Printing on Sheet Metal

mercphoto

No idea where to put this. You know those vintage metal plates you often see at antique shops, small town stores, heck even in Chili's? They are often advertisements and printed on metal. Cars are a frequent subject of these. Corvettes, Chevelles, Mustangs, etc.

I'm wanting to design my own (not the question I have) and then get them printed in this manner (which is the question I have). Anyone know of a service that does this? Best I could do on google.com was to find a place that sells very thin aluminum that you can find through an inkjet, and then I guess you'd glue it to some sheet metal.

anwmn1

mercphoto wrote:

No idea where to put this. You know those vintage metal plates you often see at antique shops, small town stores, heck even in Chili's? They are often advertisements and printed on metal. Cars are a frequent subject of these. Corvettes, Chevelles, Mustangs, etc.

I'm wanting to design my own (not the question I have) and then get them printed in this manner (which is the question I have). Anyone know of a service that does this? Best I could do on google.com was to find a place that sells very thin aluminum that you can find through an inkjet, and then I guess you'd glue it to some sheet metal.

Go talk to the local commercial printer. My guess is that it is a screen print or viynl of some sort that has an adhessive back.

Sam

I just typed in "printing on metal" and did a search. All kinds of sites popped up.

Sam

zacker

check your local sign maker... they might do it.

mercphoto

zacker wrote:

check your local sign maker... they might do it.

Don't know why I didn't think of a sign maker before. A local company will do so, but at a four square foot minimum order at $100. Hopefully I can find someone who will make a smaller minimum order!

i_worship_the_King

Are you wanting a full color print on metal or a monochrome? I would look for laser etching if it's just a monochrome. When you decide on something post back!

Angelo

I might have a source for you...

what sizes are you planning on needing?

you refernce old car signs et al, which are often embossed. do you plan on stamping / embossing or flat print?

mercphoto

Angelo wrote:

I might have a source for you...

what sizes are you planning on needing?

you refernce old car signs et al, which are often embossed. do you plan on stamping / embossing or flat print?

I'm thinking 8x10 up to 12x18 sizes. And I have no real idea if I'm wanting a stamping, embossing or screen print. But it sounds like you know what look I'm trying to replicate.

Angelo

mercphoto wrote:

I'm thinking 8x10 up to 12x18 sizes. And I have no real idea if I'm wanting a stamping, embossing or screen print. But it sounds like you know what look I'm trying to replicate.

let me see if I can find something for you.

mercphoto

Turns out FedEx - Kinko's will print on aluminum, and even pre-drill mounting holes in the corners. Price isn't too bad. And at least my local outlet has pretty good near-photographic quality. Seems to have added a touch of what looks like noise or grain, but I think that adds to the flair I'm trying to get.

Angelo

Hey Bill:

I didn't forget about this but I haven't been able to dig up the source I originally thought I had at my fingertips.

Did you try Kinko's? How did it work out?

tsk1979

In India there is an art form called metal Embossing. But its done as a "painting" and not as printing photographs on metal.
But then I saw a chinese machine in which you feed the photograph, and the machine does the pattern on cloth. Same concept can be used to puncture metal too I think

ArchiTexas

You might want to look into digitalartwear.com, they offer prints on aluminum panels.

ERF

mercphoto

Angelo wrote:

Did you try Kinko's? How did it work out?

They worked out well. Obviously not the wide color gamut or resolution of a glossy print but it came out very nice indeed. They can even pre-drill mounting holes in the corners. Roughly $15 per square foot.

anwmn1

mercphoto wrote:

They worked out well. Obviously not the wide color gamut or resolution of a glossy print but it came out very nice indeed. They can even pre-drill mounting holes in the corners. Roughly $15 per square foot.

How about a pic?

SloYerRoll

mercphoto wrote:

Don't know why I didn't think of a sign maker before. A local company will do so, but at a four square foot minimum order at $100. Hopefully I can find someone who will make a smaller minimum order!

Ummm. For any commercial printer. That is small. And no, Kinko's isn't a commercial printer. After I left the printing profession, I went in to place a reasonably large order for a pretty complex print job. They called in the "expert" and that person barely knew the simple terms I was using.

If you want to make it easier while shopping around. Just call a print shop and ask them if they have a flatbed printer or can outsource to one. It may also be beneficial to ask it they use white ink in their printing process since you aren't printing on white.