Ski Builders Forum

i am trying to print out a photo to use as my graphic (actually it is a painting i scanned the printed from photoshop but that doesn't really matter). I have access to the digital photo lab at school, my buddy runs it, they have really nice Epson printers the print up to 42in wide by 100yrds. i printed my first graphic on really nice photo paper that was already loaded in the printer so i am not sure what it was, but was made by epson and put it under a Clear Topsheet - Isosport 8210 Clear gloss 33cm wide x 0.5mm thick.

my bladder sprung a small leak during the press at the fitting so i can only estimate how long it was pressing for which is about 5 hours. no heat blanket but Big propane heater. i started press at 85psi. hoping to press overnight. i put alot of epoxy on both sides of the photo paper and on the underside of the top sheet. the graphic looks AMAZING but my ski is already delaminating from the graphic to the top sheet.

just wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to best print the graphic and include it in the layup. i have heard that rice paper is the way to go. i also found this HP stuff for plotters that looked okay. not really sure what to look for.

any ideas help

Thanks

i've done some extensive testing with a number of different inks (dye, pigment, thermo), printers (laser, uv, inkjet, thermo) and papers (different coatings and weights, even canvas, cotton cloth). The result in all these tests was that you can't use regular topsheets with any print sample i've pressed. they all delaminated to some degree.

if you want to continue using the glossy photo paper (usually that's PE-coated paper) then you will have to protect the graphic with some sort of coating. there's a variety of protective varnishes for PE-papers. usually polyurethane based coatings or 2 part acrylic coatings give the best protection.

i use a matte coated plotter paper for my graphics. the problem with this paper is, that it turns translucent in the white areas after pressing. that's why i apply a coat of white acrylic paint on the underside of the graphic to keep the white areas.
after the board is pressed i apply a couple of coats of 2 part polyurethane varnish which gives great protection and a nice finish.

hope that helps.

is there any way to use a top sheet with any type of graphic, i am totally fine with using different paper of topsheet. i was thinking about putting tinny holes throughout the graphic so that the epoxy could seep through the graphic and bond fiberglass to topsheet

in the tests i've conducted none of the inks or toners used would bond well to the topsheet...
the only possibilities i know of using a topsheet and still getting cool graphics are painting or screen printing a clear topsheet with epoxy based inks or dye sublimation (try CODA for that!).

another problem with getting epoxy on top of your graphic is that most epoxies have an amber tint which puts your colors off by some degree unless you use waterclear epoxy.

ummm, photos on snowboards/skis are SICK!
the photo has to be a really high quality HUGE file in order to be at full resolution on your project. i would def recommend sublimation, its worth the dollars, anything else will give you a muddied color, which may work for just logos (black/one color) but looks like poop when you are trying to achieve something realistic. we have just started working with a few photographers as well as using our own photographs.


http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos- ... 2429_n.jpg
(the center one is a photograph, the rest are digital art)

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos- ... 9629_n.jpg

if you use a good paper and printer you can achieve great results with it as well. but like i said, you'll have to take measures to prevent the epoxy from seeping through the paper and you have to put on a varnish to protect your graphic.

i'd love to do dye sublimation, but it's just not in my budget atm. with printing paper a full graphic costs me about 10 EUR including the acrylic paint to paint the underside of the paper and the topcoat! the printer itself was twenty bucks from some classified ad and i got a second one (same model) for free which is my backup should i ever need one. and that printer is not shabby at all! new cost was about 500 USD a couple years ago and it still prints like on day one.