Thin Coated Aluminum for UV Printing?

[Ben Carufel]

Hey guys, new user here.

I work for a digital fine art/photo lab in San Diego, CA. We just took delivery of a new CET XPress 500 in December and have been ramping up our product offerings on it.

Most of our customers are individual customers, rather than corporate -- which tends to mean they're artists and photographers and as such are very picky. Our offerings have to be super clean and top notch.

We're happy with the print quality of the CET and have been printing on DiBond for our metal prints. However, in the past few days a few customers have brought in ultra-thin aluminum prints from various online retailers...and we'd like to be able to offer something similar.

Does anyone know of a source for aluminum sheet that's been coated for UV printing, but that isn't a composite material like DiBond/etc.?

Doesn't have to be paper thin, of course....up to 1mm would be acceptable...

Thanks!

 

[jrsc]

direct color systems sells aluminum for uv printing.

 

[Ben Carufel]

direct color systems sells aluminum for uv printing.

Ah yes, thanks for the reminder. I contacted them Friday to get samples (or place a small order, if that's what it takes) for testing...but haven't heard back.

We're getting customers rolling through the door with these requests so I really want to get this process figured out ASAP!

 

[synergy_jim]

take a good look at it and the ink. lots of places sublimate aluminum

 

[Ben Carufel]

take a good look at it and the ink. lots of places sublimate aluminum

I suspect that a lot of the samples people are bringing in are dye sub. We're looking into getting a dye sub system set up, but we're really interested in doing something new -- and different from the "other guys" -- with DiBond and thinner aluminum coming out of the UV printer.

I think a dye sub will be our next investment, though.

 

[knucklehead]

ChromaRoll, 5 mil aluminum. But I think it's only for pigment and dyes.

 

[FireSprint.com]

Are you just asking for .032 aluminum blanks? That's about 1mm thick. There has to be a sign supplier near you that sells .032 or even .020.

 

[Ben Carufel]

Are you just asking for .032 aluminum blanks? That's about 1mm thick. There has to be a sign supplier near you that sells .032 or even .020.

That sounds about right; I was just hoping to find something along those lines with a special coating for UV printing ink (to increase adhesion, etc). Would be cool to find them in white and clear (natural aluminum)...

Alternatively, I wonder if there is a roll-on product I can use which is available in clear and white and would coat the metal to make it suitable for digital printing...

 

[rubo]

you're overthinking it - get a sheet of aluminum from Industrial Metal Supply - 24x48 is about $12 or so...they have an outfit in SD, wipe it w alcohol, print on it, put Clearshield on it and you're golden. I do that all day everyday. Don't know about CET, I have my prints done on HP, Gerber and Flora - Gerber wins. I used to print myself but once I found my printers (two different shops, actually) I don't want to print anymore - just collect.

 

[Ben Carufel]

you're overthinking it - get a sheet of aluminum from Industrial Metal Supply - 24x48 is about $12 or so...they have an outfit in SD, wipe it w alcohol, print on it, put Clearshield on it and you're golden. I do that all day everyday. Don't know about CET, I have my prints done on HP, Gerber and Flora - Gerber wins. I used to print myself but once I found my printers (two different shops, actually) I don't want to print anymore - just collect.

Thanks for that. I wasn't sure how well the ink would adhere to the raw aluminum. Figure I might try some Bond Aid as a just-in-case...maybe I'll stop by IMS tomorrow and try that.

Do you have a favorite Clearshield?

Ben

 

[rubo]

the one I'm using says waterbased liquid laminate - gloss. BTW, the HP prints were complete miss - I've tried sh^% load of different clear-coats - water-based, solvent and everything in between - none worked, the print bubbles up like crazy and falls off leaving the underneath surface VERY clean. Anyway, while you're @ IMS, get some copper and bronze, print some images on it - your clients will p themselves once they see it - mine do .
another trick - don't know why am I giving you all this - clear coat the metal BEFORE printing, print, clear it again - just do it, beleive me you won't be sorry. Good luck!

 

[Ben Carufel]

the one I'm using says waterbased liquid laminate - gloss. BTW, the HP prints were complete miss - I've tried sh^% load of different clear-coats - water-based, solvent and everything in between - none worked, the print bubbles up like crazy and falls off leaving the underneath surface VERY clean. Anyway, while you're @ IMS, get some copper and bronze, print some images on it - your clients will p themselves once they see it - mine do .
another trick - don't know why am I giving you all this - clear coat the metal BEFORE printing, print, clear it again - just do it, beleive me you won't be sorry. Good luck!

Awesome. Thanks for the info!

 

[rubo]

let me know how it worked for you - seems nobody else cares, but its ok