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Doming – Using for sample making
Wow! I’m glad I found you guys! I’ve been struggling with something and after reading some threads here I know I’ve come to the right place.
OK, so here’s our situation. We’ve been in business a couple of years sourcing promotional products for customers from all over the world. Recently we’ve designed a couple of metal name badges with a patent pending. They are high-end badges suitable for markets such as boutique hotels, luxury retail, etc.
I LOVE machinery and to get my hands dirty, however my partner and I thought it best to concentrate on sales for now and have someone else "get their hands dirty." We’d be able to build business quicker by not spending time fabricating when we could be using that time for sales.
We control our quality very carefully from our partner factories and things are really starting to go well.
OK, enough about us… now for the problem. Speed is everything for us! We are marketing heavily to the hotel industry and our prospects need samples. It can take up to 10 days to get a sample in from our factories. So we started doing doming on a small scale to get product samples out quicker. Many products we sell are domed anyway so it works. A customer can call at 12pm and we’ll have a sample out that same day. But it’s still taking TOO long.
Here are the problems:
1) Using an inkjet we’ve printed customer logos on glossy photo paper but logos run when dome is applied. We fixed this by applying a laminating sheet over the logo. All of this is too time consuming because everything is hand cut, etc.2) We have a color laser printer but it’s used mostly for letterhead, etc and I’m not too impressed with it’s ability to match PMS colors etc, which are important when presenting samples. However, ink dries immediately which is a plus.
I’m thinking the best route for us to go is to purchase inkjet vinyl, buy 1 of those CraftRobo machines and be done with it. But I’m not sure of exactly what to buy in terms of vinyl, etc.
We want to be able to get these out in minutes not hours. We’re using a UV curable epoxy which can set in 20 minutes. Will the colors run on the inkjet vinyl if it doesn’t dry long enough?
3) Equipment – we cannot justify buying a $10,000 vinyl printer/cutter just to run samples so we need to use equipment we have and easy to obtain media.
I look forward to hearing from everyone and I’m really enjoying the site.
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9 Replies
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welcome to the boards. might help we can answer you in your real name.
We are a friendly lot here, so an intro in the say hello forum is recommended,Meanwhile, have you considered a secondhand gerber?
Peter
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Thanks Peter for the quick response.
Sorry about not properly introducing myself. I’ll get over to the Say Hello section in a bit.
We actually went to a sign supplier not too long ago and brought in some test logos for them to print. We were looking at a Roland ColorCamm (think it was a PC-12 or something).
We were actually rather unimpressed with the print quality.
It seems as though inkjets and color lasers have much better quality and the output quality can be controlled much better.
Thanks Again,
John -
You won’t get very good results with a normal desktop inkjet and if quality is important to you then you would be better investing in a decent solvent or eco solvent printer, from what you have said in your first post it shouldn’t be to difficult for a company your size and its a business expense so there are tax advantages as well.
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Hi John,
I actually produce badges in the same way. If the ink is running when you are applying the resin then you are using the wrong resin or the resin needs to be cured faster.
You need to get a hold of a UV curing oven which will cure the resin in anything between 2 to 5 minutes. In saying that the resin must be of the type that will cure in one of these ovens.I have been producing badges like this for the last 5 years.
Bill
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Bill, how long do you leave the prints before doming? I tried different media without much joy and one of the suppliers told me I would need to leave the vinyl for 24 hours to let the ink fully dry.
What John is looking to do is print dome and send out in a matter of hours. -
I use a Canon photo quality inkjet printer, print out an A4 page leave it for about 10 minutes then start to cut out the individual badges. I then stick them to a badge plate cover with the resin leave the resin to totally cover the badge and remove any air bubbles. Zap them for around 3 minutes remove them put on a pin and away they go.
To produce 1 badge, excluding any artwork, from print to the customers hands it can be done in around 10 minutes.
Bill
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a outside view looking in
as you say you apply laminate then hand cut etc
you must know all your sizes of graphics to fitt so go to a local sign shop and get them to cut you lots of clear bits the right size shape then dome them ready to stick on to your new sample graphic as required the hand cutting will also be essayer due to a edge to cut to.out of interest what dome material do you use i do normal domeing but not come across a uv cure type.
chris
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Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I was away this weekend and just checked in.
BeeGee… I will definitely look into a curing oven. We’ve been using 2 VERY high-powered UV lamps. I think they’re actually meant for pet owners with pets like lizzards and snakes to keep their temperatures up. But they still take about 20 minutes to dry. 2-5 minutes would be incredible.
We have a Canon and the quality is unreal. But what media are you printing on?
Chris… thank you also. Great idea for our name badge samples because we do know the size and can have the laminate cut to size in batches.
I’m definitely most interested in what media to use though. If we can cut the laminating step out altogether it would be great. I just don’t know where to start when looking for a quick-dry inkjet vinyl.
Thank again all!
~ John -
I am using a thin glossy photo paper. If you can find a poly prop material to print on even better. As for vinyl you really don’t need it and I would imagine its going to be very difficult to find a glossy version to use through your ink jet anyway. Cheers
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