Printing on veneers

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Richuk
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Printing on veneers

Post by Richuk »

I have an old desktop printer and I am thinking of running 0.6mm veneer through it ... is this a really bad idea?
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MontuckyMadman
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Post by MontuckyMadman »

try it. sounds thick. The worst that will happen is it won't feed at all i would guess. Once it gets in there it shouldn't jam maybe. I might put like 2 pieces of heavy construction paper in there as a thickness test.

I guess t-shirt logos and jackets and such use a small sublimation press and ink so you could have a local shop sublimate on a veneer if they can just stick in a section and it won't cut or damage the veneer.

We are looking into this.
skidesmond
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Post by skidesmond »

Let us know how it works out. It might be too brittle to go through the rollers but you never know.
Richuk
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Post by Richuk »

True SD - might spray one side with water in advance and hope it makes it a little more flexible. There's no single sheet feed, so ... might need a saw :D

MM, everyone in the UK want an arm and a leg for what they do. People like this are helpful http://www.printerowners.co.uk/faq/12/1 ... vanced.htm. You might find this interesting http://www.digicoat.com/ probably expensive, but a source of information?
Jibber
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Post by Jibber »

I think it depends on the veneer. I tried it once with bamboo veneer and a laserprinter. My bamboo veneer was only flexible enough in one direction. The printer must run cross to the fiber.

Cheers, Christoph
Richuk
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Post by Richuk »

This was really difficult, but I will try and explain:

Image

Step one:

Turn on printer

Step two:

Create document

Step three:

Press print :D

The only thing I will have to be careful about how the veneer exits the printer, as it will strike the top and get stuck. Gave one side a wipe with a damp cloth in advance.

This is the same piece with three results:

Image

I think this older printer is a little less picky. Chose the photo settings initially, its generally thinker paper. Top result, font setting 26pt. The middle result, switched to 'Plain Paper' and 'Normal', quality was fine - 48 pt. Final result, 'Cool', increase ink setting to 'Fine', a little smoother around the edges and increased depth of colour. 78pt.

The veneer is not a great surface for fine printing, but maybe this is something digicoat has looked into?
skidesmond
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Post by skidesmond »

Wow I didn't think it would work. Thought for sure it would jam. So I just had to try it on my printer and it didn't work. It was to thick and would not feed into the printer. Maybe I'll dig out our older printer and give it a try
Richuk
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Post by Richuk »

I have another printer with UV inks ... maybe it won't work.

The printer I used was an Epson DX3800. There is a hack for banner printing, but I had not installed it: http://dahmerphotography.blogspot.com/ and http://www.alice-dsl.net/hgd/udps.pdf. I understand you need v.5 driver, other printers are listed within this hack.

SD, looking forward to hearing about your results! You might want to try attaching a piece of paper to the back of the veneer, with an inch or so sticking out. Might trick the printer into thinking that it is pulling through paper and it then pulls the veneer behind it?

Anyone else, please add to the list of working printers - we can work out the UV issue as we go. Getting great graphics on a budget is difficult to achieve, so spread the love!
Richuk
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Post by Richuk »

Image

Image

Used this photo because it has so many colours - not the only reason though. About 6 inch x 3.5. Will design future graphics around what the printer does best. Printed with UV resistant ink. Will add topsheet once the press has been re-built. Expecting a good result.
skidesmond
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Post by skidesmond »

Assuming I get the veneer to run through the printer, I'll have a problem of printing on a 6 foot long piece of veneer. I don't have any large images at this point to print, just small logos. But would still have to run the entire piece of veneer through. So I figured I could create multiple blank pages to feed the veneer through.

Then there the problem of printing on dark veneers....... What veneer did you use?
doughboyshredder
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Post by doughboyshredder »

pretty cool.

Remember, you can run small pieces of veneer through and lay them up with bigger pieces, just use masking tape to tape the veneer together. Same as in the swell panik video.

I would make sure that the ink isn't gonna run when you put epoxy on it, if you plan on using a top sheet as well.
Richuk
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Post by Richuk »

SD - contact hjfast, he threw up that post offering help with graphics. He's a nice guy. Serif DrawPlus is available as a free download. Its 'copy and paste' for me so far. Original work to follow :)

Not sure I understand 'So I figured I could create multiple blank pages to feed the veneer through'. Are you saying you won't be able to banner print?

The veneer is Walnut - I agree, but I'm not put off by this. The veneer was available cheap, so it go used. I don't want to blank out the veneer and lose what it has to offer. I think it is a matter of working with the veneer and the limitations of the printer - there's no reason why I can't put the veneer through twice to get a different effect/intensity of colour. It like watercolours, your using the paper as much as the media.

DBS - Thanks for pointing that out, I will double check. This is a bit of a 'do and publish thread' and see if we can push it forward. Have thrown a little varnish on this test piece - gloss looks good. Will do a test piece with topsheet, once the press is up and running!
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falls
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Post by falls »

nice experiments!
Natural bamboo veneer is a nice looking veneer and also a paler colour for printing on.
eg.
Image

FYI
I am getting some topsheets from CODA sent to Australia. US$40 per topsheet. I talked to Chad about shipping USPS priority mail international and he is happy to do this rather than FEDEX. He can fit 5 topsheets rolled in a box and the box is about US$50 for postage (postage in the USA for the same 5 topsheets is $20 or so). So if you are keen on wood veneers that's great and they look great. If you are looking for printed plastic topsheets the price isn't too bad and if you get several shipped at once the shipping isn't too bad either.
Don't wait up, I'm off to kill Summer....
doughboyshredder
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Post by doughboyshredder »

Richuk wrote:SD - contact hjfast, he threw up that post offering help with graphics. He's a nice guy. Serif DrawPlus is available as a free download. Its 'copy and paste' for me so far. Original work to follow :)
Serif is a great program. It's what I have done all of my graphics on. You can get revision 8 for ten dollars, and it's more than worth it.
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vinman
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Post by vinman »

GIMP is also free and has lots of photoshop like features.
Fighting gravity on a daily basis
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