printing on metal - DIY or send out

Hello all I did a search for a similar topic but i could not find anything close enough

 

I have been debating whether or not i should invest in a heat press, convert my back up epson to dye sublimation and create my own metal prints or should i send everything to a professional print shop

 

I am hoping to create a small inventory to sell at small craft shows and farmers markets. I currently print regular prints on my canon pro100. I have done a lot of research and I am still not sure which would be the most cost effective.

 

does anyone one have any experience creating metal prints at home? I have researched a few print shops and have made a decision which i would go to.... just trying to figure which is best in the long run.

 

thank you in advance

David

If you can justify the expense of the gear because you are selling enough product, then go for it. If you think you can justify the price of a metal line because you think you can sell enough product I think it's a bad business decision.

 

Metal prints (I haven't personally done the process but watched it closely at my lab) have no margin for error. Any piece of dust or dirt causes imperfections in the final print, and sizing has to be perfect. You also have o keep an inventory of the metal around, and often bigger labs can buy it in quantity keeping the prices down.

Whenever you are pondering some printing process, try to investigate it's pitfalls and challenges before you start doing it at home. I silk screened at one job and would try that at home, although it would come with the smell of acetone and the problem that I'd depend on an external service provider to get films to contact copy my screens. - I'd feel darkroom savvy enough to make pre-press films of line drawings and writings by LF camera but I don't have the means (& zero hope to grow the skills) to handle half tone images conventionally.

At another job there is an UV hardening inkjet. I would not fancy bunking in next to such a bugger. - Don't get me wrong results from it don't look bad but it is a smelly mess (the inks are solvent based) and worst: Those machines are noisy! - Their self cleaning and ink circling mechanisms while idling are very well audible and sound annoying. I believe I'd sleep much better near running letter or offset presses.

 

Another issue is: How solid are the results you'll get out of your printing process? If you airbrushed vehicle parts you'd want your work clearcoated to make it durable and scratch proof. That process involves usually multiple stacked layers of clear coat since the water based paint and dual component automotive clear coat have to be separated. - The airbrush artists I know delegate the final clear coating to (car) body shops. Coated cardboard benefits quite a bit from water based clear coat or even UV hardened. - I'd simply worry that a thermo transferred household inkjet print would not be solid enough on a metal surface. But I did not have the chance to touch and abuse samples of that process.

Any piece of dust or dirt causes imperfections in the final print,

Is the crucial line!

I just would not know how to get & keep a domestic area clean enough for quality vehicle painting.

Do you have any numbers to look at how much it might cost you to run your process at home? Is it suitable for low volume work at all? How frequently will you have to produce? Can you sell enough to justify the ink wasted through cleaning cycles over a year?

This guy is making metal sublimation prints at home with basic equipment. Doesn't look too problematic.

 

Jose Rodriguez

If you are exploring a market... have a shop do a small run for ya to see if you have a market. If so, invest in the equipment.