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A new guy with a problem…
Hi all, firstly I would like to say “hello”, Im pretty sure you will be hearing alot from me in the coming months/years to come…!
(mod-edit)
Ive come accross a problem… I need to find a printer/plastic combo that will work for me.
My requirements are:
Need to be able to print directly onto the plastic in large sheet form
Must be of reasonable quality finish (ie glossy)
The plastic needs to be thermoformable when printed
I want the plastic (or whatever) to be lightweight as the piece is quite big, approx 1.5m x 0.8m so I reckon it should be 0.5mm or 0.75mm thickI have some HIPS on order and its coming tomorrow, with a bit of style and a lot of charm we should be trying to print onto this hips with a Cadet printer. we think it probably wont work but we’re going to give it a shot.
Can anyone suggest anything?
Thanks in advance
Paul
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12 Replies
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Hi Paul!
:welcome: to the boards. I’m afraid I don’t print so I can’t offer you any advice with your query, but give it a little time and the advice will start flooding in I’m sure. But I thought I’d just say hi anyway! 😀
Marcella
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Im also here just to say hi, as I cant help you with the question you’ve asked but Im sure someone will be able to help 😀
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Hi mate, got some hips in today to test direct printing on my Roland solvent printer, but I don’t do thermothingy fabrication, and am not sure of its requirements.
So in short I’m no help either, but welcome to the boards anyway.
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Marcella, Jayne… How do you do? :wave:
Shane, I’m thinking that the vacuum forming I need to do will be done at such a low temperature that it won’t affect the ink when dry.
Let me know how you get on with the solvent printing… 😉 -
welcome to the boards paul 😀
nik
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Paul, can’t help with you question but welcome enjoy your self 😛
Lynn
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Just a thought as I’ve no relevant experience 😀 As you are vac-forming the print will inevitably stretch with the material, this may result in ‘washed out’ colours in these areas when the ink coverage is thinned due to the forming process.
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Nicola, Lynn… Hi!
David, the Vac forming Im doing wont be much, maybe 1 inch deep at a 45 degree angle max…
Im not too concerned about the straining of colours over the whole thing, my main problem is the printer/media at the moment…
I need to find the right printer for the job before I go splashing out!thanks
Paul -
hi mate and welcome to the boards. 😀
do you mean you are asking will it print but don’t yet have a cadet, or you have one and curious if it is within the machines capability or needs profile?
i could be wrong here, so b&p tech guy, please feel free to hit me a cyber slap. 😕
although i think the machine will have the clearance for its head, i don’t think it will do it. something tells me i asked the guy installing our grenadier and he said no. why, i cannot remember.
i know when i was weighing up the pros and cons of a mimaki jv3 against the grenadeir, a pro for the jv3 was its ability to print direct to sheet material (to an extent)i would also agree with what has been said, you will get whitening of the print where the most stretching occurs when forming.
a suggestion? why not print your image on good vehicle wrap material.
form your hips and wrap the print. i bet that would not only be possible, but a better finish on your prints.please correct me if i am wrong, 😕 but is this the third post in 2 days asking same question? not under this name but other accounts.. if so please advise so i can remove duplicate accounts. thank you…
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hello the JV3 has a clearance of about 3mm, however this can be boosted further by changing screw positions inside the head. Our machine was promoted as it will print onto 1mm foamulux and had good results with their modified front heater mod, but there is one overriding thing.
The suppliers will not gurantee your heads if you put materials in that the machine was not designed for.. so that rules out boards. The heads can be up to £1000 each.. so be careful.
UV printing, they are promoting machines that practically fire ink over a good distance.
Cant speak about forming stuff.. not my field at all.
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Hi again!
Robert: Valegraphics (an old friend of mine, he’s on this board) has a cadet printer. We are working together at the moment to try to find the solution for this problem. Yesterday, we made up a print on some clear vinyl, and we intend on laying this onto my HIPS sheeting then Vac-forming it just to see if its a quick solution to get me up and running. Hopefully this will generate enough cash to buy the correct printer (one that prints onto 0.75mm HIPS sheets).
The term “cast vinyl” has popped up in the chats we’ve had, and this does seem like the way forward for now…
Dave… £1000 a head?? I’ll take three! and 2 for my kids!!! I’ll do some research on the suggested stuff now… Do you have any useful links?Paul
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hi paul, that explains my confusion mate. thank you 😉
dont look at cast in general. all makes are different. look for a digital wrap/cast. cheaper and do the job in question better.
some wraps are also better priced than cast!
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