Wax Residue That Will Not Smudge When Touched

Well shooting from the hip, the first thing that comes to mind is controlling the hardness of the wax, or wax-like substance, with temperature...there are waxes that have different meltpoints....so by controlling the working temperature you might be able to bypass this problem....maybe....you also might want to consider a plastic based working medium using the same method....

I know a lot of people use polymer clay for this purpose...

You could also go high tech and use a scanner/printer to capture the pattern and transfer the pattern on clear sheet like this guy....

Nice work...

Layne is really, really good - far better than I’ll ever be!!!

hahaha I know that guy! Yes, transfer using certain ink jet printers, printed on clear Pictorio, and then rubbed onto the work which was pre-coated with several mixtures typically involving rosin/alcohol/turpintine etc. etc. or Tom White’s coating works just fine. I’m trying to avoid using a printer and going directly from the casting to the work.

You might like to investigate some slow curing "UV" activated resins. When mixed these are a honey like consistency and can be worked for a few hours provided there is no UV in the lighting for the workspace.

Once transferred, simply expose it to sunlight and it cures. Cure rate depends a bit on ambient temp and also sunlight intensity.

The original piece could be cleaned with appropriate solvent so that no reside remains.

My daughter uses this stuff to decorate kitchen cutting boards/blocks, coasters, canister lids etc. in various flowing patterns.

What you describe is extremely similar to the "Tampon printing" process that we used to transfer images onto switches and keyboards in years gone by. The manufacturer claimed it was originally developed to mass print golf balls. The etched plates provided us with around 100,000 replications before needing replacement. That process also used an air cured two part "ink" in the various colours that we needed.

Somehow I have still never used the "real stuff" but I wonder if layout fluid would somehow work. My thought is to apply a thin coat to the master, Use tape, flat rubber or a rubber roller (think printing industry) to pick up the image and then transfer it to the material to be worked on.

Another thought partially overlaps SolarEagle. Some sort of a plastic or clay that would be soft and then hardened by something (time, UV light, other). I don't know your process but I assume it must remain soft and not shatter or flake as you start cutting. That adds to the challenge.

Possibly some of the products used for dental molds or other molding could be useful. One train of thought is to try to use a different material for the basic process you described. Another train of thought is to basically use the master to make a "stamp pad stamper" and then apply ink or paint to the item to work on. Registration of the master image on the target might be tough but it is worth considering.

A quick Amazon search turned up Osborne 76214SP blue layout fluid.

Maybe you could print the image on the piece with ink as a mask, and then etch it with ferric chloride...

https://www.google.com/search?q=etching+copper+with+ferric+chloride&oq=ethching+copper&aqs=chrome.4.69i57j0l7.11188j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

...also found this...

https://contenti.com/sam-alfano-s-engraving-transfer-wax

An example of wax transfer....

Transfer techniques....

https://engravingschool.com/

Sam’s wax is a total staple in the engraving trade/industry/etc. It is a great product, and Sam has sold thousands of copies, no doubt.

The problem with Sam’s Wax is that you can’t “fix” it in place (or at least I have not found a means to do so) so that as you are engraving it’s easy to ham hand it and smudge out the design. That’s especially difficult if you’re half way done; thing trying to put a workpiece back on the milling table in exactly the same position so your numbers aren’t off. :)

Sam is talented enough to work without ever touching the piece; I am not.

So, I actually investigated the etching idea before through Cronite. I gave it up for a couple of reasons; first, the strength of resist required, and second - and more importantly - the fact that etching acid actually hardens the metal, so it’s dang near impossible to cut the line properly!! (Bob Sr. at Cronite was kind enough to pass that little gem on prior to his death, and I thank him for it)

Also, I’d be really concerned etching on anything valuable just in case I missed something. Gun guys have no sense of humor around that!

I do use layout fluid, then Sam’s Wax (so that I can see the dang wax through the microscope against the dark background) and sometimes can get a little mileage using very light coats of artists Resist, followed by talcum powder to resist smudging.

The results are marginal when the process goes well, but it can take an entire day to get a “perfect” transfer on a small item because the results vary wildly.

What about the part where he scratches in the design from right to left to avoid smudging, that looked like a foolproof method to me...?

...He begins at 5:52 in the video...

Maybe you could make the pattern by cutting it in a thin piece of copper or aluminum sheet, then just stencil the pattern on the piece with magic marker or something....that way you could reuse it...

It seems like you could, after transferring the pattern, apply a really thin piece of packing tape over it...You would think that the tape, being so thin, that it would not interfere with the process....

But then you could probably just print the pattern on the tape to begin with...

I think if it was me, i would just scan the design and use a laser to burn the pattern on the piece...seems faster, repeatable, consistent results, accurate...

You could use a low powered laser to maybe just melt a thin layer of black plastic onto the surface..or somehow use uv light laser to cure a glue line drawing maybe....

Maybe you could mix a bit of the UV curing glue into the wax mix, then after the pattern is transferred hit it with the uv light...although this might take some trial and error loss, just the right mix could do the trick...

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=uv+curing+glue&ref=nb_sb_noss

Now, isn’t that an interesting idea..... I think I’ll order a couple cans of the wax and do some experimentation! THank you very much, I’ll report out the results. Bob

Repurposed Finger Print Lifter

What if you took one of those CSI fingerprint capturing setups which evaporate cyanoacrylate glue in a mini-hood box, perhaps cool your wax a little, evaporate some glue onto it, then dust it with graphite powder, or teflon powder, or fine bicarbonate of soda, or even fine cinnamon powder to get a hard surface, then blow away the unattached powder with air ?

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thewildotter

A Little Assistance Here Please

You may need to add some amino acids or similar to your wax formulation to get the glue to have an affinity for the wax like it does to a fingerprint. Perhaps someone else here has a good idea for what to use to amend the wax. Or it might work without any amendments.

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thewildotter

Yet a different method I have used is to electro etch. The resist isn't too bad, you can get clean designs, and it doesn't use acid. I just use salt water. I can electro etch my logo into my knives, and I have used it on brass and aluminum with good results. I understand the engraving pattern transfer, been to the GRS school myself. I will occasionally incorporate some engraving into the knives, but for logos and such I just use the electro etch. Lots of information on the net.

Gary