# how to use UV printer to print on Metal?



## benjamiu1 (Jul 25, 2013)

Hey all,

Does anyone know how to use UV printer to print on metal? 

I try many ways but the picture just won't stay onto metal product. What kind of metal product can UV printer print on? and how? If any one have this knowledge please kindly share with me.

Thanks All.


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## ozstockman (Dec 23, 2010)

what kind of metal are you trying to print on? I have only tried to print on brushed aluminium DVD cases and print adhesion is very good. So to ceramic tiles but print is easy to peel off if you make it wet. When it is dry though it has good scratch resistance even on a ceramic tile.

I do not know about other metals but it is kind of normal that UV inks does not stick well to non porous media such as glass/ceramic and metals. As I mentioned in your other thread try to coat metal with some clear varnish that will stick to metal. The best is something made for automotive industry such as auto paint. Something based on cellulose lacquer. Lacquer based paint is proven to work with most ink even with solvent. The only problem with lacquer paint is drying time. It's impossible to brush/roll it as it dries almost instantly. However it is often sold in spray cans so it should not be a problem to spray it. I have used lacquer coating for my solvent ink based flatbed printer for printing on MDF, without lacquer priming solvent ink was bleeding during printing. 

I have pre coating media for ceramic tiles that was sent to me by my UV printer vendor. I do not know what it is made from but it smells exactly as nail polish so it is lacquer based for sure. I have not tried it yet because almost all my products made on the UV printer are designed for printing on MDF and UV inks I use stick to MDF so good that I do not need to use that stuff.

And one more thing, you may want to try just any paint/varnish that will stick to metal, even just an enamel based. The only one that won't work for printing is polyester based. But you won't find it anyway as it is a lot of hard work to coat anything with polyester and nobody makes paint/varnish based on it.


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## GraphixGuys (Jan 16, 2012)

We never had any problems printing on Metal. We mainly stuck to aluminums from sign wholesalers though. Like Mike said we had much more problems with acrylics and smooth plastics. We could get the ink to stick but would come off like a band-aid if you picked at it enough. Also, if we were going to route the sign to a shape after printing we would have to make sure the router bit never cut where ink was or it would chip up the ink like a bad paint job. So we would set the cut at least .10 of an inch out from the ink.


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## benjamiu1 (Jul 25, 2013)

Thank you Mike and Michael for you answers. I will give it a try.

However, wouldn't cellulose lacquer make the surface look different? it might be obvious shinny or something like that? 

can you guys post picture of finishing product that you guys make? or a picture of a cellulose lacquer that you use?

sorry for the trouble, but this would be a big help to me. Thanks!


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