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Thread: CLTT- taking the plunge

  1. #1

    CLTT- taking the plunge

    We are taking the plunge into CLTT. We got a brand new Okidata printer we bought locally. I ordered some supplies from Magictouch and it hit me last night "Wait a minute, I didn't see anything about a driver or a color profile anywhere. I called Magictouch and they said since we didn't buy the printer from them, they don't give us the profiles, but said for the most part, it should print just fine without their profile.

    Anyone have any advice/input on that? Should it be okay, right out the box? It appears it's not like dye sub where the image colors only come out once it's heated. I have a guy that has the equipment to build profiles, so if I have to, I'll call him in and get a couple profiles built, but I was curious on what you all are using in that area.

    There seems to be a fairly large void in information on CLTT or either I'm looking in all the wrong places. I thought Cactus was the place to go, but I also thought I recalled seeing the guy Mick had passed away. Now I can't even find their website, which makes me think they are gone.

    Any suppliers I need to know about? Magictouch, Coastal? Anyone else?

    I'm REALLY excited to put some color on PVC and things we can't do with dye sub. The printer is running, but it'll be Monday before my paper gets here, so I'm patiently waiting!
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  2. #2
    Steve

    If you want to do CLT then I believe MagicTouch is the way to go. IF you want to do hard stuff, metals and plastics, it's the only way to go. IF you want to do T-shirts you can get good paper from several sources and I do that but I've backed off of doing t-shirts as they're just too competitive.. (Coastal Business Supply)

    ORD is only available from MT. ORD lets you put full color on acrylic from the back side. Have a look at the MT site as they have some tutorials there that are pretty good. Seems to me that if they want your paper business they ought to offer at least the paper settings fr your printer.

    My printer is more than 10 years old and is a Panasonic I bought through MagicTouch and I was great on color profiles but when I switched to X5 I messed that up and now it's hit or miss. I would use what Oki suggests.

    Mick passed away last year. I tested his hard papers and didn't like them as they stuck.
    Last edited by Mike Null; 07-13-2012 at 4:02 PM.
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
    Gravograph IS400
    Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
    Dye Sublimation
    CorelDraw X5, X7

  3. #3
    Thanks Mike. I think there are some great sites out there for dye sub, but CLTT seems to be less publicly out there. I think it's going to make a great addition to our dye sub. I also can't wait to be able to put images on things we can laser cut. I'm really excited to see it and I hope it all works out like I'm hoping it will.

    So what do we have, Magictouch and Coastal? Are they the two big ones, or are there other good suppliers for blanks, etc.? I'm looking for good vendors that we can stick with and are consistent.

    Like you, I have no interest in t-shirts. That's already a cut throat business, no need to enter a market that's already fighting over pennies.
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  4. #4
    Steve

    For the stuff you laser engrave it's primarily MagicTouch. Coastal does not offer papers for transferring to hard materials. There are some others, JOTO being one and a company in Ohio I think called Air Wave. All will send samples.

    You will find that post baking increases durability considerably. Generally I use a heat gun to do this and you will see a visible change to the image--it becomes more glossy.
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
    Gravograph IS400
    Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
    Dye Sublimation
    CorelDraw X5, X7

  5. #5
    We got the paper and a few supplies in yesterday. Did a horrible job on everything I tried. Then before I left, I did a piece of mirror finished aluminum and it came out awesome. Tried those same settings on everything else I tried yesterday and it's all looking really good today. When you peel that paper off and it reveals the finished image, I get the "Oh my gosh" feeling in my gut, thinking of so many uses for this technology. I can't wait to get some samples made and start pushing these products. There's no doubt in my mind this process is a real money maker.

    Thanks for the help Mike!
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  6. #6
    Steve

    On metals I cool before peeling but on plastics I peel warm. On fabrics, if you bought that paper, you peel instantly.
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
    Gravograph IS400
    Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
    Dye Sublimation
    CorelDraw X5, X7

  7. #7
    This thread reminded me that I wanted to try to add color to BB Christmas ornaments. I don't do a lot of ornaments, but I thought it would be a good marriage between the laser and CLTT. This turned out pretty good for the first try. My registration was off a little. As usual, the photo doesn't look as good as the real thing.

    Colored Ornament.jpg
    Scott Challoner
    30W LaserPro Spirit (Need more power)
    30W Wisely Fiber Galvo

  8. #8
    That's really nice Scott! Thanks for sharing it. That just shows you how wide the variety of things you can do is.

    I haven't figured out the name tags yet. It's an IPI product, precut, but it sure seems to be deforming more than anything. The color looks good, but the edges are deformed too much. MT says 120 seconds at 320, which is what I did, then put a granite tile on top until it cooled, then peeled the paper. I'm not impressed with that yet. I'm sure I'm got some more tweaking to do.

    Going to try some leather in a few minutes and see what that's all about!
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  9. #9
    Good luck with the leather. I haven't tried that yet.
    Here's a name badge I did using 1/16" white Rowmark ADA material. It does deform a little, but I need to play with the settings a little more. I use a paper called Awesome Knockout and I only need to heat it for 60 seconds on wood and plastic. I haven't had much luck with it on t-shirts though. The nice thing about it is it's a weed free paper. It seems pretty durable, but I have been spraying them with clear Krylon for added protection.

    Color Name Badge.jpg
    Scott Challoner
    30W LaserPro Spirit (Need more power)
    30W Wisely Fiber Galvo

  10. #10
    Steve

    I use PRB6W50 tags or regular engravers laminate. I press them on my metal cutter table while they cool to keep them flat. A heat gun is a very handy tool--$9.95 at HF.

    Scott---very impressed with you work. Where are you buying that paper?
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
    Gravograph IS400
    Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
    Dye Sublimation
    CorelDraw X5, X7

  11. #11
    Mike. I get the paper at tshirttransfers.org. I have had good luck with the Awesome Knockout. He has a couple of other papers thay don't work well with my OKI 3400. With the ornament, I actually pressed for 50 seconds at 350 and a pressure of 8 on a Hotronix press (it goes to 9). Then I waited 5-7 seconds and peeled. The period of time before you peel is pretty impotant. If you peel too soon, the polymer stays on the piece. If you peel too late, you can actually pull wood fibers fromn the BB plywood.
    Scott Challoner
    30W LaserPro Spirit (Need more power)
    30W Wisely Fiber Galvo

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