[sdiy] Lazertran ROCKS!!

[David G. Dixon]

!!! BRAIN FART ALERT !!!   !!! BRAIN FART ALERT !!!

I meant Fahrenheit, not Celsius!!!!!

I've been in Canada too long, and I've got metric on the brain.

Again, the oven went from 170F to 400F.


> 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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