Transfer from paper to engraving material

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earlgo
Posts: 1794
Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2011 11:38 am
Location: NE Ohio

Transfer from paper to engraving material

Post by earlgo »

My friend is a hobbyist manual engraver. For a number of years, he was able to print a pattern on his IBM LaserJet printer, including backward printing in various fonts. He would then place the paper pattern face down on the material to be engraved, put a few drops of acetone on the pattern and the inkjet ink would transfer to the material. Recently he bought a new Brother LaserJet printer because the IBM died and found out that the ink will not transfer. I volunteered to print his pattern on my Canon printer and the pattern transferred ok, but a little light.
Have any of you run into this, and if so, what did you do? Alternatively, is there a different way to transfer patterns?

--earlgo
Before you do anything, you must do something else first. - Washington's principle.
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rmac
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Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2012 12:48 am
Location: Phoenix, Arizona

Re: Transfer from paper to engraving material

Post by rmac »

Some hints:
  1. Try fiddling around with your printer settings. Your image may be coming out too light if the printer is set in some kind of "toner saver" mode.
  2. Check out items 4, 5, and 6 in this post.
  3. This site has a product that looks like it's made for exactly what your friend is doing.
-- Russell Mac
Last edited by rmac on Thu Dec 22, 2022 10:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Fixed the "this site" link
jcfx
Posts: 713
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2009 1:24 pm
Location: NY

Re: Transfer from paper to engraving material

Post by jcfx »

Rmac has good suggestions, the Brother toner may be formulated to be resistant to solvents.
A little confused as to what printing process is being used here, inkjet ( wet ink ) or laser ( dry toner powder ) ?

As an alternative, if the printer settings don't work, your friend might try Press N'Peel,
I use to use it to transfer laser printed designs and graphics for chemical etching it's also used for
circuit boards. It's heat transfer of the toner from the Press N'Peel sheet so a clothes iron will be needed.

https://www.techniks.com/

Another thing to try is rather than use solvents, use a iron to transfer the printed design, toner is heat
fused to the paper so the reverse would work, fuse the printed image to the substrate, only catch is
the paper will need to be soaked off with water.
earlgo
Posts: 1794
Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2011 11:38 am
Location: NE Ohio

Re: Transfer from paper to engraving material

Post by earlgo »

Thanks for your replies. I looked at the link about Press 'n Peel and this was in the header:
Note: We are getting reports that PnP is not working well
with later model Brother brand copiers and laser printers

Oh well.
It is my opinion that my friend didn't have his paper pattern flat against the material. This is what I did by taping the edges of the pattern down securely.
test on steel.jpg
I passed the info along.
--earlgo
Before you do anything, you must do something else first. - Washington's principle.
jcfx
Posts: 713
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2009 1:24 pm
Location: NY

Re: Transfer from paper to engraving material

Post by jcfx »

Oops ! Sorry about that, I didn't see the Brother printers warning, I switched over to photo polymers for
making masks for chemical etching.
As a last resort there are graphite transfer papers still being made, Blick art should carry them
draw back is it's smudgy.
chief
Posts: 236
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2003 5:51 pm

Re: Transfer from paper to engraving material

Post by chief »

Russell,

For me, at least, when I click on your this site link, it takes me back to this page again.

Terry
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rmac
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Location: Phoenix, Arizona

Re: Transfer from paper to engraving material

Post by rmac »

chief wrote: Thu Dec 22, 2022 10:13 am Russell,

For me, at least, when I click on your this site link, it takes me back to this page again.

Terry
You're right, I messed that up somehow. It's fixed now. For the record, here's the correct URL:

https://contenti.com/engraving-pattern-transfer-sheets

-- Russell Mac
chief
Posts: 236
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2003 5:51 pm

Re: Transfer from paper to engraving material

Post by chief »

Thanks for the update!
Terry
earlgo
Posts: 1794
Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2011 11:38 am
Location: NE Ohio

Re: Transfer from paper to engraving material

Post by earlgo »

Indeed, thanks for the link. I passed it on to the engraver friend.
--earlgo
Before you do anything, you must do something else first. - Washington's principle.
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