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You are now ready to fire!
Applying Decals using an Aerosol Cover coat
Background – By far, the easiest and cleanest way to make a CerPrint 3500 decal is to use the One Step
printing paper supplied with the printer. One of the challenges in making a decal using the One Step
decal printing paper is that the edge of the blue paper may leave a visible flux line after the decal is
fired. That flux line can often be cleverly hidden. For example, when decorating tile the blue edge can
lay right at the edge of the tile and the flux line will not be invisible. As mentioned in the section on
Decal Transfer and Application, an inexpensive commercial silhouette cutter can also be very useful. But
in some cases, there is no easy way to hide the flux line. In this case, using a spray cover coat from an
aerosol can will sometimes solve this problem.
There is another reason for using a spray flux cover coat to make a decal. When using the CerPrint 3500
MICR toner cartridge, a spray flux cover coat enables firing the decoration to a lower temperature, as
low as 1200 Fahrenheit when used with the pink flux spray, enabling the decoration to take on a rich
shade of dark chocolate brown improving the aesthetics of a traditional B&W LASER printed decoration.
Precautions – The cover coat spray has two places it will go. Some will go where you spray it. Some will
go into the air. This material that goes into the air is the problem. Avoid breathing the spray and only
use the aerosol spray in a well ventilated room. If you apply the spray outdoors and stand upwind of the
direction of spray you are pretty safe. If you must spray inside, spray in a very well ventilated room and
wear a respirator rated for asbestos and organic solvents. Do not use those little paper masks that
carpenters use. They will not offer the necessary protection.
“How To” Method 1 - Start with standard waterslide decal paper, not Bel decal paper or similar. Typical
papers like Calcotrans or Trucal work great. Put a piece of this standard waterslide decal paper into the
CerPrint printer and print your decoration onto it. You do not need to print in reverse as with the One
Step blue paper. Shake your aerosol can well and go outside with the wind at your back. Spray a very
light partial layer on the printed decal sheet. Let it dry. Spray another very very light layer and let it dry.
If either of these layers is too heavy you will find that the liquid beads up on the sheet like water on a
freshly waxed car. You do not want this. If you have lightly covered the print sheet correctly the third
layer can be sprayed more heavily on the decoration but feathered out at the edge. This is to hide the
flux line. If you feather it out nicely you will see very little flux line after firing. You might be finished at
this point but it depends on the thickness of the cover coat layer and how much flux you want on the
decoration. You can spray additional layers if you like paying attention to keep the spray thickness
feathered out to hide the flux line. This is a trial and error process and it will take a little time to get it
down. Be sure the cover coat layer is fully dry. Now you can dip and apply the decal as normal.
“How To” Method 2 – Start with standard Bel paper or similar. Print and apply the decal as described in
the Decal Transfer and Application section of this manual. Once applied to the part being decorated you
can now apply a spray flux top coat to bond the decoration during firing. The objective of this process is
to enable a good flux top coat but by feathering out the spray layer thickness directly on the part you
can hide the flux line. Follow the directions in Method 1 for applying the spray cover coat. This is an
excellent method that results in no flux edge and does not require printing the decal in mirror image.
Since the flux coat will also be on areas around the decal, i.e., on the ceramic piece, wee sometimes use