Carl:
The one at the far left bottom in this link http://www.guntersvillelaser.com/SpecialtyPlaques-Large.jpg

I just recalled from memory, but the question remains the same. This must be related to sublimation, right? I'm not in that business, so I am vaguely familiar. (by the way, I'm a native of Alabama, that's pretty country up where you are). I like your website too, nice work!

The one on my website is laser engraved with the upper half being color filled. You laser engrave the text/graphic and then fill it with paint, usually acrylic paint. You can use a mask (cover the whole piece with a material) and then laser engrave through that. And you can flood-fill or even spray paint the laser area and then remove the mask.

The Stunt Engraver has an excellent tutorial on color filling here:

http://engravingetc.org/forum/index.php?webtag=EE&msg=2340.14.

Memorize that one.

Spend some time in the "Tips and Tricks" folder on this forum and refer to it often. You'll glean a tremendous amount of experience at an unbelievable price (for a limited time only!).

The plaque in this thread was done using CLTT (color laser toner transfer). A color laser printer is used to print to a specialty paper. The image (ie laser toner) on the paper is then transferred to the substrate (plaque, t-shirt, mouse pad, whatever) using a heat press. Yes, it is similar to dye-sublimation. There's a link to DSSI in upper right corner of this forum (See Links of Interest and click on the arrow to display the links).

As you can tell, there's more to this business than pressing the start button on your laser.

Yes, Alabama is beautiful, especially in and around the Lake Guntersville area. My business is in downtown Guntersville, which is actually a peninsula in the middle of Lake Guntersville.

Best of LUCK!

Carl

  Guntersville Laser Engraving
  Guntersville, AL
  http://www.GuntersvilleLaser.com

Carl:
Yes, their is a lot to learn. I am into CNC routed signs and have rotor engraver also, but this is not my main business. I sell and install millwork packages to GC's building apartments and condos. The signage we do is for those developments. The laser we purchased is a tie in to this.
I have looked at the sublimation materials in Johnson Plastics catalog for quite a while, but I didn't unsderstand the OEM term as related to this. Now I see. Thank you for the information. I didn't mean to appear ignorant.

Carl,

At what temp and time did you press that?

As I mentioned in another thread about OEM, I did not have good luck. What is the secret?

When I pressed my sample, a lot of the toner came off the wood, what stayed was mottled, and the finish on the wood actually bubbled in places ( I assume the temp was too high)......and it appeared as if what ever the coating is on the paper, came off and stayed on the wood.....

Thanks
Chuck

Chuck,

Reduce your temp by 25-75 degrees. I have found that if your print has a lot of dark color I reduce the temp 25-75 degrees from what Mick suggests and increase the time by 1 1/2 min to 2 min more. It seems that the darker colors (more toner) flows better at lower temps and you don't get the mottled effect.

In general I like to add time and reduce the temperature.

Dye sub needs 400*, any change will result in color shift. Not so with CLTT. The color is fixed by the toner. The toner melts at about 160* so you do not need/want the surface temperature to get too high. Using the lower temperature and longer pressing time can help guarantee an even temperature across the product. It just feels 'righter' to me.

[See UncleSteve's expose' of me.]

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

When you finally understand it completely... it changes.