Box finishing - decal (lazertran) and clear coat problems

Started by saxtim, February 24, 2004, 02:55:23 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

saxtim

I'm trying to find an effective way to apply an automotive acyrlic laquer clear coat to finish my boxes.  The probelm I have is that I'm using lazertran decal paper and the solvents in the spray react with the toner on the decal and cause the colours to fade/disintergrate.  I've tried using a spray on varnish first, and that does the same.  I then tried painting on an acrylic polyurethane varnish, which was ok, however the acrylic laquer top coat still seemed to get through (several coats) of the varnish to fade the image.  Has anyone got any suggestions?  I'm not sure how inkjet decal paper goes with the solvents in the spray stuff - I'm using the 'lazer' version of lazertran which has to be colour photocopied, however I'd imagine that inkjet ink would probably react the same.  It's frustrating because otherwise I'm really happy with the results, I just don't think they'll stand up to any sort of use though with out some sort of top coat to protect the decals.

Oh, and I haven't tried baking the lazertran on yet, in case anyone was wondering - I decided against that route because it seemed that it would take a lot of experimenting getting temps right to bake it onto a painted box.  Seems just using it as a waterslide decal has thrown up just as many issues though  :?
Tim