Booksmart Fine Art Metals

[douvidl]

I've just order a sample pack of the Fine Art Metal media.  Has anyone had experience printing on this media.  The fellow at the Booksmart Studio assured me that it would work on an R2880, but with great attention to handling. 
Thanks
David

[neile]

"Great attention to handling" is definitely the understatement of the year If you search the forum you should find some threads where someone (Dan maybe?) was experimenting with it and having all sorts of problems. I think the person also came up with a much cheaper way of coating metal.

Neil

[dgberg]

Yea that be me. Just several things to keep on top of. Do not get it wet,at all! One of the metal prints came out looking fantastic and I was so proud of myself. Had a dust speck I thought I would blow off. Blew the speck off but got a little saliva on the print. Easy fix, just wipe it off. Instead I wiped the receptor coating off and ruined the print. Another area to watch. Be careful when removing the print from the printer as it is easy to rub the printed surface against another surface. Use reasonable care and you should be fine. I experimented quite a bit with sheet metal flashing with mixed results. Rather then go through the process just use the search function to find that thread. I did a blog this past summer on metal flashing preperation and printing. Its on my
 July Blog.

[deanwork]

Thanks Dan for the link to your site. This flashing is looking very promising for that. Good job.

But how do you possibly keep this stuff flat enough to not cause head strikes. If you ever have a head strike with these aluminum sheets ( I did even with a small one and it almost wrecked my print head) you will be every upset.

By the way I'm sure you all know this is working on Epson printers only. HP and Canon do not have a straight path for metal sheets.

john

[dgberg]

When printing though the 7900 or 9900 I have the curl facing down which is the best way through the print path. (flashing metal) Have had no issues with head strikes as the flashing is thinner at around 20 thousandths. Booksmart metal is between .023 and .028. The Booksmart product is extremely flat and even though it is thicker it is within Epsons thickness tolerance. Would not want to have the tips of the sheet facing up as it would be recipe for disaster. It works great on my Epsons but you are right try at your own risk.

[deanwork]

In my case it was the Booksmart 8.5x11 sheets that curled and slammed into my print head. That was the end of that for me.

[douvidl]

Dan;
Thanks for the response.  I am assming the Booksmart metal media is already coated and prepared for printing.  I plan to spray each metal print with Premier print shield, a lacquer spray I use for protection on all my paper prints.
Does this make sense?
David

[dgberg]

David,
The prints are coated ready to print. Unlike the flashing media which must be coated with Inkaid.
I use Clearstar but you should get good results with Premier as well.