Printing on transparent paper  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: DarkZero
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2015, 02:28:51 pm
content: Hey all!I'm having problem making good prints on transparent paper so i asked around how my local printing houses do it, more or less they didn't want to tell, then one worker actually showed me how to do it with just a laser printer and some chemical, he showed me and gave me 10ml of the stuff but he said he cant tell me what it is because of the owner.here is how it works you make a box like this one i made then you spread some of that chemical on the lid put your laser printed image then cover it for 10min and when you open it all the lines from the printer are gone and all the tiny holes are filled i shit you not !Now what i really want to know is there someone that knows what that chemical is it doesn't smell like alcohol, petrol or that paint stuff.Thanks in advance

author: Yansi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2015, 02:34:48 pm
content: Probably acetone. Nothing special, I think.

author: DarkZero
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2015, 02:36:14 pm
content: tried acetone, alcohol, paint stuff and petrol none of those work, on paus paper they work

author: Yansi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2015, 02:39:50 pm
content: If acetone doesn't work, methyl-ethyl-ketone will. But beware, this stuff is strong and dissolves almost any common plastic, painting and hands. And has strong smell

author: DarkZero
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2015, 02:47:17 pm
content: ill try getting that stuff but this didn't have strong smell and i had it on cloth while spreading it on lid seems it didn't do anything with my skin

author: Yansi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2015, 03:13:49 pm
content: Toner powder from laser printers is usualy dissolvable in acetone, at least partially. Iterestingly yours isn't. Hm...You can also try to analyze that liquid stuff, if you have a friend with a chemic lab... Maybe someone will know exactly.I only adviced my best, because some people here are using the acetone and it workes fine...

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2015, 05:03:34 pm
content: Lol, methyl ethyl ketone does not dissolve skin. It's actually very similar to acetone (dimethyl ketone). However, it does dissolve a lot of plastics and many of the more common types of paint.

author: Yansi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2015, 05:14:39 pm
content: Stick a finger in it a few times, your skin gets very dry. You can get some health issues from that. My friend worked as a serviceman for industrial inkjet printers*, worked with this stuff almost on daily basis... It is a nasty thing.*MEK is used as a solvent for the ink. The printer is fed with both ink and the solvent separately; inside the printer there is a complex device for mixing these based on fluid density.

author: rob77
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2015, 05:23:55 pm
content: it's strange that acetone is not dissolving your toner..... i'm doing boards with toner transfer and cleaning the toner with acetone. it takes literally one single move with a paper towel soaked in acetone to remove all the toner from the board...

author: DarkZero
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2015, 05:43:19 pm
content: guess i have to check what % acetone i was using gona go and buy some 100% and see what i get

author: Yansi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2015, 05:52:29 pm
content: It is possible to buy non-concentrated acetone? With what would it be mixed?

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2015, 06:17:51 pm
content: Normally blended with methanol or water, to use as a nail varnish remover. To get the pure stuff just go to a ships chandlers, where they sell acetone to use with fibreglass resin, as it will dissolve and remove the resin until it cures, as well as being a very aggressive degreaser of the surfaces you want the resin to bond to.

author: rob77
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2015, 07:27:28 pm
content: over here you can buy really pure acetone as a chemical (expensive as hell) or you can buy a "pure" acetone (it's concentrated but not clean) in shops selling paints and glues - acetone is used as a solvent for some types of glues. a small 0.6kg metal can of that acetone from a paint shop is something like 5-6 Euro. there are paint thinners containing acetone, but those are useless because those usually have only 5-10% of acetone (and costs something like 1.5 - 2Euro for the same volume).