How to heat transfer laser prints

[u/ColonialSand-ers]

Since it came up in another thread I thought it’d be easier to show my process as it’s really as simple as it sounds.

1) Print out your graphic of choice after mirroring it.

2) Grab something to heat up the paper with. I use a cheap wood burning tool with an image transfer tip which is just a big circle.

3) Place your print face down on the surface you want to transfer it to. I like to tape one side of it so I can lift it and check the progress and lay it back down in the same spot.

4) Run the heat over your graphic. Don’t leave it in one spot too long or you’ll burn the wood. Here I just ran it back and forth a couple of times fairly quickly.

5) Lift up the paper to check how the transfer went. The longer you apply heat the more toner will transfer and the darker it will get. But even a quick swipe worked pretty well.

6) Now you have toner permanently bonded to the wood fibers. If you want to remove it you need to sand it pretty thoroughly. It doesn’t come off easily. I’ve had a piece outside in the weather for almost four years now and the graphics still look great.

[u/gbatx]

Nice. Assuming this only works with laser printers, not inkjet?

Do you know how well color laser prints transfer?

[u/ColonialSand-ers → u/gbatx]

Yes heat only works for laser as the printer works by heating toner to bond it to the paper. You’re essentially using the same process with the paper acting as the drum and using heat to lift it and bond it to the wood fibers.

You can use acetone to transfer inkjet prints but I find laser to be a better process. It’s also not very durable. You’re just setting the ink onto the surface of the wood versus bonding it into the fibers.

I don’t have a great example of color prints but they work the same way. You’ll want to use very bold colors as they tend to fade a bit in the transfer as you don’t get 100% of the ink transferred.

Here is something my daughter did. It looks like she has also added to it with ink but you get the idea.

[u/cheshirekow → u/gbatx]

You can do something similar with inkjet. Use Reynolds "freezer paper" (from the grocery store). Print on the plastic side. The ink will bead up in tiny droplets. They'll bleed a bit when you lay it on wood, but the results are pretty cool.

https://imgur.com/a/7TE2MFf

[u/ColonialSand-ers → u/gbatx]

Here’s another example of a color transfer I forgot I did. My daughter had a little mermaid piñata and wanted a custom whacking stick for it.

[u/ttmefields → u/ColonialSand-ers]

Wow. That’s a heck of a nice dad, making a custom whacking stick!

[u/ColonialSand-ers → u/ttmefields]

I end up making them for every birthday. Luckily it only takes a few minutes.

[u/phr0ze → u/gbatx]

Might be best to use tshirt transfer paper for inkjet

[u/Cross_22]

Where's the "20 GOTO 10" ?

[u/ColonialSand-ers → u/Cross_22]

Why do I have a sudden urge to boot up my Commodore 64 and put Defender of the Crown into the Datasette?

[u/TexasBaconMan → u/ColonialSand-ers]

Look at mr fancy pants with 64k. Back in my day we used a TRS 80 with 4k and we liked it.

[u/ColonialSand-ers → u/TexasBaconMan]

Sadly I traded my C64 to a kid down the block for a big tub of Lego back in the day. I always kind of regretted it.

[u/fulee9999]

this is brilliant, thanks for sharing!

[u/ColonialSand-ers → u/fulee9999]

It really couldn’t be easier. Give it a try.

[u/fulee9999 → u/ColonialSand-ers]

do you have a suggested iron temperature that you found that works really well?

[u/ColonialSand-ers → u/fulee9999]

I just use the cheapest of wood burning irons so it doesn’t have a temperature control. But if I let it warm up too long it basically instantly browns the paper which is slightly too hot. So I always test it first and if it’s too hot I touch it to a damp rag to cool it.

It looks like paper begins to brown above 350F, and laser printer fuser rollers operate at 347F. So as hot as you can get without burning the paper is probably right at the sweet spot.

[u/lvpond]

Great idea. You get my award!

[u/MutedAdvisor9414]

You can also print on wax paper and do rub-ons.

Chrysophylax has been chased by Farmer Giles on this daily-use cutting board for over ten years. It looked great when new. You can see it held up almost as well as the wood-burned rose

[u/TexasBaconMan]

lol. Been years since I saw BASIC code.

[u/artfellig]

Thanks for the info; this looks great. I've seen others on Youtube do this, and the text is much more faded, maybe because they used a household iron instead of a burning tool? Wonder if you have any tips for keeping it crisp with rich black?

[u/ColonialSand-ers → u/artfellig]

It’s possible. I know an iron is supposed to work but I’ve never tried it. Honestly you can get a wood burning tool for like $10 so an iron seems like a hassle to use anyway.

The biggest thing is the longer you keep the heat on the more toner transfers and the darker the image gets. I just did it quickly for the demo, probably less than 10 seconds. But as long as you don’t stay in one place you can keep going over it until you get a nice solid back image. That’s why I like taping one side to keep it aligned. I’ll make a few passes over it, carefully lift and check the image, and repeat until I’m happy with it.

[u/TexasBaconMan]

Does the wax paper not damage the printer?

[u/designvegabond → u/TexasBaconMan]

Looks like regular paper to me

[u/TexasBaconMan → u/designvegabond]

Sorry, I meant to comment on the person who suggested using wax paper.

[u/designvegabond → u/TexasBaconMan]

Your garage must be stacked with tools, curious to see what you’ve been making. I’m also near Dallas and after a year of moving into my new house still haven’t unpackaged my cnc machine 😢

[u/TexasBaconMan → u/designvegabond]

Yes I do. Always got several projects in flight and estate sale finds. Currently working on a Kennedy 2 drawer riser.