Got my first metal print done!

[neile]

Thanks to Dan for all the advice Details on how the print was done is at http://www.danecreekfolios.com/blog/2011/3/12/my-first-aluminum-print.html.

Now I'm on a quest to find places that can spotlessly clean the aluminum for me, and perhaps put down a protective coat of something or other in advance of me putting on the inkjet coating.

Neil

[Sven W]

Congrat, Neil !
Nice image. I can imagine the "silvery leaves" looking great on the alu.
Have you tried both color an b&w?
I'm not so fond in color images on metal, but I saw an artist making monochrome, sepia portraits that where fabulous !

/Sven

[neile]

I've just done this one so far, which is a toned B&W image. The printer is almost out of GY ink and I'm waiting for new stuff to arrive from Shades of Paper. Am a little nervous about having to press "OK" on each print and having it run out in the middle with no replacement

I have three more coated sheets drying right now and will try and queeze out a full colour image tomorrow morning. It's tough to pick an image though because so many of my favoure images are either B&W or toned!

Neil

[natas]

Very nice, I really want to try this as well but I am so paranoid about the heads of my printer hitting the sides of the metal and ruining the print heads.

[dgberg]

Very nice, I really want to try this as well but I am so paranoid about the heads of my printer hitting the sides of the metal and ruining the print heads.

Natas,
Make sure you set the platen to its widest and buy the proper thickness metal and it will work.

Neil,
That looks pretty darn good. Borders look good too!
Waiting for the coating to dry(With no dust) seems like it takes forever.
It's alot of work but well worth the effort.

Ps. Nice article.

[neile]

If you have an ipf5100 there's no real worry about head strikes. The POP Board media gives plenty of clearance for the 0.025" aluminum, which honestly isn't really any thicker than Somerset Museum Rag (0.025" is quite a bit thinner than the max head height on the printer). Just make sure your aluminum is flat. This is not a place where you want the edges slightly rolled or a little bend on a corner!

Dan, borders are pretty straightforward. I just made a 1" margin in Lightroom and that was that The coating I'm using (Goldens) dries in about an hour which is very nice.

Neil

[neile]

Next two prints are off the machine. Way less success this time: http://www.danecreekfolios.com/blog/2011/3/12/second-amp-third-aluminum-print.html.

So sad

Neil

[neile]

Two more just rolled off the printer and worked quite well. Blog at http://www.danecreekfolios.com/blog/2011/3/13/two-more-aluminum-prints.html. Yay!

Neil

[stefano]

Neil,

thanks for the info on your progress! I have a few IR images that i want to try on metal. After playing with my new printer all weekend i look forward to see what it can do on aluminum and copper. One question about color printing: Do you think it is achievable, and if so how would you go about profiling the aluminum? I have a colormunki, and have had good success with it on all sorts of paper - any tips on aluminum?

Stefano

[Damir]

Colors looks great, I will try to make some pictures of my prints. I run HP ProB 9180 for printing on metal and got best results so far with settings for HP Advanced Photo Paper Glossy. As I post on first thread on metal printing - high key images are just wonderful on metal.

[neile]

My colour ones didn't work out well at all. My guess is the profile I made using my Spyder2 isn't very good. Damir, how'd you do your profile or are you using the Booksmart one? Dan, how'd you do your profile?

Neil

[Damir]

I was not profiling at all, on smaller pieces of metal I made test images with various paper profiles and find the best one.

[plui]

Congrats Neil. And thanks for postingmore info on your blog. 

I was wandering which GOlden Grounds did you use? I found them locally and picked up a bottle of 'Digital Grounds for Non-Porous Surfaces' and 'White Matte" but am considering exchanging the matte for a bottle of gloss.

I can only get inkaid by mail-order, so went with  a local retailer for the golden stuff.

[neile]

Digital Grounds for Non-Porous Surfaces. It dries clear so the aluminum still shows through. I have a jug of inkaid on the way by mail order as I'm hoping when diluted 10% with distilled water I can spray it through my Wagner instead of brusing it on.

Neil

[Rob Reiter]

Don't worry about the printer running out of ink in the middle of a job. It calculates how much  ink will be needed before printing starts and won't commence if a cartridge is too low. Never had a problem with either my 8100 or 8300.

[neile]

This is on a 5100. It will quite happily print and run out in the middle of a job and then ask you to insert a new cart and pick up where it left off.

Neil