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Printing onto MDF

Christian @ 2CT Media

Active Member
MDF will soak up the ink, so you need to be cognizant of the color shift. You can always seal it or primer it before printing. We print on MDF peg board a lot and it works fairly well, but we often get it coated or seal it first.
 
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Superior_Adam

New Member
You will need to either paint the board first or print white then color. If you print the white you will have to go at a higher resolution to really lay a lot of white ink down.
 

GC Decor

Super Printer
We did a good amount of UV printing on MDF, you have to paint / seal the board first to get a good finish. We alway painted it white for the best coloring. Powder coating works as well, was alittle cheaper for large batch runs. When UV printing on any type of wood you need to paint or seal it first or the ink will soak into the wood and won’t fully dry - leaving a heavy toxic odor.
P Graham Dun (spelling is close) in Ohio does tons of UV printing on MDF, cool video on there site.
 
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GC Decor

Super Printer
How do you powder coat MDF?
It can't carry the charge.
The company we used had a fully automated line. They would hang each piece on a metal hanger & it would get heated, than coated & hit with UV Lights.
The Company is called DVUV, they do tons of MDF. Alot of Desk tops & fixtures. They have a video on there website of the process.
 

Medina Signs

Old Member
Do you know what "Scooter Board" Is? Currently is available in 1/4" and I believe it is print ready. I've used in the past and it was a nice product, impervious to moisture.

Let mem know and I'll tell you where It can be got on the east coast.

Here is some info -

Scooter Board UV Scooterboard is moisture resistant and is coated white 2 sides with a beautiful non-glare finish. Direct UV Digital Printing, screen printing and vinyl adheres without any surface preparation. Scooter Board UV weighs 1/3 less than high-density hardboards such as Duron. It's 3/16" core is perfect for real estate sign frames.

Scooter Board UV readily accepts vinyl, digital flatbed printing, and engraving as well as a variety of screening inks. Since each material has different characteristics and longevity we recommend testing to determine the best method for your application.
 

SignMeUpGraphics

Super Active Member
We print on MDF every 2nd week or so. None of it is colour critical, so we just print as normal and if we need the whites to stand out, we just spot colour those parts of the design.
The only issue is getting the printer to hold the board down for the whole job. Our jobs are all on 6mm board so sometimes they will pop off the bed due to the lamp heat. Likely not an issue for LED machines.
 

JamesLam

New Member
For those that are printing on mdf do you print full size sheets and then cut down or do you pre-cut and print to size? The big issue is dust and if working with pre-cut pieces dust is very difficult to eliminate.
 

SignMeUpGraphics

Super Active Member
We laser cut so it doesn't really matter before or after. Clean cuts and no dust.
It's definitely easier to cut first though so we don't have to worry about cut alignment.
 
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