[sdiy] Lazertran ROCKS!!

[Karl Ekdahl]

I agree, Lazertran is the shit!

I've gotta say tho $35 is expensive, if you look around you can find it for around ~$20.

Personally i've found that the best results are gotten through pre-heating the lazertran once it's printed for 5 minutes in 150 degrees F. Then when transferring it to the metal, make sure the metal is as wet as possible - the more water, the easier it is to get rid of any bubbles with that spatula. Also, the surface needs to be totally flat, if there's a powder coat on the metal it needs to be sanded down. 

I *always* get weird brown stains but which are easily removed with a wet rag, i think these are just water burns - anyone knows? 

On that note i should say that i recently accidentally printed a panel non-mirrored, i decided to try and just flip the lazertran once i could peel it off the paper. It slipped on very nicely *however* i got those brown stains everywhere again and now they seem to be on the inside of the lazertran and i can't get rid of them :( I'm not sure whether this is because i printed the panel on the "wrong" side of the paper, or if it is the metal i transferred to - it seems i got these brown stains even outside of the lazertran (but i'm not sure) that won't go away either. The metal is steel, as opposed to the aluminum i normally use... Either way it looks kinda cool.

Karl

--- Den tors 2010-08-26 skrev David G. Dixon <dixon at interchange.ubc.ca>:

> Från: David G. Dixon <dixon at interchange.ubc.ca>
> Ämne: [sdiy] Lazertran ROCKS!!
> Till: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
> Datum: torsdag 26 augusti 2010 09:04
> I just did my first panel with
> Lazertran.  I was kinda scared because the
> stuff is fairly expensive (about $35 for 10 sheets) and I
> was concerned that
> it was going to be weak and hard to manipulate. 
> However, it's actually
> pretty tough and very easy to arrange in place on the
> panel.
> 
> I printed my FPD design out backwards on a piece of paper,
> then cut a piece
> of Lazertran 1/8" larger on all sides, taped it to the
> original piece of
> paper over the printout, and sent it back through the
> printer to print on
> the Lazertran.  Then I removed the Lazertran from the
> paper and soaked it in
> cold water to loosen the decal.  I actually did it
> face down, and put the
> aluminum panel blank in the water face up underneath it,
> since I was worried
> that the decal would be too weak to lift easily out of the
> bath for
> placement.  However, I needn't have worried, and I
> actually ended up taking
> both the panel and the decal out of the bath to put the
> decal in place.  It
> was easy to slide it around on the plate and get it
> centred.  Then I took a
> soft silicone kitchen spatula and squeegeed the decal to
> smooth it out and
> squeeze the water out from under it.  Then I put it
> under the tap and rubbed
> it with my fingertip to remove the gumming (since it was
> gum side up/printed
> side down on the panel).
> 
> After that, I put the panel on a cookie sheet and put it in
> the oven at
> about 170 C for one hour.  Over the coarse of the next
> 1.5 hours or so, I
> gradually increased the temperature of the oven from 170 C
> to 400 C.  The
> decal went shiny, and it appears as if the few little air
> bubbles that were
> trapped underneath it disappeared as well.  The excess
> around the edges also
> seems to have wrapped itself around the edge of the panel,
> which is nice.
> 
> It's cooling in the oven as I type this.  I will take
> it out in the morning.
> Then, if it's too shiny, perhaps I'll give it a gentle rub
> with some Vim (a
> very mild cleanser) on my fingertip to roughen it up a
> bit.
> 
> This was extremely easy to do, and it looks fantastic,
> although the oven
> business is a bit time-consuming.  It would be best to
> do three or four at a
> time.  In any case, I think I've got this whole nasty
> DIY panel business
> sorted at last.
> 
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