Filling in color

[Bob Kline]

I just, for the first time, used the blue tape on a project on which I wanted to fill in color in the engraved area. I used spray paint and it turned out OK. But since I'm working in an enclosed space, I could do without the overspray and the fumes. I'm wondering if anyone sponges paint onto the tape after engraving and, if so, could they make some recommendations regarding type of paint and process.
Thanks

[Nancy Laird]

Bob, I'm going to send you a PM about the way we do our color fill. It isn't complicated, just a little labor-intensive.

Nancy (86 days)

[Darren Null]

Ooh. Could you copy to me please? darren@stalkingsheep.com. I haven't yet tried Scott Shepard's mask/squeegee/drying lamp method; but I'm always interested in different techniques.

Thanks.

[Stanley Waldrup]

Well I'm the new guy on the block but I ran across a method on the Universal Laser site of using Powder paint. It works Great. You just fill the letters with the powder paint and wipe off the excess. The natural oils hold in the paint or you can just use a little clear on top of it. 90% faster then anything else I have run across. The powder is very very fine and I just apply it with a small brush.
Stanley

[Stephen Beckham]

If it's a hardwood - I like the simple process of using the KIWI Leather Dye. It has a sponge on the top for dabbing in on - I use windex on a paper towel and wipe it right back off - I leave the soot on when applying. Then the wiping process takes both soot and dye off. It gets a bit messy - but it's quick and painless. When I'm doing Walnut - I don't even mask - just etch, dab, wipe... Then wash the dye off my hands for a couple days...:eek:

Careful with Alder (Birch) and Maple - even though considered a hardwood by some - they will tend to run down the grain under the surface. Test before adopting this process.

[Mike Null]

Steve

Spraying lighter woods with a clear coat of lacquer or varnish or shellac before colorfilling will prevent the capillary action you're describing.

I prefer to engrave at 1000 dpi which will provide a better contrast on light woods without the worry of streaking.

Those woods are indeed hardwoods, by the way.

[Stephen Beckham]

Mike - was it you that told me to engrave at a higher DPI (1000-1200) for greater contrast? I did try that and - yes - it does! Thanks...

[Harry Radaza]

Nancy, please email me too at hdradaza@yahoo.com to get an idea of how to do it.

Any other online articles on how to colorfill wood and acrylic ?

I live in the philippines and the imported blue tape and color stuff is not so cost effective importing them plus taxes.

I do have masking tape if that works.... and acrylic paint. Anything else I wont have.

[Ed Newbold]

Bob, I'm going to send you a PM about the way we do our color fill. It isn't complicated, just a little labor-intensive.Perhaps Nancy would be kind enough to make a public post of her color fill methodology for us. We each seem to have a different way of doing it, and comparing notes would be very good.

At the moment I use artist acrylic paints that I purchase very inexpensively from WalMart. I then use a combination of my fingers (messy) and/or small rags to apply the paint into the engraved areas. I wait about 15 seconds, and then wipe it all off with a different rag, using water to clean up any 'over paint'. I wait about 10 minutes, then repeat the process. When it finally gets to where I think it looks good, I let it dry overnight.

That's my simple and humble way of doing it. I'd love to find a better method.

[Ed Newbold]

I ran across a method on the Universal Laser site of using Powder paint. It works Great.I've wandered through the ULS site a lot, but can't seem to locate info about purchasing the powder paint. Where do you buy it from? Thanks very much,

[Nancy Laird]

Perhaps Nancy would be kind enough to make a public post of her color fill methodology for us. We each seem to have a different way of doing it, and comparing notes would be very good.

At the moment I use artist acrylic paints that I purchase very inexpensively from WalMart. I then use a combination of my fingers (messy) and/or small rags to apply the paint into the engraved areas. I wait about 15 seconds, and then wipe it all off with a different rag, using water to clean up any 'over paint'. I wait about 10 minutes, then repeat the process. When it finally gets to where I think it looks good, I let it dry overnight.

That's my simple and humble way of doing it. I'd love to find a better method.

Okay, Ed. Here's my method, which works very well for us.

FIRST rule is to make sure that your item to be lasered is finished. We use lacquer, but you can use whatever you want to use to get the finish you want.

Laser the piece, and then wipe it down with a good-quality wax formulated for wood floors (we use Holloway House liquid with the green label); that does two things, removed any smoke/soot/flare from the piece, and seals the ends of the grain where you've cut into it with the laser to keep the paint from bleeding. That's the important part.

The rastering removes enough of the surface of the wood so that the wax doesn't affect the adhesion of the acrylic paint. The only minor problem I've had is that sometimes when I do the after-paint wipe, some of the paint comes out of the rastered image, especially on larger areas, so I've learned to wipe very lightly ACROSS THE GRAIN and it stays in pretty well. If you get a lot of pull-out in large areas, just go over it again.

Using a battery-operated toothbrush or something similar, push the paint into the lasered areas (use a good artist's acrylic - Liquitex Basics is good) and let dry for only a couple of moments. Wipe off the excess paint from the surface of your piece ACROSS THE GRAIN, using a very light wiping action with a DAMP cloth. A dripping wet cloth will pull the paint. Let dry for a couple of hours (overnight is better), then wax the piece again to remove any paint smears or film.

Voila!! You're done. Now, wasn't that easy??

Of course, there are others who do it differently. One method is to engrave through a mask and color-fill before removing the mask--but you always run the risk of having the paint bleed and work its way under the mask. The key to our method is the wax. The paint comes right off the unlasered portion and we don't get any bleed.

Nancy (85 days)

[Ed Newbold]

FIRST rule is to make sure that your item to be lasered is finished. We use lacquer, but you can use whatever you want to use to get the finish you want.I agree completely. The piece must be completely finished. I deal primarily with smaller pieces and refuse to attempt color filling on unfinished items from my customers.



Laser the piece, and then wipe it down with a good-quality wax formulated for wood floors (we use Holloway House liquid with the green label); that does two things, removed any smoke/soot/flare from the piece, and seals the ends of the grain where you've cut into it with the laser to keep the paint from bleeding. That's the important part.That's interesting. I'll have to try the floor wax you've indicated. I've always used Johnson spray-on furniture wax (with a nice lemon smell to it - :) ). The wax overspray, however, has been a little irritating to me. I'll give the floor wax a shot and see how it goes.



The rastering removes enough of the surface of the wood so that the wax doesn't affect the adhesion of the acrylic paint. The only minor problem I've had is that sometimes when I do the after-paint wipe, some of the paint comes out of the rastered image, especially on larger areas, so I've learned to wipe very lightly ACROSS THE GRAIN and it stays in pretty well. If you get a lot of pull-out in large areas, just go over it again.We do the same thing here (with the same associated issues). Yep - across the grain is the key.



Using a battery-operated toothbrush or something similar, push the paint into the lasered areas (use a good artist's acrylic - Liquitex Basics is good) and let dry for only a couple of moments. Wipe off the excess paint from the surface of your piece ACROSS THE GRAIN, using a very light wiping action with a DAMP cloth. A dripping wet cloth will pull the paint. Let dry for a couple of hours (overnight is better), then wax the piece again to remove any paint smears or film.Hmmm... battery operated toothbrush. I've used a plain old toothbrush to get into the tight areas and to avoid the voids and pitting that sometimes occurs. I suppose I'm going to have to give the battery-operated version a try too.



Of course, there are others who do it differently. One method is to engrave through a mask and color-fill before removing the mask--but you always run the risk of having the paint bleed and work its way under the mask. The key to our method is the wax. The paint comes right off the unlasered portion and we don't get any bleed.Masking has always been a difficult area for me. I went to the Indy Show a couple of weeks ago and came back with a handful of different masking samples to try out, but I never seem to be able to find one that works for me. I'm trying the super hi-tack tonight and see if that works, but I imagine that weeding will become another unavoidable issue with it. Which type of masking tape do you use?

Thanks for posting your color fill process. Cheers,

[Stanley Waldrup]

I picked up the paint at Harbor Freight. it was about $5.50 for a 1 pound can. From what I have used it is enough to last forever and the super easy to use. And very fast. I downloaded the .PDF file and would be glad to forward it to you. Its almost 2 meg in size and don't know If I should post it..
Stanley

[Bill Stein]

I'm guessing that several people are going to want to see how to do this so here is the link

http://www.ulsinc.com/english/laser_applications/App_Tips/colorfill/CorelDRAW_Tutorial_Powder.pdf

Bill

[Bill Cunningham]

I thing the generic name for this stuff is "Photocopy Toner"
Works the same, been using it for years!!

[Howard Garner]

I thing the generic name for this stuff is "Photocopy Toner"
Works the same, been using it for years!!

No,

This is the Powder Paint Coating.
Comes in various colors.
see <http://www.caswellplating.com/powder/powder_colors.html> for examples

Howard Garner

[Bill Cunningham]

I stand corrected!!!

But if all you need is 'black' (or I guess now, cyan, magenta, or yellow) Photo copy toner does exactly the same thing.. You can even give it a pass at real low power, and cook it in, but usually not needed..

[Harry Radaza]

I have experimented with nancy's and several other methods described here.

I was able to get considerable (saleable?) success by doing the following:

After engraving, wax the plaque
wipe off wax
apply acrylic color rubbing in with my fingers
let dry for 5 minutes
wipe off AGAINST the grain as nancy suggests using a damp cloth
if there are areas that aren't completely filled in with color I do a second color fill
let dry for a few hours
wax and pledge

so far I am fine with light colors (yellow, orange, white, pink, etc)

However, when I do dark colors (black, dark blue, maroon) I can see considerable bleeding around the areas that are not engraved. This leads me to believe that there was bleeding with the light colors, only it wasn't very obvious to the eye.

So it seems the process works except for the bleeding. We manufacture our own woods. The wood guy told me that he finishes the plaques by doing a sanding sealer coating twice and a laquer clear coat twice. Both applications applied with spray paint.

You guys mentioned that the plaque has to be "finished". How can I finish the plaque to make sure the wood grains are sealed enough to prevent the bleeding? What should I use?

[Nancy Laird]

I have experimented with nancy's and several other methods described here. Thanks for the plug, Harry!

However, when I do dark colors (black, dark blue, maroon) I can see considerable bleeding around the areas that are not engraved. This leads me to believe that there was bleeding with the light colors, only it wasn't very obvious to the eye.

You guys mentioned that the plaque has to be "finished". How can I finish the plaque to make sure the wood grains are sealed enough to prevent the bleeding? What should I use?

Harry, I haven't had much bleeding problem except with maple, and I use burnt umber paint almost exclusively, with a little black, blue, and copper. I make sure that I put a pretty heavy coat of wax on the plaque, particularly in the engraved part, before using the paint. The wax is what is supposed to seal the grains.

What kinds of wood are you using. Tight-grained wood, such as maple and birch, are our stand-bys.

Nancy

[Ed Newbold]

I picked up the paint at Harbor Freight. it was about $5.50 for a 1 pound can. StanleyThanks, Stan. That's where I found it too. I bought a load of black, red, blue and yellow.