Acetone Transfer Method

[mdengraver]

Acetone Transfer Method

How to Do Acetone Transfers

Traditional painters run into lots of issues that digital artists don't have to worry about. One of those issues is painting extremely fine lines, which can be difficult if those lines are finer than your smallest brush. Usually in a case like this, I would rely on a tight drawing to do the work, bu

www.muddycolors.com

 

[alwayslearning2012]

Thank you for that. I'm curious to know if you have tried this out yourself. I certainly will myself.
I'm apprehensive, though. (certainly, I'll give it a go) I wonder if the final transfer will still present a blotchy image under the scope when at 15 - 20 x ?

I'll let ya'all know.

Thanks again,
AL12

 

[alwayslearning2012]

OK, here's an update. I obtained a Chartpak Blender marker from the art store here. He told me it was permeated with Xylene. (and mentioned it was not a big seller in the store, mostly cuz of the smell)

I used a reliable transfer from fed-ex/kinkos. (pure black) Prepped my brass plate with 1000grit paper, and secured the plate and the transfer with tape so nothing would move.

While the finished result is much the same as blotting acetone onto the transfer, I think it yielded a better result.
But not by much. While the end result gives the same accomplishment, the marker was easier and more exact to apply. So I will probably prefer to use this in the future.

In closing, whether by marker, or blotting with a paper towel, I feel hitting the lines with a scribe is still a necessity.

Hope this helps.

AL12

 

[T.G.III]

I've tried, paper towel, cotton balls, terry cloth material, and cotton shirt material.

My best acetone transfers happen with a saturated gauze pad single swiped across the item using light/moderate pressure, wait until evaporation and lift the transfer paper from the article, sometimes it takes more than the first try in which case I clean the item and start again.

Then always scribe in the design before cutting.

 

[mdengraver]

Will workable fixative hold the design on the metal without scribing?

 

[T.G.III]

Never really tried a fixative, my experience is that the actual transfer is prone to chipping while being cut, less about smudging off.

 

[DaveAtWeirs]

This is a bit of a long info-dump but I figure it'll help to share my experience with it

I use acetone transfer pretty much every day to speed things up. I mostly cut lettering and dates but also use it for patterns.
My standard microscope setting is 20x and the transfers work well at that magnification for pretty much everything. You need a toner printer and you need to make sure you're printing at the highest quality, the eco or fast settings don't deposit enough ink. I've tried both Brother and HP branded printers, both work well but HP are a pain in the hoop to deal with cuz you have to sign up to all sorts of nonsense and agreements and they can remotely stop it working so I'd recommend any other brand purely based on that.

I've found that the best transfers are onto a clean, high polish surface or a ~2000 grit surface finish. With high finish surfaces I can usually cut without having to scribe the patterns. Any heavier than 2000 grit and it tends to come out a little blurry, plus it can be hard to make out the patterns depending on the angle you rotate the piece. E.g. Rolexes have a higher grit brush finish (~600) on their backs which makes it blurry/hard to see at certain angles so I always scribe them.
To get the best transfers I will clean the surfaces with isopropyl alcohol and acetone. If you haven't gotten fingerprints/oil on it, then just acetone is fine.
Line up the transfer and tape down one side/edge with masking tape. Get a bit of acetone on a cotton swab, not soaked, just enough to wet the paper. Flicking the swab to get the excess off generally leaves the right amount.
Starting from the taped side I'll hold the paper down onto the surface so it's making full contact, then apply a little bit of acetone to the bits making full contact and then press it down with my finger while it dries a bit. make sure the paper doesn't lift even a tiny bit before pressing it. Then I'll take my finger away wait until that first bit is fully dry before doing the next bit. The paper will stick to the surface, so moving from there I'll do small sections with minimal overlapping of the areas that I've already done. Make sure that the part you're wetting has full contact with the surface! Then when the whole transfer has been stuck down I'll let it sit and fully dry for about 5 minuities.
Then carefully lift one corner and peal it back. Ideally you'll hear the ink cracking as you pull the paper away. That means the most amount of ink has stuck. Occasionally you may have little bits in between the ink that have also stuck, these come off if you very, very gently rub the surface with a clean microfiber cloth.

Avoid soaking the paper too much, it causes the paper to float on the surface which will cause blurring. This is also why it's important to keep it directly on the surface when wetting the back even with small amounts.
If the surface is brushed/sanded, excess acetone will cause the ink to flow along the lines on the sanded surface also causing blurring. This blurring effect increases with the roughness of the sandpaper.
If you must do it on a sanded surface, then a uniform brushed-style finish is best. A circular/random finish makes it very difficult to see the transfer, even if it's successful. If you're having trouble seeing the transfer on a sanded surface, try using a secondary light coming in from the 10 o'clock position as you look down on the piece.

Technically you can just engrave through the ink but if you're working on a large piece, or tend to rest your fingers on the piece, its better to scribe it in afterwards because you can sort of rub away the ink with your fingers. Not fully, but enough that it'll become hard to see easily.

I've used this method on pieces from 3mm wedding rings to large 12inch trophies (like the one in my profile pic). I find it great for high polish pieces that can't be polished afterwards like plated silver, pateks or something like that, it means you don't risk having scribe lines that you cant remove showing afterwards.

The main limitations you will have is if you're doing curved surfaces you'll have to compensate in the design for how the paper will wrap around it.
If it's a large pattern over a domed surface it is possible to do, but you may have to do it in sections and can be fiddley to line up, not to mention initially design to account for wrapping flat paper around a domed surface. In these cases, unless you have to engrave multiple pieces identically, I'd recommend just drawing the design straight onto the piece.

Oh and paper quality doesn't matter. Sometimes cheap paper can even be better as when it gets we it can dome slightly to fit better to surfaces.

Edit: one more thing, reduce the width of the lines! Anything thicker than about 6 pixels runs a risk of blurring just because of how much ink is there. I normally have my reference boarders and marks at 1 pixel and everything else at ~5 pixels or less. You can see the 1 pixel lines in the transfer but I'd recommend a minimum of 2 pixels for stuff you want to see easily. Obviously for long, thin curves they can go all the way down but you may need to scribe them, or at least cut them first, as they will rub off easily.

 

[tdelewis]

The toner is fixed to paper using heat in the printer. I use a heat gun to heat the transfer after it is on the metal. It will make less likely to rub off.

 

[papart1]

I got one for you all!!! Renaissance wax works good for transfer..............just can't get near it, you cut into it but it will smudge off very easily