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martin g. boekers
09-07-2008, 12:07 PM
I just returned from the NBM show and thought I'd pass on a few things I found.

The neatest thing that I found was a heat transfer release paper.
This was a special paper that is printed on a color laser printer. (they used an Oki)
The company makes a couple versions one for hard substrates and on for textiles.

They had samples for the hard substrates on wood, glass, acrylic, glazed ceramic, cork you can just about name it! AND it looked good!

The textile samples were on cotton shirts, canvas and a few other items.

They also make a "self weeding material" to transfer to a dark background material. It is a 2 step process but quick and easy to do. The one drawback is this material is quite a bit more expensive than the basic transfer. This "white self mask is $5 for an 8.5x11 per sheet, it does look good but at that price it will be hard for me to justify. The standard transfer is $.63 a sheet.

Color laser printers use a plastic type toner system that actually heats the toner so it forms a bond with print outs.

The nice thing about this is it transfers just where the toner is, so there is no box around your image. The hand on the textile is pretty soft.

This is quite a bit cheaper that dye sub and I imagine color management is easier too.
Plus the biggest thing is it doesn't take any special equipment outside of a laser printer which most of us already have and a heat press. The same with substrates you can use most any thing to transfer to not just specially coated items.

I see this is a great tool to add color to our engraved items cheaply and easily.

http://www.themagictouchusa.com/


ULS is working on a driver that will convert photographs for engraving.
The driver was easy to work with and should be avaiable in 6 months. (Only for ULS lasers)

HEY EPILOG ARE YOU LISTENING!

Appliques, I didn't realise how easy this was to do on a laser, but after talking with the Twill USA folks I have a better understanding of it and can't wait to add this to my "dance card".

I like this show even though it is a smaller one. I have been developing some business for larger signage projects and this helped with finding suppliers.

Not really much new stuff, but just finding out about the transfer material and seeing the demos on it made this trip worthwhile!


Marty

Neal Schlee
09-07-2008, 4:33 PM
I just returned from the NBM show and thought I'd pass on a few things I found.

The neatest thing that I found was a heat transfer release paper.
This was a special paper that is printed on a color laser printer. (they used an Oki)
The company makes a couple versions one for hard substrates and on for textiles.

Marty

Marty,

How durable is it? Say on mugs? I see no info on their website regarding the subject.

Neal

Dee Gallo
09-07-2008, 8:53 PM
Thanks for that info on the Magic Touch, it's always good to have more resources. Even though the prices seem higher than "normal" transfers, it sounds like they are a lot more durable and less steps. I like the "self-weeding" concept! Cutting shaped transfers out is a bit of a drag when you have a lot to do!

cheers, dee

martin g. boekers
09-07-2008, 11:30 PM
From the samples I saw it was pretty durable. You would have to work at it to chip it away. The one thing to remember though if you are doing to a glossy mug the area of the transfer is more of a satin. For me that wouldn't make a difference. I could work with that better than a decal.

I'm going to order some tomorrow so when I do my tests I'll post results.

Dee, I haven't had a chance to try Lazertrans yet and I know there are a couple manufacturers of similar products out there, this is just the first one I actually saw demonstrated. This is still a relatively newer product (maybe 2 years) so I hope to see more competition with it.

The thing I like about the concept is color management isn't as critical as dye transfer, what you see is basically what you get and I'm not tied into a coated product line
The big plus is I don't have to buy any new equipment!

if anyone has had any experience with simliar products please let us know.

Thanks,

Marty

Roy Nicholson
09-08-2008, 1:32 AM
Marty don't leave us hanging tell us a bit more about the applique.

OK I found a link from Epilog

http://www.epiloglaser.com/sc_fabric.htm


Regards



Roy N.

Mike Null
09-08-2008, 6:56 AM
Marty

Do a search on color laser transfer on the sign forum and you'll come up with a lot of related information. MagicTouch has been my supplier for about 7 years and I like their stuff.

The only way you can do mugs is with the decal material then bake it at about 350 degrees for 6 or 8 minutes.

The standard transfer paper will not produce a surface durable enough for dishwashing. T-shirt colors hold up for many washings.

You're right about color. Color matching is much easier than with sublimation though it's still a shot in the dark to match PMS colors.

The machine I liked best was the one from MasterEtch. They can produce some fantastic stuff and their prices are lower than laser engravers. EPA and OSHA issues come with it but if I were 20 years younger I'd have one of these.

martin g. boekers
09-15-2008, 10:27 PM
First set of testing done! Magic Touch Color Laser Transfer

Worked great on Laserbits alder sheets

Worked great on store bought ceramic mugs (this worked so good I am now looking for a horizontal mug press for baseball bats)

IpI gold and silver plastic, looked nice but took a lot of work as the plastic melted easily. If anyone could recommend a plastic that might deal with the heat better please fill me in!

Basic store bought tiles transfered easily,

Aluminum worked ok the adhesion differed if the stock had more of a brushed finish than smooth

Cork no good pieces pulled up with the transfer.

I am pretty happy with the testing so for, I'm running the mug through a commercial dishwasher on base to test its limits.

The "self weeding" part worked great (I haven't tested the WOW paper as I feel the price is out of the range I can charge my clients and that they will pay for it.)

One thing to remember is that you are adhering toner to your substrate so it might not match the sheen of that surface.

All in all I was impressed with it and I love having the option of adding color to my work easily.

I haven't tried the textile version, that will be next month, as I can't play all the time!!!


I used a Zerox Phaser 6300


Marty

Mike Null
09-16-2008, 7:25 AM
Marty

I do plastics at 320 degrees with no problem. I do put them on my metal cutter and hold a piece of metal on them while they cool. That's to keep them flat.

martin g. boekers
09-16-2008, 7:50 AM
Mike do you use IPI plastic, is it laserable? or is non-laserable better?
I had the press set at 300 (but it is an older press so I'm not sure how accurate it is) The plastic tended to curl as I took it out. I placed it under polished granite as it cooled, as other weights had a tendency to transfer a pattern to it.

Thanks,

Marty

Mike Null
09-16-2008, 10:40 AM
Marty

I do use IPI laserable but I make most of my CLT name tags using Johnson Plastics item number PRB6W50. They're $15 for a pack of 50. I usually cut these down a bit and re-round the corners.

This is a gloss material and makes a good looking fairly durable name tag.

They are more durable if you transfer on to a matt finish such as engraving plastic.

With all of it I hold a sheet of metal on it until it cools.