Anyone tried printing onto Plasticard?

It will take a long time to dry and the ink might run together into drops with white spaces If you want to try it treat it as a overhead projector gel

"> Just wondering if anyone's tried it and how it went ..... I am tempted as I "> have a hand pass option on one of my printers and it will accommodate up to "> 600GSM paper, but I wanted to know if it is worth my trouble to try.
I sort of doubt it will work. Ink Jet printers use *water soluble* inks. Styrene (and most plastics) don't take to water soluble paints so it is doubtful that they will take to water soluble inks any better.
When I've needed something 'printed' (computer generated graphics) on a model, I've printed it on paper (I used several different papers: regular bond, photo-graphic, and 'sticky-back') and apply the paper to the model.
"> "> Thanks "> "> Steve "> "> ">
\/ Robert Heller ||InterNet: snipped-for-privacy@cs.umass.edu || snipped-for-privacy@deepsoft.com /\FidoNet: 1:321/153

I'm sure this will happen...
I don't think this will work either, because inkjet OHP still has a special coating to absorb the ink. How about turning the idea around, and using the inkjet OHP "paper" as plastic card? It does all depend on the application though, and whether or not the inability to print white is a problem. Overlay onto white plasticard?
Paul Boyd

I submit that on or about Mon, 01 Aug 2005 20:42:56 +0100, the person known to the court as Dick Ganderton made a statement ( in Your Honour's bundle) to the following effect:
LOL! And you might end off removing melted plastikard from the destroyed fuser assembly :-D
Honestly, don't put plastics through laser printers unless they are specifically rated for laser printer use. DAMHIKIJKOK...
Guy -- "To every complex problem there is a solution which is simple, neat and wrong" - HL Mencken

What type of printer?
It might work on a Laserwriter.
m> Just wondering if anyone's tried it and how it went ..... I am tempted as I

Dot matrix printing works, but ink jet printers spray ink which generally relys on the ink soaking in to the surface a little to hold the ink in position until it dries. The current flock of "photographic quality" printers which can print onto high gloss paper with the correct settings may well do better. You will need to consider the paper path and the required flexibility of the plastic you are using.
Why not give it a go? At worst you will have to wash your sheet of plastic.
Now that you mention it, my little 150x100 photo printer has a straight paper path ... Hmmmmmm!
Regards, Greg.P.

Thanks all ......
I will be giving it a go this weekend ..... will report back!
I am going to find out what the surface coating is so I can look at spraying plasticard with the same stuff!
Steve

Yes I have. Some years ago I was making the base sides for a VLine VKEX wagon out of a single sheet of 0.5mm styrene sheet.
As it was cut to almost A4 size, and as I had drawn everything up in a CAD program I put the plastic through the inkjet printer to see how it went. As expected the ink balled, so I washed it off and tried again. From memory, I gave the surface a light sand with say 400 grit Wet & Dry sand paper. This worked batter, but not perfect, so I then went outside and gave the whole lot a spray with cheap matte spray from the local art supply shop. This worked well enough to enable me to cut out the sides, although I did have to sand off the coating before gluing.
Subsequent wagons have used the same artwork, but printed on paper then glue-sticked to the plastic before cutting/scribing.
For my artwork and some other comments see
Regards,
Stuart

In message , Trev writes The problem is the ink and type of printer used. At Deans Marine, a local firm who manufacture model boat kits, almost all of the kits are based on a plasticard superstructure formed of a single sheet of plasticard upon which is drawn a cutting plan. This is done by an ink flatbed plotter using a variety of colour inks applied directly onto sheets of the card which are then roughly split down to size to fit into the boxes for dispatch. The drawings are often fine line and include text and graphics so are both intricate and very precise. The machine draws from a cad program produced drawing and the plotter is controlled by a standard if somewhat elderly PC, so nothing too fancy is needed, just the right application of the correct ink.
Cheers

Check into what they coat printable CD-Rs with. Specifically designed for use with ink jet printers, matte white coating.

I have successfully printed onto plastic using my Canon printer. the trick is to rough the plastic surface to be prinrted. Gently sand with 1200 grit paper then brush or wash away the sanding dust.. When dry print like paper. Of course why even bother with plastic when you can print directly to various thickness cardstocks and get the same (or better) effect? Paper modeling has gotten quite advanced and is nothing like the punch out stuff we knew as kids. Paper modelers are now competing in shows with plastic builders and winning with more detailed and accurate models. One can build structures with prototypical material thicknesses on the visible parts like door and window frames. colors can be sampled from a real structure and used to get the finish perfect. curves are no problem once you get a bit of practice and the range of items is amazing. Best of all you can take any paper model and resize it for use in any other scale. I recently did an N scale intermodal yard for a friend and used rescaled HO paper containers which were made using photos of the real thing so all the bumps, rust and graffiti appears exactly as on the original. Come over to papermodels at SmartGroups.com and check it out. you will be astonished at what is available. Even bette almost all are free. It's a friendly group and help is always available (in many cases from some of the top modelers in the world) While it does require joining SmartGroups, fear not, h have never received a single piece of spam from there (I have my SmartGroups memberships on a separate mail account and never has there been any spam, which sure beats the other places) BTW: there is currently a discussion of this very subject (printing on plastic) under way in the group.
cat

Before I comment too deeply it would be good to know the application and the type of printer.
But.. That's not stopped me in the past.
I work for a hardware/lawn&garden company. We regularly print outside signs on plastic material for our plants, shrubs and fertilizer displays. Printers used are laser, not ink-jet. The plastic signs cards come from Horticultural Printers. They're web site is: Click the 'onsyte printing' tab. There is stock for thermal transfer, ink jet and laser. I don't know if any of this is usable in your application but it's worth a look. The whole idea for us is the ability to print signs that can withstand the weather. We don't do color, just black on the white card. Laser printers are all HP 4100 to 4200 series. We have had good luck with the combination.
And no, I have no connection with the above mentioned company!
Good luck,
Jim

It might be worthwhile to peruse make a wide range of media that can be printed with inkjet or laser, including white and clear decal paper. Many of their products are useful for model making. (No connection - just a satisfied customer!)

Any ALPS MD series printer will print on styrene up to 0.010" thick. It works really well. It is a thermal wax/resin transfer printer.
The only problem is that they are long out of production. Good news is that lots of them show up on eBay. But lots of the eBay ones have problems (like burned head elements).
Peteski

great idea again!!!!
Thanks
Steve

how good is the net!!!!!
IT ROCKS!
Thanks mate - am joining now
Steve

BTW all
I am also going to try and inkjet print stone paper onto a textured card stock to see if I can achieve added realism ...... that'll be interetesing
:)
Steve

I once read of someone managing this by very lightly sanding the surface of the plastic first.

Don't try this with a laser printer. We had some one wreck the 'fuser' on our office colour printer by putting the wrong sort of transparency film it it and the plastic melted in the fuser stage. The clear sheets meant for the printer can take much more heat.
Inkjet printers don't use heat to fuse the ink. The warning only applies to Laser printers.