Pulsar Pro --- Decal Pro FX issues >

[Fastocker]

Hey guys, tonight I made my first attempt at using my Decal Pro FX graphics package . . . . FAIL.  For those of you that have used the system, everything seems to be working fine up until I get to Step #6 of the instructions, Bonding the Carrier.  I lay the graphic onto the carrier board then cover it with a sheet of the clear carrier mylar --- I then pass this through the laminator (GBC H-220), remove it (it's HOT!) from the carrier board . . . . but the mylar is just not bonding to the graphic.  I tried putting into the water and the mylar immediately lifts from the graphic . . . of course the graphic then disintegrates quickly in the water.

Any ideas of why I can't seem to get the clear mylar to bond to the graphic?  I'm using white foil for my first try if that makes any difference.  Getting frustrated at this point and might just start looking for an Alps printer instead . . . .


Jim

[jimmybjj]

i am by no means any good at the process yet, but i was having the same problem as you initially. In my case the problem was i wasn't buffing the graphic and the mylar nearly enough after i cleaned with alcohol. The buffing action creates the charge that causes the mylar to "pull" to the graphic. I hope that helps.

[Haberdasher]

Yeah, lightly buff up the graphic but then really, forcibly rub over the mylar going in one direction and then again in the perpendicular direction.  There should be some static cling there for sure so that when you lay it across the graphic it sort of jumps to it & clings.

Also, are you using something you printed out or the sample images?  The sample images I got evidently weren't very good quality and i didn't start getting good results until I began to use my own printouts.

Oh, and I almost forgot.  You are putting a 10pt black border around the graphics, right?  This is a MUST.

[Fastocker]

OK, thanks guys --- I probably wasn't buffing the graphic or the mylar nearly enough.  I did manage to get a decent result (before reading your replies) by running the graphic and mylar through the laminator several times.  First time through was on the backing board, then I removed the graphic/mylar from the board and ran it through two more times without the board.  Then I trimmed the mylar and ran it through another time --- that seemed to give a good seal.  Yes, I did put a 1/4" border around the graphic.

Here's what I ended up with --- first I put down the RETRO FUZZ shadow on the box using black foil, then I put the satin gold graphic on top of that.  The box is dormant raspberry powder from Powder365 and the gold actually jumps pretty nicely (the camera flash kind of washes that out).  The pedal is a Tonebender style fuzz based on a Vero layout I found on another forum (I added a Big Muff tone control) . . . very 'Retro', ya know . . .

It seems like the Decal Pro FX system is like anything else --- there's a learning curve and some technique involved.  The drop shadow worked OK but I did lift some of the black off when I peeled back the mylar from the gold lettering.  I also wanted to do a black outline on the letters but couldn't figure out how to do that.

One thing I'm going to try is to print a full color graphic like a photo or something and see how that works --- I guess you just print the graphic in color and put white foil under it like the video on the Decal Pro FX website? (The vid where they put the Apple logo on a glass . . . )

Happy New Year all!

Jim

[jimmybjj]

that looks awesome!!! how did you do the shadowing? 2 decals?

[jkokura]

That does look pretty Stellar. Also, 5 minutes to midnight in my TZ. Happy New years, time for me to go find my wife and give her a smooch.

Jacob

[jimmybjj]

is that with a clear coat, if not are you going to clear?

[mysticwhiskey]

   Wow ... that looks fantastic!  I'm impressed by how good that looks, and definitely inspired to try this out.  I guess the main problem being where I am might be finding a supplier for the KK-2000 adhesive.

[Fastocker]

Yep, two decals for the shadow effect.  As I mentioned, I printed the drop shadow portion of the graphic separately (I use Corel DRAW) and put that down with black foil; then I printed the rest and used the satin gold foil for that.  I haven't clear coated the box yet but I'm going to, probably tomorrow so I can finish the build on this pedal.

I think a Decal Pro FX tutorial thread might be in order, something similar to the powdercoating thread.  Then anyone who has one of these kits can post any tips or tricks that might be helpful.  Maybe I'll try to work one up with the next pedal I do.

Jim

[TNblueshawk]

Dang that looks great.

[Fastocker]

Well, after fooling around with this kit (and now that I have a laminator and laser printer) I'm tempted to try one of Pulsar's PCB Fab-In-A-Box kits to start etching my own PCBs.  Anyone ever use this kit to make PCBs?

http://www.pcbfx.com/main_site/pages/start_here/overview.html

[jimmybjj]

I don't have the kit but I did buy the green foil when I bought the decal kit, I think the foil is the only thing you are missing when you already have the decal kit, I think. I haven't tried it yet, well I did but I didn't have the special toner transfer paper and it didn't work. I don't have any plans for boards in the future but I am going to try using it to etch a enclosure.

[jimmybjj]

I went ahead and decided to make a board so you can make your decision on whether you wanted the system. Thanks for your powder tutorial.

I just etch a board using the system. Please keep in mind i DIDN'T take my time in any of the steps and in fact was very rushed, my wife trying to coral me out of the house so the results are not as good as they could be My impressions. The system works very well. It picks up details very well. Look at the ground pads (really the only detailed part of this layout) it pickup all of them really well. I didn't have much problems before and had great results just using sterling digital paper but i imagine i'd have much  more consistent results in finer layouts with the pulsar product. The pulsar paper is way easier to use than any other paper i have ever used including the sterling stuff. I didn't need to use the red foil with the fr4 (the black toner looked great all by itself, but I wanted to do the whole process, it would look nice with a colored pcb board. So for me, i'll only use the pulsar system when i have a layout with very fine lines.

[enjoyadrian]

nice job on the enclosure. Wish i could do something that professional.