Waterslide Finish Cracking???

[davent]

Try sealing the shellac coated decal with your clearcoat before it goes into the water.

dave

[Guava]

Was able to print one more attempt.  It doesn't need a clear coat of any type before going in the water, so I just soaked the plain printed decal and applied it to the enclosure to dry.  Going to spray it with shellac tomorrow and just take the water out of the equation.  So shellac on a dry decal tomorrow, then clear.  Fingers crossed--this is getting to be a headache.

[Stomptown]

Man, back to the drawing board.  Shellac dried clear on my decal, but then developed some large white spots when drying on the enclosure after the water application. Out of the Blinggasm paper, so next move is to try some Papilio brand laser paper off eBay.

I've used Laser Papilio exclusively for decals and from time to time I had the issue you describe with krylon and rustoleum products. I actually stopped using decals for years due to the inconsistency. I would personally recommend using envirotex.  Follow this tutorial and you should be set:

http://stompage.juansolo.co.uk/finishing.html

IIRC, they don't go into detail on proper mixing technique but there are plenty of demos on youtube you can refer to.

Jon

[Guava]

Thanks Jon, I think I'll give that a shot.  The shellac/rustoleum clear enamel combo is finally working, but I like the look of the envirotex finishes I've seen and I have some papilio paper on the way. You use papilio decals and envirotex only? No precoating the decal of any kind?

[davent]

How long have you been letting the decal dry before clearcoating?
dave

[Guava]

I let the shellac dry overnight before the first clear coat, which worked great.  Now doing 30 minutes between clear coats and building up the finish.

[Stomptown]

Thanks Jon, I think I'll give that a shot.  The shellac/rustoleum clear enamel combo is finally working, but I like the look of the envirotex finishes I've seen and I have some papilio paper on the way. You use papilio decals and envirotex only? No precoating the decal of any kind?

I have used papillo with envirotex only it's worked fine for me.

[Guava]

Do you guys bake your enclosures?  I put on 6 or 7 coats of clear enamel over the shellac and the enclosure is still soft enough to be dented with a fingernail after a couple of days sitting at room temp.  Wondering if baking would be helpful at this point or not. Don't have a toaster oven, but could check a couple of second hand stores.

[TNblueshawk]

I may have missed it but is this ink decals or laser decals?

I'll answer assuming it is ink. I've sprayed around 70-80 ink waterslide decals for pedals. I've always let the ink dry at least 8 hours. I take the position that if I print them in the morning I'll apply a clear coat at night and if I print at night I hit it the next day. What's the rush. I've almost always used the Rustoleum clear gloss spray like others. I've never had an issue like you describe. I've done other dumb stuff though.

The decal paper I use is from Papillio. I've done both clear back and white back.

The method I use is simple. I spray a medium coat first. I come back 10 minutes later and spray another medium coat. I come back 10 minutes later and spray my final medium coat. I then let that dry at least 8 hours, same philosophy as above.

I then use the Envirotex epoxy. I actually use Park's Glaze from Home Depot. It's just easier for me to buy.