Suggestions best printer to create frosted look vinyl

[bigben]

Is there a particular printer that you would suggest to create custom frosted vinyl. I'm thinking something like what is available in the 3M Fasara catalog. Does any printer with white ink would be able to do this if printed on optically clear vinyl? If not, what would you suggest?

Thanks.

 

[Bigdawg]

We did something very similar. Replicated a leaf pattern (I don't see it now - this was several years ago) and had a full 50yd roll printed in white onto frosted vinyl. Customer did no want the visibility through the glass. I think Signs365 printed it for us (we don't print white). Customer was VERY happy with it at a lot less cost to them. I think if you are considering purchasing a printer to do these, that the opacity would be the big thing. The white print does NOT look frosted - it will look like white on clear. When you look at the 3M finishes, you can see through the frosted part of the print. I'm not sure you can actually get that same "frosted" look with only white ink, but I am not an expert in that area at all. Just a thought based on some real world experience.

 

[bigben]

We did something very similar. Replicated a leaf pattern (I don't see it now - this was several years ago) and had a full 50yd roll printed in white onto frosted vinyl. Customer did no want the visibility through the glass. I think Signs365 printed it for us (we don't print white). Customer was VERY happy with it at a lot less cost to them. I think if you are considering purchasing a printer to do these, that the opacity would be the big thing. The white print does NOT look frosted - it will look like white on clear. When you look at the 3M finishes, you can see through the frosted part of the print. I'm not sure you can actually get that same "frosted" look with only white ink, but I am not an expert in that area at all. Just a thought based on some real world experience.

I understand your point and I know the frosted will be white and that is ok. If you check the fasara catalog, almost all pattern are white. But I'm also planing to make some test with white + grey if I could end up with a similar look. I understand too I need a very opaque white.

 

[White Haus]

I understand your point and I know the frosted will be white and that is ok. If you check the fasara catalog, almost all pattern are white. But I'm also planing to make some test with white + grey if I could end up with a similar look. I understand too I need a very opaque white.

Hey Ben,
We've recently played around with something like this on our Oce Arizona flatbed. Customer had some existing fasara office graphics up and liked the look, and we came up with some patterns ourselves and printed on optically clear. We actually did some tests on both our Roland XR-640 and our Oce Arizona flatbed, both came out good but quite different. In the end the customer's requirements became more simple and we ended up using Mactac frosted. Just finished one office floor this week and doing another next week hopefully.
You can definitely come close to the Fasara look with the right printer and media.
Anyways, if you would like to chat about this feel free to send me a quick email. I'm really interested in going after more of this office/glass work and maybe we can put our heads together.
Cheers,
Pat

 

[jfiscus]

You can adjust the opacity of the white ink by adjusting the opacity or percentage in your artwork file to achieve different looks with white inks. Same as you can print any amount of other ink colors.
I'd guess you're looking for "solid white" (100% ink fill) leaves, but the surrounding areas to be "frosted" (something like 40%white ink and 8% black ink) in appearance. You might have to alter the mode your RIP/printer is operating in so that it prints the white along with the color instead of a standard 1st/2nd surface print where the white is pre- or post- printed or coming from a separate head. You'll also probably have to play with the overprint/not overprint options to get the correct results.

You could also just buy a roll of frosted material and print the white onto that, we've done that before.

FWIW, we are pretty happy with the white options our Epson printer provides. We use it in conjunction with an Onyx RIP.