Untitled Gardening Project #84

[xiphmont]

Print 1/2"-square 'logos of an appropriate choice' onto translucent white self-adhesive film to be affixed to the face of each cube.

These logos will be backlit so we need to push as much ink into the media as possible to avoid the colors washing out. Hyaz/Papilio brand "inkjet waterproof vinyl" (hyaz.com) is the best choice I've found for high-saturation printing. The Hyaz media is bright, sharp and holds more ink than anything else I've tried. It's easily possible to make the blacks opaque when lit from behind by an arc lamp.

Modern CUPS/Gutenprint drivers have no trouble exerting control over ink deposition density. Slowing down the printing a little with gratuitous use of kill -STOP and kill -CONT also allows the ink time to soak/dry between passes, making it possible to push even more ink into the media without puddling or bleeding.

After printing, spray coat the logos with a clear acrylic topcoat/fixitive. The logo surfaces will be urethane coated later for appearance/durability and the topcoat will prevent the media from outgassing fine bubbles into the urethane during curing. The topcoat also prevents surface damage in upcoming fabrication steps. Krylon 1303 'Acrylic Crystal Clear' is the proper combination of flexible, impermeable and non-yellowing.

Comments

[thpeech.livejournal.com]

So this must be the part that was referred to when you were asked whether this has to do with fish, and answered "sort of."

Are there any more fish planned?

[kenshi.livejournal.com]

I love these project progress posts.

Quick question: I've started looking around for an affordable hobby-scale CNC milling machine (mostly for making architectural models out of wood, but milling softer metals would be good too). Got any thoughts about that? Brands? Features? Software?