Ski Builders Forum

skidesmond wrote:
I heard back from the screen printer. They will make a screen print for $50. He also said vinyl die cuts would be a good option. But I've had problems with the poly beading up occasionally on the vinyl.
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no use the vinyl as the stencil for screen printing. All the lettering on my wood veneer has been done with screen printing. I've done both pre and post press.

Ok thanks. Most of the time the lettering will be black or white so screen printing is the way to go. I'll save leafing for the "special" skis.

Using vinyl decals under epoxy works great as long as it has a MATTE finish. Do not use a gloss finish. It won't take epoxy well.

Also, you can get 24k gold vinyl, already swirled, so you can skip gold leaf. Gold leaf is time consuming and almost never looks as good as it could. It's quite the art to lay down nice, clean crisp looking gold leaf.

http://quickgoldfoils.com/?page_id=17

You just plot that stuff as usual on a vinyl plotter.

Thanks. The film I was printing on (Graphix) has the same issues as the vinyl. The shiney side had to be abraded with a green scotch pad for it to take a finish. Results were ok, but under a critical eye it's was not acceptable.

I still think printed veneer is so simple i am surprised you aren't trying it. I bought my printer used for $50.
It can do anything. Including the lettering you speak of.
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gav wa what kind of printer do you use for veneer?

I've used die cut vinyl stickers as templates. Stick them on. Paint on the paint/epoxy paint/spray can. Then when touch dry peel off the vinyl.
It works great without any bleed, esp with a thicker paint like an epoxy paint.

It's not reusable, and it can be a bit fiddly in small pieces like the centre of an a or p. I usually use a scalpel to try and lift these bits carefully.

You obviously cut the sticker and peel out the bits you want coloured on the ski and leave the outer shape as the stencil.

I have a vinyl cutter. Was $500. You can cut stickers to give to people as well.

Edited to include photo of results with epoxy screen prinitng ink that is pretty viscous.

Thanks for all the good tips.

moonchild wrote:gav wa what kind of printer do you use for veneer?

I use an old HP 1280 deskjet. Basic ink that I buy on ebay.

I tried putting veneer through my printer, HP Officejet 5610, and other veneer did not want to go through the rollers with out breaking.

I think you need a printer which can do printing on cd's. These are made for thicker stuff then paper and have a straight paperpath. In theory....

gav wa wrote: I use an old HP 1280 deskjet. Basic ink that I buy on ebay.

gav va - did you tweak it somehow? Software or harware? Or what settings did you use? I have exact same one but the veneer doesnt go through the manual feed.
Thanks