Decal printed dial

[Briteling]

I've seen some adverts about 'ghost toners' laser toner cartridges and software that has white toner, that ought to be interesting! But that aside, laser printers will never achieve the resolution of an inkjet, like I already said several times, it is not the dpi that makes a laser printer more refined, it is the toner quality. I'm looking for a HP or Canon myself.

Don't forget the film free method will only start to look decent after the final bake, then the toner will melt and become a fluid, which irons out all the minor resolution issues..

 

[itgoes211]

Disclaimer: Not for the faint of heart or OCD!
So after fighting with 2 Xerox (sucks) laser printers for days, I baked my first batch of test dials just to start learning the film-free baking process...
Clearly I have not reached even grasshopper status in this area. Moreover, my wife had some pretty good laughs at my expense when I was fiddling in the kitchen.
For me: Step 1) Learn how to work an oven.
Hopefully you’ll have a good laugh at these pics:

 

[itgoes211]

 

[369mafia]

Woah dude! Those look awesome!! nice work!! LOL

back to the drawing board....a bit less heat and less time??

 

[itgoes211]

I did also test multiple layers of film-free to try to get a positive-relief effect of black ink on an albino dial. Obviously this dial is just a tester and not a keeper, but I wanted to share my failures with you all anyway. I see potential in getting close to “ink-like” positive relief on a white dial. This was two layers of film free - and most of the ink from each layer did not even stick to the dial (certainly not user error on my part, lol). And it is a bear to get each layer to line up exactly with the pervious layer (someone else mentioned this earlier in the post as well).

Another observation: it would probably be faster to just ink the dial with a silk-screen or a pad, lol. I’m sure I’ll end up ink printing by the end of this journey anyway.
Some of the texture of the black appears in this pic. Have a good laugh or cry...

 

[manodeoro]

itgoes211 it seems your oven was too hot when baking your dials ... or something other when south

Here is a pic of my last try with a 6610 gilt dial I'm working on and the film-free decal method looks OK ... except for the printing resolution which is so so.

And BTW ... the design of your Commando dial looks really good but, if I may, those dials where "white on black" like the one beside the 6610 one ...

 

[manodeoro]

I did also test multiple layers of film-free to try to get a positive-relief effect of black ink on an albino dial. Obviously this dial is just a tester and not a keeper, but I wanted to share my failures with you all anyway. I see potential in getting close to “ink-like” positive relief on a white dial. This was two layers of film free - and most of the ink from each layer did not even stick to the dial (certainly not user error on my part, lol). And it is a bear to get each layer to line up exactly with the pervious layer (someone else mentioned this earlier in the post as well).

Another observation: it would probably be faster to just ink the dial with a silk-screen or a pad, lol. I’m sure I’ll end up ink printing by the end of this journey anyway.
Some of the texture of the black appears in this pic. Have a good laugh or cry...

That one is not that bad ... not kidding
About silk-printing ... the process will definitely not be faster as you still have to deal with the thickness of the ink but the result will be much better ... IMHO it's the only way (except from pad printing) to make a perfectly good looking negative-gilt dial

 

[Briteling]

I use a paint stripper heat blower gun or whatever it's called. The curing of the glue must not be done too hot, just two minutes of distant blowing should do. The bonus of using the blower is you can monitor the process and should any bubbles appear you can push them down with your finger. Then let it cool down and pull away the film, then set for HOT. At some point you should see it turn glossier, then the point is near to stop the blower and be very careful not to introduce dust until cooled down.

Also use Sunnyscopa film free paper, the traditional paper has a too thin film for this process, which melts with the W1 glue. At first I was unaware of this...i

 

[jomtones]

Maybe I was drinking too much one night, but I'm almost positive I saw a post on this thread a while back about someone saying they were going to paint a dial with black enamel and use a laser cutter to engrave the text. Did I imagine that? Was it you Briteling ?

<edit> nevermind I'm an idiot and didn't read back far enough in the thread.

 

[Briteling]

Yep, that was me, and last week I toner coated and polished two dials in full black, just need to send them to the engraver.

 

[Dan71]

I saw this article in vintage power

https://www.thevintagepower.cn/info/how-do-we-create-classic-vintage-i0024.html

But I don’t understand what they mean with wrap base color and than polish to make all engrave became gold..

What do you think?

 

[p0pperini]

I saw this article in vintage power

https://www.thevintagepower.cn/info/how-do-we-create-classic-vintage-i0024.html

But I don’t understand what they mean with wrap base color and than polish to make all engrave became gold..

What do you think?

I think they mean that they paint the dial black and then the design is engraved into the black paint, removing the paint and revealing the dial brass underneath - like briteling is planning.

Then they polish the exposed brass to make it shine (and presumably apply a sealant afterwards to avoid it tarnishing).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dan71]

Ok , so they engraving but how?
they use a pantograph?
The result is not so good so I think they the decal is better ..

 

[p0pperini]

Ok , so they engraving but how?
they use a pantograph?
The result is not so good so I think they the decal is better ..

I totally agree, the quality of what they show on the site looks awful! I can only speculate on the technology they're using - some sort of photo engraving, using very poor source imagery?

The results look worse than any of the decals I've printed myself... So yes, I agree - right now it looks like Bart and the other experts here are getting way better results from water-slide transfer printing.

 

[yodog]

Decal!

 

[Amaiel]

Decal!

may I ask who is the author of this beauty?

 

[itgoes211]

“About silk-printing ... the process will definitely not be faster as you still have to deal with the thickness of the ink but the result will be much better ... IMHO it's the only way (except from pad printing) to make a perfectly good looking negative-gilt dial“

manodeoro : Good input, thanks. I’m researching silkscreening for the dials more now. (I remember my mom teaching us how as kids for t-shirts, so relatively familiar with concept and execution at a less minute-detailed level). The challenge I’m facing is how to create the screens with detail needed for the lettering.
Have you had any luck in creating screens?
...Then there’s the question of the screen grid/mesh size and the appropriate paint for super fine screen/mesh....

 

[manodeoro]

“About silk-printing ... the process will definitely not be faster as you still have to deal with the thickness of the ink but the result will be much better ... IMHO it's the only way (except from pad printing) to make a perfectly good looking negative-gilt dial“

manodeoro : Good input, thanks. I’m researching silkscreening for the dials more now. (I remember my mom teaching us how as kids for t-shirts, so relatively familiar with concept and execution at a less minute-detailed level). The challenge I’m facing is how to create the screens with detail needed for the lettering.
Have you had any luck in creating screens?
...Then there’s the question of the screen grid/mesh size and the appropriate paint for super fine screen/mesh....

Well ... still working on that project and still not good results enough ... will keep you informed

 

[yodog]

may I ask who is the author of this beauty?

member here - pm me for details

 

[yodog]

Tropical 1016 - gen spec 1016 case