a surface with a laser without actually lasering the actual surface? (Does that make sense????)
Thanks

[Ed Newbold]

Your question makes sense, but there's nothing I can think of that would do what you ask. I'd probably just do a heat transfer dye sublimation on it, rather than try to accomplish it with a laser engraver.

[Joe Pelonio]

I remember this coming up before, and there was a place that did gold lettering on leather with the heat of the laser transferring it. The product they used was theirs, and it was patented, so no one else could do it without coming up with their own formula.

[Mike Null]

There is a process which will allow you to laser color images on glass and ceramics using materials made by Thermark. It is an expensive process and you must be a franchise holder (my term) to do it.

There is a training program which goes along with it. The company name, I believe, is Atomic Art.

[Craig Hogarth]

It could be laserdarc, but that's supposed to be used inside an engraved area. I guess it could possibly be used on the surface though without actually engraving it. From previous threads, some speculate it's no more than color laser toner.

http://www.smoke-wood.com/SM-wd-21.HTML

[Richard Rumancik]

You could check out the products at

http://www.lazertran.com/

I have not used their products but some might be suitable for what you are doing. You may have to determine where the products can be purchased in North America.

[Dave Jones]

Dye sublimation and CLTT (Color Laser Toner Transfer) are two ways of putting a color image onto various materials. You don't use a laser engraver. You print the image on a color printer and use a heat press to transfer it to the object. The type of printer and ink/toner is different for dye sub vs CLTT.

There is a "laser foil" available, I think from LaserBits as well as other places, which I believe bonds to the material when lasered. (I think, but I have never used it)

[Richard Rumancik]

Bob

My apologies. When I suggested Lasertran I had not properly read what you were doing. I was thinking "laser transfer" as in "laser printer transfer". But I now see you mean some kind of material that the laser engraver transfers to the substrate.

I have a file I started with info on companies developing laser colorization techniques, but usually this means putting special additives in the plastic resin. Since most of us are not going to be injection molding any tags etc. this avenue is not very likely. Other technologies involve adding a coating or sensitized label. It seems many of the newest technologies are out of reach for most of us because they have not yet been developed for the casual user.

Most of the "colorization" techniques for the laser engraver involve ablation of a coating, or lasering followed by color fill.

Trying to transfer color from a special film or coated paper has a unique set of problems. Most transfer systems require heat and pressure. The laser can supply heat, but not pressure. Generally you are going to need intimate contact between the two materials to effect a transfer.

I'm assuming that you are visualizing transferring one color at a time, or else doing monochrome only. If you wanted to do multicolor you would have to do several separate raster passes.

Thermark has been saying for a long time that they were developing products for marking plastics. But I have heard this for a long time and still haven't seen a commercial product.

If I come across something I'll let you know but haven't found anything yet.