DSF

I have had an enquiry on printing on metal, not sure if subli is the way to go but details as follows:

Looking to get some graphics on a thin alu/stainless steel sheets with a shiny/brushed alu finish, approx 100mm by 50mm, the shape is not symmetrical and grahpic-wise it's black & white vector (not photos)

Does anyone do custom cut subli metal sheets? Or would it be better if I get a workshop to laser cut the custom shape from a metal sheet and press with the magic touch's CPM or similar?

You might want to talk to Martin at BMS. They do metal sheets (http://www.printerowners.co.uk/sublimat ... -metal.htm) and they state -

If you have a particular size that you would like then please contact us for pricing.

Hope this helps.

Sublimation is a good option, particularly if you want to do short runs, although the metals available at present (a situation which will change quite shortly I believe) are pretty much limited to thin aluminium sheet with a range of finishes.

On another matter laser cutting of coated aluminium is very difficult - and for small quantities very expensive - it needs to be guillotine cut.

Agree with Graeme here - we can cut the metal but only into pieces with 4 straight edges (squares or rectangles) with our guillotine.

I have cut the ali with a stanley knife in the past to get shapes, straight cuts only. The ali is quite soft so a couple of cuts then snap, once cut run a file/sandpaper down edge to remove any sharpness left, taking care not to slice your hand.

Shame none of the edge on the design is straight! The challenge is now on to shape metal sheet without going into laser cutting I guess I might have a go with some shears later

Does TMT's CPM work well on metal or it only works on particular type of metal surfaces?

TMT's CPM work well on metal or it only works on particular type of metal surfaces?

Does need to be a coated metal, so should work on most.

Many thanks guys, I'll get my head down on this and see how it goes!

I have just had bespoke shapes cut but it needs to be done on a machanical router not laser. It's not cheap either. I've been looking at getting an engraver / router for this but they are the best part of 10k.

How many of each shape did you need cut?

For the first run I will only need about 20, I did not promise the customer anything yet as I'm still looking for the right approach to do this (laserjet, waterjet, mechanical plotting.etc.)

Andrew, mind if I ask the cost and the quality of finish?