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Is it or some other process?

letterman7

letterman7

New Member
Hi gang,
One of my clients is looking to mimic a set of signs that are at another location. The signs are created with a process that I'm not familiar with - it almost looks like they've been direct printed, but I've never seen it on metal before. The signs are .040 aluminum with a dull finish, but that could be a sprayed topcoat. It's definitely not a laminate... but the process I can't figure out. It's a straight black copy with toned photographs - I couldn't detect any halftone patterns in the photos. When I ran my fingers over the copy and photo it was perfectly smooth - I'd expect a print or etching to have some ridge to it, but this is flat as paper. Now, I admit I haven't seen a direct print item before, so I don't have anything to compare that to, but anyone have an idea of how this was done?
Thanks,
Rick

CPR sign 1.jpg

CPR sign 2.jpg
 
letterman7

letterman7

New Member
That's what I'm thinking, but I'd like to have someone that has done this on aluminum to confirm. Then I'll check with the S101 vendors for some pricing!
 
petepaz

petepaz

New Member
hard to tell with out looking in person but could it be metal photo
what color is the aluminum, satin finish or white?
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
We did the first signs by printing and laminating. They lasted Okay out in the weather, but kids picked at them. We did them again with the flatbed and we sprayed a liquid lam of polyurethane on it.

The photos were scanned by them and given to us on a CD and we just printed the finals in a kinda sepia tone.
 

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letterman7

letterman7

New Member
Pete, the signs are matte natural aluminum. They aren't lasered or subbed. I think Gino has the answer with the flatbed print and liquid overlam... is that one of yours, Gino?
 
petepaz

petepaz

New Member
if it's natural alum it could be metal photo process also but with out seeing it couldn't be sure (could also be the flat bed)
 
p3

p3

New Member
My guess would be sublimation. That's what we did at one of the old places i worked at. did it on a lot of plaques and trophies and someone brought some other signs like that for us to do it on and it came out pretty good. No edges, no little lips and is in there pretty good.
 
letterman7

letterman7

New Member
That sample - it came from your area at one of the county parks. I'll have to do a little more research into the sublimation process...that sounds interesting as well. Thanks for all the input - at least it gives me some ideas to start with.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
letterman7 said:
That sample - it came from your area at one of the county parks. I'll have to do a little more research into the sublimation process...that sounds interesting as well. Thanks for all the input - at least it gives me some ideas to start with.
Click to expand...

Oh, yeah. That's some old land, donated to the borough, now dedicated to people walking around, bicycles, summer concerts and just some nice places to go. It's like a park, but it's changed over the last 150 years or so.

We made the prints to be mounted to a piece of wood the first time around [their idea]. The second time we did it on dibond and then they put it into a routed frame and put a piece of clear plexi about an inch away but still in the routed area. The reason for the extra space was to prevent moisture, mildew and mold buildup. If you don't leave enough breathing room, you'll start growing a little colony in a place like that..... kinda like a terrarium.
 
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