Dye Sublimation on steel

Creative Arts
#1

I have been watching several videos on this process. I make metal signs and would like to incorporate dye sublimation instead of the masking and spray painting that I do now. Any links or name of the materials that I would need?

Todd

#2

You will need metal that had been prepped for Dye Sublimation. Will need a certain coating to accept it. @CaryF300 is the resident expert, but I’ve had some great results with ChromaLuxe https://www.chromaluxe.com/

#3

I saw the metal that is coated, however I cut the metal to a certain shape. I was hoping to apply the coating after I made the shape. Is that possible?

#4

You might be able to powder coat in white and the dye sublimate onto (into?) that. You would need a heat press large enough for the whole sign though.

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#5

@hon1nbo did some stuff recently with it.

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#6

So it depends on how much cutting you need to do. I’ve cut the chromaluxe to size and rounded corners before sublimation.

If it’s more intricate or needs something like plasma cutter, yes you would need to coat it. @hon1nbo did a polyester based powder coat if I recall correctly. But it all depends on what your comfortable with and effect your going for.

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#7

The metals meant for the purpose that have the appropriate coating will always give best result. However, if you can’t use those (or have to Plasma them, which will burn off polyester compounds) you can use a White powder coat base.

The prismatic Arctic White is what I’ve used in the past. There are two considerations with powdercoat base I find particularly important:

  • first it’s polyester based. Cheaper powders like the harbor freight ones will be PVC based
  • second, the powder can become impressionable under the heat since it’s a thicker layer. Definitely fluff your edges on your transfer paper to prevent a line from showing, or have a wider paper edge if possible. There may be other ways to mitigate it, but I haven’t done too much exploring yet.

Here’s the water bottle I did recently: Dye sub training?

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#8

While white will give the best color rendition, a clear coating will let the metal surface shine through. I’ve used the bare aluminum chromaluxe for the DMS First Responder plaques and gives a great quality to the image.

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#9

JDS Industries is the distributor for SubTHAT! - a sticky film that you put on metal or wood and then sublimate. It gets good reviews but I’ve never used it. It’s allegedly available in clear or white but right now their search doesn’t seem to respond to white.

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#10

Excellent information and was exactly what I was looking for.

Thank you!

#11

Here’s a video on the process of using SubTHAT. I much prefer the ease of using a prepared material like Chromaluxe.