Simple Green.... Dye Sub's Best Friend...

[AL Ursich]

I have been knee deep in V Carving and made a big delivery this morning freeing me up to get back to my pile of Dye Sub work. Last time I used my printer to print a head check i had some missing ink. I had been doing it every 2 or 3 days.... I dreaded dealing with a plugged head....

On this forum or Engraving Etc I had seen where someone sprayed Simple Green on the sponge where the heads sit. I got some and sprayed the sponge and went back to my V Carving. Tonight I replaced 3 ink bags as they were down to a table spoon or so of ink thinking that might be part of the problem. I had rolled and taped them and slightly elevated them to get more out of the old bags.

Replaced the ink and did a head cleaning and printed. I held my breath walking to the printer and was rewarded with a 100% GOOD printout.....

WOW.... It was "Simply GREEN"..... My new Shop Buddy....

On a side note... I found a neat new use for my DK 1620 Heat Press....

I make V Carved Signs and got some tube shrink wrap, a sealer and a desire to protect the finished signs....

I use the heat press to shrink the plastic around my signs. Shrinking the back first, covered by a sheet of blank new print... Works great.

For bulky items I use the swing part and just hold the item up to the heat plate....

Thanks who ever suggested it.

AL

[AL Ursich]

So it's 3:00 AM and another project due in the morning is done.... 50th Anniversary of a local Fire Dept. It's mid August but I had forgot about there Chicken BBQ in the morning and they wanted to sell Clock orders and I wanted to make a Point Of Sale Display Board for the Quilt that is being Raffled. I am to make a Quilt Rack for that too with a inlay-ed Ceramic Tile.

This was a good project for the Carve Machine. The Clock body was easy in Designer. Then I took a copy of the patch in as a ptn and outlined it. Scaled it for a Router Jig and cut the block on the cave machine. Using the router table with a bushing I quickly cut the shape using only double stick tape to hold the FRP to the wood. Worked great... Still have all 10 fingers.... Later I would rather have the carve machine cut them. We will see....

I then sized my artwork in Corel Draw to give me a white boarder and printed my Sublimation Prints.
The Clocks turned out GREAT in my opinion.... I made a few Point of Sale display boards for the Quilt and my Clocks.
Another project done....
For the discerning eye... My last picture the left Quilt Point of Sale Display was printed in "Vivid" and the one on the right with the Point of Sale for the Clock is printed in "Realistic".... The Vivid one of the clock looked too green...

I want to start cutting the FRP on the Carve Machine. I have some FAT Mats to hold the parts...
A Quality Respirator was in order cutting the FRP on my Deck at Midnight... Nearest Neighbor 1 mile away...

AL

This is the same Greeley that the saying "Go West Young Man".... When all the crops froze and they moved a self sufficient community to Greeley, CO..... And now you know the rest of the story.....

[Doug Jones from Oregon]

Al, I have machined much frp with a router and would suggest you try a different method.

I tape the frp to the pattern as you do, but, instead of using a router table, I use a trim router and can quickly run it around the pattern...much faster than I can do on a table and I'm bettin, way faster than the carve machine will do it...and still very safe.

Nice mixture of products...good luck on your pre-sales.

Doug

[AL Ursich]

Thanks Doug,

I have a Trim Router that will work great... Thanks the the idea... Could even screw the board to a table and stick the FRP on top and zip right around and would be much safer.... That is a GOOD IDEA....

AL