Toner transfer no aluminium box?

[add4]

Hello everyone.

I am decided to try my first etch for my next box.

i bought the preprepped enclosures from tayda
i reverse-negative printed my art on a glossy magazine paper
i cleaned the box with acetone
i started ironing the art carefully, for about 5-6 minutes (no vapor, full heat) just leaving the the iron at first, then circular motion without pressing too much.
when i peel the paper off, the transfer is far from being good, the writing is not even transferred, some edges of the drill marks are not round, ...

i tried 2 times yesterday with the same results.. am i doing something wrong?

thanks

[jubal81]

Just to make sure - Laser printer?

Also, I always get the enclosure blazing hot first, then put on the transfer, then iron.

[add4]

yes ^^


color laser printer. i hope it's still ok
i do have a lot of toner on the box ... most details are just not there or really fucked up

[add4]

i'm looking at this and i think i might have not cooked the paper enough... it's definately not as burned as it is on this example ... and doesn't come off as easily too.

[m-Kresol]

for what it's worth, I follow Cody's tutorial more or less: http://music.codydeschenes.com/?page_id=2035
Graham's is also really good: http://diy-guitar-effects.tumblr.com/etching

I use a soft roller like this one, to roller over the surface after the enclosure is heated. Heat again, roller. Rinse and repeat a couple of times. Then I use the tip of the iron to go over everything again. This makes for a clean transfer. Only using the roller or the iron didn't give me as good results. It's also important that you do not apply to much pressure with the iron or you can smudge the toner.

I heard/read somewhere that colour printer toner is not optimal for the task at hand. No idea why. Also, I'd try to let the enclosure cool off a bit, put it in water to soften the paper before removing it. Yes, there will be paper in the small detail gaps that you'll need to remove to get a good etch, but I've found that removing the paper while it's still hot and not adhering to the enclosure, takes off quite a bit of detail too. ymmv

It will take a few attempts to get where you want to be, and that will not be perfect. Just keep trying.

[add4]

Hey thanks for your help

Another couple of attempts and I'm a bit further.

I finally fixed the paper to the box with painters tape to avoid unwanted movements on the paper.

The position is not perfect but I can come up with solutions for that.

My question now is: why does the toner tranferred look so thin and not covering the surface as a real layer. I think that if I put this in acid r will not be protected at all

Maybe it's the color toner?
I'm printing it at my parents on a bw laser printer to try that.

Thanks for your help

[Stomptown]

I'm wondering if cleaning the enclosure with acetone is causing issues.  If you can get a hold of some denatured alcohol/mineral spririts I would use that instead. I would also suggest purchasing a brayer (roller) as mentioned above and make sure you are using a paper similar to the one Cody suggests in his tutorial.  If you can get the genuine HP presentation paper do it. It's the best option I've found by far.  If neither of those solutions help, I would suggest trying a different laser printer.  I used to use FedEx Office before finally getting a Brother.

[m-Kresol]

Acetone is definetely not a problem. I use it all the time and either way, the film left on the surface evaporates before you'll have any chance to say "hey theres some left". No difference to alcohol there.
I took me a while before I found a good printer/paper combination. At first, I used the printer at work, but that was a hassle every time I screwed up and had to wait for the next day before I could print another. I opted out for the one Cody recommends in his tutorial.

[stringsthings]

  If you can get the genuine HP presentation paper do it. It's the best option I've found by far.

+1

This paper works great and is not expensive at all.

[zombie_rock123]

I grabbed the cheapest photopaper I could ages ago from a supermarket here in the UK and it works great. They then stopped selling it so I had to buy a job lot off eBay and I'm terrified of that running out. I figure it's best to just buy a few sheets of a few different types if possible as the other guys have mentioned it's a fair amount of trial and error.

[selfdestroyer]

It really is a trial and error kind of thing. I was hoping that there was a tutorial that I could follow and it would just come out great the first time, but there are just to many variables. The best thing to do is try and tweak if needed, you will figure out what works best for the tools/paper you are using. I made my tutorial mainly for myself so I could document what worked and did not work... once I found something that worked for me, I updated the post and called it a "tutorial" lol

Don't get discouraged, have fun with it. It will work out.

Cody

[add4]

haha ok ....

do you think that it would be mainly a paper thing? and not a printer thing?
i only used this printer, and glossy magazine paper. i'll try to buy photopaper tomorrow to be sure

thanks for your input guys

[selfdestroyer]

haha ok ....

do you think that it would be mainly a paper thing? and not a printer thing?
i only used this printer, and glossy magazine paper. i'll try to buy photopaper tomorrow to be sure

thanks for your input guys

Look at your printer settings and see if there is any way to change the toner density. That really helps my transfers to have a good thick coverage.

Cody

[Timko]

I've been doing etches for quite a while, and have found this combination works well for me:

* HP Presentation Paper
* Laser printer @ 1200 dpi
* A sanded smooth enclosure (not shiny though; it doesn't stick well to polished enclosures)
* Iron on full for 10-15 minutes

After that, I normally let it cool, then soak it in water.  I use a wash pad and my fingers to remove the paper.

[add4]

I might just not iron it long enough. Next try tomorrow evening thanks for your help


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