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LesPaul

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 19, 2009
Messages
53
Location
Norway
I have found a way to use toner transfer on painted surfaces, and wanted to share it with all of you. With this method you can create professional looking panels for the cost of a few resistors.

How to make a front panel:
- Paint the front panel. I use standard spray paint.
- Print your design on glossy photo paper for laser printers. It is important that you use a laser printer!
- Position the design (face down) on your front panel. You may want to fasten it with some tape to make sure it won't smudge.
- Iron the back of the paper to make it stick to the panel. For the first minute, just press down, don't move the iron to much. The reason for this is to prevent the design to smudge. Use the tip of the iron to make sure you get the paper to stick really good. The total ironing time should be around 6 minutes. The heat setting is the key here, for my iron it's set on "silk". If it gets to warm, the paint will be ruined.
- When you are done ironing, put the whole thing in warm water. I use running water. After some seconds, change the temperature to where your hands won't get burned when touching the panel. (If the paper releases itself at this point, you didn't get the ironing right)
- Carefully tear off the paper. You should only be able to tear off the back side of the paper. Use your finger (NO nails) to get the rest of the paper off. Be careful! I sometimes use a brush to remove any leftovers.
- Use clear matt paint to seal it off. This is for concealing the cloudy effects you get from the paper burned into the paint. Glossy won't work.

You may need to practice a bit to get it just right, but you should be able to get great results. And it is truely DIY.

Go create!
 
GREAT - the method looks very interesting - just like making a DIY PCB !

I'll give it a try for my next front !

Thx for sharing !
 
ruffrecords said:
Can you post a few pics of the process and the result?

Cheers

Ian

Here are some pictures of the process.
ksor said:
GREAT - the method looks very interesting - just like making a DIY PCB !

I'll give it a try for my next front !

Thx for sharing !

It's the same method, the difference with this one is that you have to be careful with using too much heat. When you get this right, it's actually really easy :)

 

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Another one, with a different design.

I use this method on the back panel too.
 

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WOW impressive!!!!

i've just finished my 8 channel mic preamp and was searching a way to design and print front panel and your way is great!!!!

just an obvious question to be sure i understand the process:

print must be done in mirror view to face down to the front panel, isn't it?
 
hazel said:
WOW impressive!!!!

i've just finished my 8 channel mic preamp and was searching a way to design and print front panel and your way is great!!!!

just an obvious question to be sure i understand the process:

print must be done in mirror view to face down to the front panel, isn't it?

You're absolutely right!
 
ruffrecords said:
Presumably the label has to be printed mirrored?

Cheers

Ian

Yes, I believe so Ian. Will try this soon myself as i'm finishing off a couple of projects, but annoyingly, my laser printer won't print without smudging!  :mad:

I presume this would work equally well for colour prints from a copy shop? I think some can even do white ink now.

Chris

Ps, my local Ryman stationers are selling laser photo paper for £11.99 for 200 sheets! Got to be worth a punt and no, I don't work for them! :)
 
So is the idea that the clear portion of the paper remains?

When I used to do positive exposure PCB's via UV light, I printed on transparency paper and transferred the toner to the board in a similar manner.
 
Matador said:
So is the idea that the clear portion of the paper remains?

I think that it's just the toner thats applied to the panel, rather than any film. It gives a similar effect of screen printing.
Chris
 
If you have not tried it, try the backing sheet for labels, it is coated with silicone, and it won't hold the toner at all.  You can remove it without water, and it will leave the toner (especially if it is not a large area, like text, and faceplate markings).

The toner melts onto the paper in the printer...

Here are some things I have learned...The toner moves toward the heat, so if you can heat the target more than the paper, that works well.

2) My best results come with the backing sheets from labels.  Just peel the labels off the backing.  Leave the border on the label sheet, because it keeps the sheet thicker and stiffer. 

With this approach, you iron it on, let it cool ALL THE WAY COLD, then peel it slowly off.  Works well for most things, never tried it on painted surface though.

 
chrispbass said:
ruffrecords said:
Presumably the label has to be printed mirrored?

Cheers

Ian

Yes, I believe so Ian. Will try this soon myself as i'm finishing off a couple of projects, but annoyingly, my laser printer won't print without smudging!  :mad:

I presume this would work equally well for colour prints from a copy shop? I think some can even do white ink now.

Chris

Ps, my local Ryman stationers are selling laser photo paper for £11.99 for 200 sheets! Got to be worth a punt and no, I don't work for them! :)

I have tried different colours with great results. The only thing is that the painted surface can't be really dark, because the cloudy effects you get from the paper will hide your design.

Matador said:
So is the idea that the clear portion of the paper remains?

When I used to do positive exposure PCB's via UV light, I printed on transparency paper and transferred the toner to the board in a similar manner.

I'm not sure if it remains or not, but it creates this cloudy effect on the panel. This is easily removed with the clear coat on top.

bruce0 said:
If you have not tried it, try the backing sheet for labels, it is coated with silicone, and it won't hold the toner at all.  You can remove it without water, and it will leave the toner (especially if it is not a large area, like text, and faceplate markings).

The toner melts onto the paper in the printer...

Here are some things I have learned...The toner moves toward the heat, so if you can heat the target more than the paper, that works well.

2) My best results come with the backing sheets from labels.  Just peel the labels off the backing.  Leave the border on the label sheet, because it keeps the sheet thicker and stiffer. 

With this approach, you iron it on, let it cool ALL THE WAY COLD, then peel it slowly off.  Works well for most things, never tried it on painted surface though.

Interesting...

I may need to try this. What heat setting are you using on this? If it gets too high, the paint will get toasted.
 
LesPaul said:
Interesting...

I may need to try this. What heat setting are you using on this? If it gets too high, the paint will get toasted.

I use as hot as i can get, but it doesnt matter.

The slippery backing is not effected by the heat (it runs through a laser printer).
Toner melts in a laser printer... so i think it melts at the same temp for all of them.

I have not transferred to paint, just metal.

But I will say this, you might be concerned about the silicone getting on the paint, and making your top coat a problem, let me know if you try it.  I have never seen or detected any residue other than the toner with this method.

Beware handling the printed sheet... the toner will flake off if you bend the sheet (it is really only marginally attached... which is nice).

 
bruce0 said:
LesPaul said:
Interesting...

I may need to try this. What heat setting are you using on this? If it gets too high, the paint will get toasted.

I use as hot as i can get, but it doesnt matter.

The slippery backing is not effected by the heat (it runs through a laser printer).
Toner melts in a laser printer... so i think it melts at the same temp for all of them.

I have not transferred to paint, just metal.

But I will say this, you might be concerned about the silicone getting on the paint, and making your top coat a problem, let me know if you try it.  I have never seen or detected any residue other than the toner with this method.

Beware handling the printed sheet... the toner will flake off if you bend the sheet (it is really only marginally attached... which is nice).

I'll will give it a try for my next project :)
 
bruce0 said:
LesPaul said:
Interesting...

I may need to try this. What heat setting are you using on this? If it gets too high, the paint will get toasted.

I use as hot as i can get, but it doesnt matter.

The slippery backing is not effected by the heat (it runs through a laser printer).
Toner melts in a laser printer... so i think it melts at the same temp for all of them.

I have not transferred to paint, just metal.

But I will say this, you might be concerned about the silicone getting on the paint, and making your top coat a problem, let me know if you try it.  I have never seen or detected any residue other than the toner with this method.

Beware handling the printed sheet... the toner will flake off if you bend the sheet (it is really only marginally attached... which is nice).

Have just tried this type of paper, but can't get my laser printer to print on the backing. It will print ok on the side without the stickers on, but when I peel off the stickers and try to print on that side, it just smears, if sticks at all! Any tips for getting it to print on this side?

Keith (ssltech)  showed a similar thing, but used 3m super 77 spray glue on the panel, and burnished the toner down with a soft pencil. He showed it on a LA2A panel and since he reproduced the red logo, I'm presuming he used an ink jet printer!

Any help appreciated
Chris
 
I used avery labels (small ones, all pulled off, except the border around the sheet).  The one piece big labels are no good because the backing sheet is split.

I used an HP LaserJet 4000

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks Bruce, got some different papers to try, so will report back. From the research I've done, Hp laser printers tend to work the best at the whole toner transfer thingy due to the lower fusing temp of the toner. Of course all my laser printers are Brother!!  ;D
cheers
chris
 

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