Printing directly on styrene with inkjet printer

virtualight · Post by **virtualight** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:24 am

I had the crazy idea last night to print directly on styrene sheet using my inkjet printer. I noticed that the plastic I was using to create lightboxes to light the ports along the edge of my refit saucer was about the thickness of the photo paper I regularly run through the printer.

To create the lightboxes now, I design them in Illustrator, print them out, put some spray adhesive on the back and then stick them on the plastic sheet and cut them out. But if I could print directly on the plastic, it would be a lot easier. I could also include graphics to simulate the look of corridors, LCARs panels, etc.

My idea was to take a plastic sheet, spray it with fixative, run it through the printer and spray it with fixative again, then score the plastic and fold it up into a lightbox.

Of course once I tried folding a box (after cutting the shape using a paper template), I found I couldn't bend the plastic without breaking it, although I now think I could have softened the plastic with some liquid glue before bending. Also, any printed detail would run on contact with the glue, but I still thought it was a pretty good idea.

Problem was, I was economizing using scrap pieces of plastic and didn't have any pieces big enough to cut down to a 4x6, which is about the right size I think for this purpose.

But I wonder if anyone else has tried this trick?

Thanks, Jennifer

darthviper107 · Post by **darthviper107** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:52 am

If the printing worked out--you could then spray some kind of sealer over it so that the glue wouldn't damage the printed ink

Joseph Osborn · Post by **Joseph Osborn** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:57 am

I think you'll find the ink will bead up on the styrene, sort of run at the edges, and take forever to dry. The substrate has to have an absorption layer to work with inkjet ink, and the fixative spray you mentioned may or may not provide the proper absorption. I've heard of people having some success with spraying Krylon artist's fixative and then printing on that, or scuffing the styrene's surface to make it a smooth matte and then printing with the lightest ink volume possible. You could print the design onto a quality matte white cardstock, which would probably score & fold as easily as your thin styrene.

virtualight · Post by **virtualight** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 12:01 pm

darthviper107 wrote:If the printing worked out--you could then spray some kind of sealer over it so that the glue wouldn't damage the printed ink

Yes, I was thinking of using the fixative only to prevent the ink from smudging while working the piece, but a couple of coats of Future might offer some protection.

I've also decided that rather than trying to go all origami on my lightboxes, it would be better to just use slots and tabs to build my lightboxes. Scoring and folding these little things (it's the 1/1000 refit) is maddening.

virtualight · Post by **virtualight** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 12:06 pm

Joseph Osborn wrote:I've heard of people having some success with spraying Krylon artist's fixative and then printing on that, or scuffing the styrene's surface to make it a smooth matte and then printing with the lightest ink volume possible.

Yes, I was planning on using Krylon's matte fixative, which I use all the time to seal my printed photos. It has a very nice surface, and I could also scuff the surface as well.

Actually, the reason I had this idea is that I printed my templates on an odd size piece of glossy photo paper, wanting its heavier weight for my template. But while searching for it on my work desk, I accidentally picked up a sheet of styrene. The photo paper was actually a lot shinier than the styrene.

Scott Hasty · Post by **Scott Hasty** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 2:40 pm

Let us know how it works out with the fixative. I've had limited success with clear sheet.

tonyG2 · Post by **tonyG2** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 2:55 pm

This comes up as a topic quite often in paper modelling forums.

Its certainly possible to print the paper parts and use as a template for a styrene model.

The real trick would be to print the coloured parts to styrene and assemble a full colour model. I have had a go but without success. As suggested, the ink just beaded up on the styrene sheet. I also tried to rough up the sheet slightly using wet and dry paper but that failed as well.

You can by transparent self adhesive sheet that is inkjet compatible so I have thought about a hybrid using paper parts to make the template for the styrene model then printing the colour skin onro the adhesive sheet to "paint" the model.

tonyG2 · Post by **tonyG2** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 2:55 pm

This comes up as a topic quite often in paper modelling forums.

Its certainly possible to print the paper parts and use as a template for a styrene model.

The real trick would be to print the coloured parts to styrene and assemble a full colour mode

naoto · Post by **naoto** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 4:22 pm

Aside from the ink beading up on the surface and rubbing off, another problem you'll likely see is the colours shifting in weird ways. That's what I remember seeing whenever someone tried to print on ID badge inserts that were to be laminated. When printed, the colours wouldn't match what you'd get on paper (e.g. we had blues turn into light violet). The colours would change again after you ran them through the laminator.

As for bending sheet styrene, you'll probably have to score the areas where you're going to bend.

virtualight · Post by **virtualight** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 4:54 pm

naoto wrote:As for bending sheet styrene, you'll probably have to score the areas where you're going to bend.

Actually I discovered the locking tab method method works much better: Tab A goes in slot B. Scoring and bending something that small has diminishing returns.

I will not be trying to print on styrene this time around, but when I revisit it, I'll post here about my success.

Jennifer

DaveVan · Post by **DaveVan** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 8:10 pm

I print on clear and white plastic stock all the time. I have a OKI dry ink type printer I use to do it. I made some resin kits a few years ago and printed pasterns on the clear sock do the modeler could cut it out. Also print screen on white stock to back light. I bet ink jet will bead up and smear before you can set it.

TheHawk · Post by **TheHawk** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:08 pm

You could try HP Premium Inkjet Transparency Film it holds the ink good then spray the fixative to seal it.

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Premium-InkJet ... B00000JKJ2

also this looks promising but I have not tried it.

http://www.ulano.com/ijf/inkjetfilm.htm

virtualight · Post by **virtualight** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 4:35 pm

I found this product: Waterproof inkjet vinyl

It should be perfect for a lot of purposes, including applying it directly to styrene, using it as a cutting guide and providing a texture. Yes, I could also make decals for the same purpose, but this seems a lot less fiddly than decals.

nash30 · Post by **nash30** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 8:55 am

TheHawk wrote:You could try HP Premium Inkjet Transparency Film it holds the ink good then spray the fixative to seal it.

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Premium-InkJet -Transparency-C3834A/dp/B00000JKJ2 hp 901xl

also this looks promising but I have not tried it.

http://www.ulano.com/ijf/inkjetfilm.htm

is the HP Premium Inkjet Transparency Film available in letter or legal size?

LrdSatyr8 · Post by **LrdSatyr8** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 1:10 am

I've done this many times before. Here's what you do.

Get some normal dollar store hair spray and spray it on the surface of the plastic sheet. You may have to do a couple of coats (allowing it to dry completely between coats) until you get a smooth finish. Once you got a good smooth finish it can be printed on just like paper with no bleeding whatsoever. However, the ink is still not water proof... when done, must let the ink dry completely (usually overnight I've found to be best) and then when its dry, spray some Krylon satin clear coat over it very lightly from a distance. Like a dusting of the coat. Let it dry completely between coats again, but keep doing it until you have a nice smooth finish and you'll be all set to use it. Ends up being a very stable and durable job as well. I've used it many times for making plaques and small detailed pieces for some of my dioramas. Lemme know how it comes out for you.

virtualight · Post by **virtualight** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 11:12 am

LrdSatyr8 wrote:I've done this many times before. Here's what you do.

Get some normal dollar store hair spray and spray it on the surface of the plastic sheet. You may have to do a couple of coats (allowing it to dry completely between coats) until you get a smooth finish. Once you got a good smooth finish it can be printed on just like paper with no bleeding whatsoever. However, the ink is still not water proof... when done, must let the ink dry completely (usually overnight I've found to be best) and then when its dry, spray some Krylon satin clear coat over it very lightly from a distance. Like a dusting of the coat. Let it dry completely between coats again, but keep doing it until you have a nice smooth finish and you'll be all set to use it. Ends up being a very stable and durable job as well. I've used it many times for making plaques and small detailed pieces for some of my dioramas. Lemme know how it comes out for you.

Thanks, I've yet to try it, but you give me hope.

Kekker · Post by **Kekker** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:55 pm

One thing I've done is to print fine lines onto paper and then glue it to the styrene. Cut along the lines, remove paper and assemble. The repositionable spray adhesive that you can move for a while works best, so you can get it nice and smooth.

Using CorelDraw, you can also move the lines so that you take the thickness of the plastic into account in the plans.

Has worked pretty well for me.

Kev