Printing on wood doors

[printers.raj]

Hi,

I got an Acuity Advance and Arizona Oce 460, and have an upcoming order for printing on wooden doors. Would appreciate inputs from people on this forum who have done it before? Can you share if there are any things I should keep in mind, any challenges that I should anticipate, and finishing that might be required.

Thanks,
Rohan

 

[kennycu]

This sounds just like our place. "We have an order for doing xxxx." Now we have to figure out how to do it!

How was it sold? What are the expectations of the product?

Our sales staff specializes in selling things we DON'T do. Glad to see I'm not alone.

Hopefully you are starting with a flat slab that has a finish that can accept the ink. Good luck.

 

[jotterpinky]

I don't think this should be a big deal. There will probably be a couple gotcha's but by and large the newer flatbed printers have a good inkset that adheres to most substrates, especially one with as much "tooth" as a door. We do all sorts of weird things and ours "just works" on most substrates. We have a harder time with glass but have found a good adhesion promoter

 

[kansasquaker]

This sounds just like our place. "We have an order for doing xxxx." Now we have to figure out how to do it! ...
Our sales staff specializes in selling things we DON'T do. Glad to see I'm not alone.

I'm always grateful for wonky projects. It's fun to learn something new. And I'd sure as heck rather do something we "don't" do than nothing at all.

Not too long after we got our printer, we bought cheap wood doors from Home Depot, threw them down on our Acuity and printed on them. It worked great.

 

[kennycu]

Don't get me wrong. I'm very familiar with R&D projects. If those wood doors from HD were an order, without any product development, I'd be worried and wouldn't guarantee anything. If they were for a fun little project, great. Did they need any durability or scratch resistance requirements? Were they used for swinging restaurant kitchen doors? Hung as art on the wall?

The OP seems to have an active order coming in and has never printed on the substrate before. Sure the printer will spit color that will cure into a polymer and likely adhere to a raw wood door. Pack it and ship it! The reason I asked how it was sold and what are the expectations of the product is because a lot of times you will get a print done on some "thing" and all will look at each other and say, "Now what?", or, "That's not what I expected.", then, "What are we going to do with this stack of doors?"

Why would the OP ask about finishing?

So, yea, the biggest problem I have with the OP is "...we have an order coming in..." and would be less frustrated with, "Has anybody ever...because we have a customer that wants to...and I want to make sure...so the customer is happy and we make money at it"

But that's just my frustration. I do appreciate the variety this business offers.

 

[D Ink Man]

How are you going to get the doors through the press?

 

[jonprintz]

Rohan,
We have run furniture grade plywood through our Durst presses on several occasions with good results. If your doors are flat I would think that your finished product would be similar.