Decal printed dial

[jimcon11]

Set the file to the max dpi of your printer. If your printer says it's capable of like 4800x1200dpi resolution then set the file to 1200dpi. If it's higher then try higher.

Setting the photo paper option to "High Resolution Paper" helped me too.

 

[Briteling]

after multiple tests I think i achieved to get a correct lume on my 5500 dial.

I tried many times last days without success. It made me mad !

For exemple my last 6610 lume test. Numbers are terrible. Didn't have difficulties on my my first watches with the lume mix.

Those days my lume is very sticky. Thought I use the same recipe as before. Nemoto powder, acrylic matt varnish, acrylic white paint, pigment. Any advice would be appreciated


[emoji632]

I haven't come very far with any vintage dials yet, this is a new territory for me, but this all looks really nice! As for lume, I am pretty experienced with that and have had very good results with UV binder. The fact that doesn't dry at all until YOU want it makes the job so relaxing that it definitely adds to a better end result. You can start small and build up layers.

So, I can not show any good results with gilt dials yet, but this is a Seiko that I've recently lumed:

 

[Briteling]

And this...

 

[me&tedd]

Set the file to the max dpi of your printer. If your printer says it's capable of like 4800x1200dpi resolution then set the file to 1200dpi. If it's higher then try higher.

Setting the photo paper option to "High Resolution Paper" helped me too.

Thanks for this advice! I would rather know the settings for Mac. My printer supports 4800x1200 dpi and I think I will go for photo paper setting.

another question is did anybody try to print tropic faded dials? What is the outcome on it?

 

[me&tedd]

And this...

Sorry dude, pics are not displayed.

 

[Briteling]

Sorry dude, pics are not displayed.

At first they were, then not, then they did in Edge, but now also not...

How does this work in this forum? I've now used Imgur for hosting and pasted the URL in the picture attachement tool (button in bar above text field).

 

[JOP]

Just for my understanding: I take a water slide decal paper and print template on it with highest resolution like for photo printing and that’s it? Should I put some layers of spray varnish to seal it?

Prefer water slide for ceramics that cure in oven.
As concern "tropical" dial, you can do same on white dial.
If i may, work like the nature. Pick a brown based black, paint your dial, expose it to UV radiation and thermal same like radiums', apply water slide after you gain
the effect that you like..

Don't try printing a natures' effect in my opinion, study it and reproduce it.
You can practice silk printing in your home with excellent results if you like it.

 

[Briteling]

Okay, another try... if this doesn't work, can somebody enlighten me by saying how to display pics on this board? Thanks!

Edit: So weird!! in the preview they show, in this edit field they show, but just not once I've posted for real. What's up with this??

Edit2: Hahahaaaah, so now I edited the page five times or so, each time right after pressing "save" the pictures are there, crisp and sharp. Then when I refresh the page, they're gone again...

Edit3: So okay, even the links are giving errors, when that happens it will work by removing the S from HTTPS in the link... sigh... what a drag this!

Okay, here are just the image links then:
http://www.imgur.com//zjOm0gc.jpg
http://www.imgur.com//xtrjzfB.jpg

 

[Briteling]

You all have done some amazing work here and taken the hobby to new levels. Bravo!

You have me wondering what might be done with the decal to create a "spider" dial.

"Rolex’s watches went through a transitional period during the mid to late 1980’s, in which the brand experimented with new materials, began using advanced movements, and made minor adjustments to their designs in order to give their watches a more luxurious feel. One such adjustment was the switch from matte to gloss dials in all of the brand’s sports models, and in doing so, Rolex unintentionally created a sub-variant of several of their offerings – the spider dial. Essentially, Rolex hadn’t perfected the lacquer finish that is applied to the black surface of the dial, and with time, some examples began to experience cracking that resembled a spider web, or crazing, as it’s referred to by some collectors."

I've accidentally made one recently, if you use a very thin layer of enamel coating (VHT paint has engine enamel, which can also be baked) then sand it the next day, and add another layer it will form these cracks.

If only I knew how to post pictures here, I could show you.

 

[me&tedd]

My try with decal printing was not that successful. I used water slide clear paper and the highest resolution 4800dpi on my inkjet. The outcome was not detailed enough to use it as a dial. The coronet and text still not sharp and pixilated ????. So still need advices.

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[Briteling]

So, this is my first vintage lume project. Used a fairly cheap Tiger-Concept dial for the experiment, which I had already hand engraved to a somewhat gilt look. After the engraving I enamel coated the whole dial, and in that process I got a kind of a spider dial effect, but since I didn't have that in mind I sanded and polished that out again...

Link to picture (might need to remove the S from HTTPS)
http://imgur.com/EikSEfU

 

[Briteling]

And link to the spider effect dial picture:
http://imgur.com/YnlqIPd

 

[manodeoro]

Thanks for this advice! I would rather know the settings for Mac. My printer supports 4800x1200 dpi and I think I will go for photo paper setting.

another question is did anybody try to print tropic faded dials? What is the outcome on it?

Not that bad ... IMHO

 

[manodeoro]

Prefer water slide for ceramics that cure in oven.
As concern "tropical" dial, you can do same on white dial.
If i may, work like the nature. Pick a brown based black, paint your dial, expose it to UV radiation and thermal same like radiums', apply water slide after you gain
the effect that you like..

Don't try printing a natures' effect in my opinion, study it and reproduce it.
You can practice silk printing in your home with excellent results if you like it.

Good idea but how do you print ceramic decals ?
You need a specific ceramic printer and ceramic toners $$$ or have them printed if you find a shop that is OK with printing Rep dials

 

[manodeoro]

I've accidentally made one recently, if you use a very thin layer of enamel coating (VHT paint has engine enamel, which can also be baked) then sand it the next day, and add another layer it will form these cracks.

If only I knew how to post pictures here, I could show you.

Thanks for the info ... I'll try that on my Fat Lady GMT
Would you be kind enough to tell us the exatc reference of the enamel coating you used ?

 

[JOP]

Good idea but how do you print ceramic decals ?
You need a specific ceramic printer and ceramic toners $$$ or have them printed if you find a shop that is OK with printing Rep dials

Search ebay for "waterslide paper ceramics" you will find some. I am sure that you can find in a central hobby store also.
You can use almost any good quality laser printer with fine results. They provide a lot of examples in their ads.

Don't forget that the curing oven of most laser printers works from 400C to 600C... much higher than home cooking ovens.

You can also use UV flatbed printers for that if you have any print shop near.
Or practice silk printing at home that will give you the same results most hi end brands have. If you are super careful of course..

If you like to have white based colors printed you must use UV printer with white. In this case you don't have to cure the decal
in your oven but you will have to finish with a soft clear coat spray that you like. This will make easier your lume placement after.

Any of those procedures will not get higher than 0,040mm. If you are careful and don't over paint (no need) you should get close to 0,025mm easily.

 

[Briteling]

Thanks for the info ... I'll try that on my Fat Lady GMT
Would you be kind enough to tell us the exatc reference of the enamel coating you used ?

https://www.vhtpaint.com/high-heat/vht-engine-enamel

The SP145 "Gloss Clear"

What I did was basically a mistake (for what I had in mind) the exact steps:

day 1. very thin coating too thin actually so,
day 2. sanded it down slightly with 1200 grid wet sandpaper and,
gave another coat, and immediately it started crackling

Then at day 4 I sanded it again, thinking I would give it another try, but then saw it looked quite nice already only lacking a bit of gloss. I also thought it would probably crackle again right away, so I decided to polish it up a bit with Polywatch (acrylic crystals polish)

I have also found a method to create pretty perfect lume paste for vintage look with UV binder as medium! This was my first try and I think it looks quite good. As a trial I decided to use a Tiger Concept dial I already had laying about...

The method here:
I mixed three water based paints:
1. White wall paint
2. Superlume.com vintage paste, which is a bit too orange
3. Brown leather paint, which is pretty dark and dull

The problem was that water and UV binder/glue don't mix, but once the water is out and only pigments remain, these mix fine with the UV glue, respecting the curing properties.

This is the binder:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/5-Second-F...4z/4GklC3dlart2H0FvUMvjuHTic8=&frcectupt=true
It's called 5 seconds fix, and comes in pens with a UV led at the back (that actually works!) Other brands might work too, but this is what I used...

The mixture will dry up lighter than it is when wet, so add enough of the browns! Then smear it on to a plastic container (old shampoo bottle for instance) something on which paint doesn't stick. Then let it dry and then peel it off. Crush the amount needed and mix with UV binder and some lume powder. I've done the mixing with a flat blade screwdriver on an old watch crystal. The screwdriver can crush whatever larger particals are in there, so the paste becomes nicely smooth.

The result is that nice cookie dought coloured and nicely thick lume paste, that allows a build up of nicely high puffy looking patches!

Here's my first attempt:
http://imgur.com/TEB2uGc
This was under artificial light, so not very true colours...
http://imgur.com/tzg0fsl
This was under gloomy blue morning daylight...

 

[manodeoro]

Search ebay for "waterslide paper ceramics" you will find some. I am sure that you can find in a central hobby store also.
You can use almost any good quality laser printer with fine results. They provide a lot of examples in their ads.

Don't forget that the curing oven of most laser printers works from 400C to 600C... much higher than home cooking ovens.

You can also use UV flatbed printers for that if you have any print shop near.
Or practice silk printing at home that will give you the same results most hi end brands have. If you are super careful of course..

If you like to have white based colors printed you must use UV printer with white. In this case you don't have to cure the decal
in your oven but you will have to finish with a soft clear coat spray that you like. This will make easier your lume placement after.

Any of those procedures will not get higher than 0,040mm. If you are careful and don't over paint (no need) you should get close to 0,025mm easily.

Thanks for the advice but I still think the ceramic way is hazardous and difficult.
Silk printing could be a way ... YES ... but difficult, since a few months I'm training with a friend on bigger items and it's not that easy to get good results.
But I'll probably go that way in the future for my builds ... if I don't buy a pad printer (the best way IMHO).

Envoyé de mon Moto G (5) Plus en utilisant Tapatalk

 

[capice]

Nice work m8, thanks for sharing

 

[manodeoro]

https://www.vhtpaint.com/high-heat/vht-engine-enamel

The SP145 "Gloss Clear"

What I did was basically a mistake (for what I had in mind) the exact steps:

day 1. very thin coating too thin actually so,
day 2. sanded it down slightly with 1200 grid wet sandpaper and,
gave another coat, and immediately it started crackling

Then at day 4 I sanded it again, thinking I would give it another try, but then saw it looked quite nice already only lacking a bit of gloss. I also thought it would probably crackle again right away, so I decided to polish it up a bit with Polywatch (acrylic crystals polish)

I have also found a method to create pretty perfect lume paste for vintage look with UV binder as medium! This was my first try and I think it looks quite good. As a trial I decided to use a Tiger Concept dial I already had laying about...

The method here:
I mixed three water based paints:
1. White wall paint
2. Superlume.com vintage paste, which is a bit too orange
3. Brown leather paint, which is pretty dark and dull

The problem was that water and UV binder/glue don't mix, but once the water is out and only pigments remain, these mix fine with the UV glue, respecting the curing properties.

This is the binder:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/5-Second-F...4z/4GklC3dlart2H0FvUMvjuHTic8=&frcectupt=true
It's called 5 seconds fix, and comes in pens with a UV led at the back (that actually works!) Other brands might work too, but this is what I used...

The mixture will dry up lighter than it is when wet, so add enough of the browns! Then smear it on to a plastic container (old shampoo bottle for instance) something on which paint doesn't stick. Then let it dry and then peel it off. Crush the amount needed and mix with UV binder and some lume powder. I've done the mixing with a flat blade screwdriver on an old watch crystal. The screwdriver can crush whatever larger particals are in there, so the paste becomes nicely smooth.

The result is that nice cookie dought coloured and nicely thick lume paste, that allows a build up of nicely high puffy looking patches!

Here's my first attempt:
http://imgur.com/TEB2uGc
This was under artificial light, so not very true colours...
http://imgur.com/tzg0fsl
This was under gloomy blue morning daylight...

Thanks for the link.
For vintage lume I use just :
- white lume ultrafine powder (green light)
- waterbased medium
- watercolors
I get good results for cheap, as 20g of lume powder is only $7 shipped !!!

Envoyé de mon Moto G (5) Plus en utilisant Tapatalk