Foamex printing

[GoldRapt]

It most certainly is mate! I printed 2 signs onto an a3 sheet, pressed onto 3mm foamex board for 60 seconds, then cut it in half to give me the 2 signs. I'm not sure if I took a picture of the other one I did? I'll have a look when I'm at my laptop and if I did, I'll post that one too

foamex that was subli treated or run of the mill foamex please?

[Paul]

I think standard foamed as is polyurethane. so polymer

[GoldRapt]

so can be heat pressed without a coating?

[dazzul]

I have some foamex lying around from a past life, will be trying this tomorrow!

[sharyn]

Awesome! love it when people experiment! What temp did you press at? Thanks

[EssexImaging]

so can be heat pressed without a coating?

Yep. I just whipped the blue protective layer off, and pressed straight onto it. As said previously by Paul, it's a polymer product, so doesn't need coating.

I have some foamex lying around from a past life, will be trying this tomorrow!

My foamex was laying around too. I've just taken over a shop to run out of. I have no idea what the last tenant did, but he left behind a load of 3mm and 5mm foamex off cuts. When I say off cuts, they are all mostly bigger than my A3 heat press, so they are perfect for me. "One mans rubbish" and all that.
Let us know how you get on!!

Awesome! love it when people experiment! What temp did you press at? Thanks

Thanks!! The 3mm I pressed at 165ºC for 60 seconds. When it comes out of the press, be sure to lay it flat with something heavy on top, or it will warp. I tried the 5mm board today, but the times/temp are well off. The print was faded and the foam started to bubble. I'll have another bash at it tomorrow and see if I can get it to come out as well as the 3mm, and hopefully be able to share the results with you guys

[aardvark]

Hi we have just tried some foamex board 3mm but the paper stuck to the board, did you have the image on top of the board or image under board when pressing? Yours look great....

[EssexImaging]

I had the image on top of the board. I tend to peel the paper off while the foam is still quite hot, rather than when its cooled. I lay it flat with something on top long enough for it to start stiffening up (20 seconds maybe??), whip the paper off, then put the weight back on for a few mins until it has cooled.
Apart from the paper sticking, how did yours come out??

[aardvark]

Thanks for that, yes we had the image on top of the board. We did leave the paper on though so will give this a try. Mega have said you need a different paper, we are using truepix, are you using a special paper? The image was actually quite good, but am still trying to scrape the paper off in water lol!!

[EssexImaging]

Lol, sounds fun!
For my foamex prints, I have always used normal Ricoh A3 sub paper (item 71-0424 on Mega's site). I don't have any special paper in A3, but I do in A4, so it'll be interesting to see what the difference is like. I might have to do a comparison test in the week