I went to a meet last weekend in NH @ Karyn Bushs' place. It was a great meet. While I was there I had the priviledge of meeting a remarkable fellow by the name of Mike Z. Mike had a panel he was working on that used a technique called Doming. (I hope I spelt that correctly, its pronounced dome-ing.) As I was talking to him about the in's and out's of this great technique it kept nagging at me that I had seen it before, but I just couldn't pin it down as to where. Today at lunch I finally sat down to re-read my Jan/Feb issue of SignCraft and low and behold is a fantastic article by Steve Kafta on this technique. Now Mike had been using this stuff for quite some time I think, and he was using it on vinyl for vehicles as well as printed stickers. Is anyone else using this stuff? I'm calling to get some. Any tips or tricks would be appreciated.
[ September 29, 2006, 03:55 PM: Message edited by: Deri Russell ]
Posted by Bill Lynch (Member # 3815) on :
I haven't tried yet, but ordered the "Try It" kit here.http://rdsacuflow.com/acudome/
Posted by Deri Russell (Member # 119) on :
Got it ordered from Canadian Signcrafters. And it comes with instructions. But I was just wanting to talk to some more people with a little more experience in this stuff, because it might save me time, money and a whole lot of frustration. And not necessarily in that order.
Posted by Murray MacDonald (Member # 3558) on :
Deri, you were travelling with a guy who knows all about it! Give Rodger a call. MUR
Posted by Lotti Prokott (Member # 2684) on :
Rodger just sandblasted a sign for me this week and put doming on it. Here is what it looked like before painting. The domed parts will be gilded. He definitely is the man to talk to.
Posted by captain ken (Member # 742) on :
Mike got me into the whole dome thing a few years ago. A few things i ran into that could be worth noting...
Make sure the table you do the work on is level, if not your decals will end up drying lopsided.
The resin definetly has a shelf life, so don't stock up.
occasionaly for some reason the resin doesn't mix well and will bubble up Actually it really only happened on chrome or SignGold.
applying the gel to the lettering takes a bit of getting use to, mike usually ads a thin outline onto the lettering that has a rounded corner, just to make it easier, another trick is, to use the fine detail tips to 'dot' the resin into the corners, then fill the rest of the stroke.
once you get the hango f it, you can really do some cool tricks with it. over chrome or gold it adds facets and makes it really bling, then there is the trick Mike likes is doing monochrome stuff, like black on black, or white on white etc... gives it a cool embossed look.
If you notice, nowadays alot of car manufacturers are cutting the logo in chrome vinyl and doming it instead of doing a real metal chrome emblem.
[ September 29, 2006, 10:01 PM: Message edited by: captain ken ]
Posted by Dave Sherby (Member # 698) on :
Here's my first doming job. In the first picture you can barely see it on the rear quarter panel. The second picture is a close up. The truck is a Dodge Ram in silver. We put the doming resin on satin aluminum vinyl.
Posted by Deri Russell (Member # 119) on :
WOW LOTTI!!!!!!!!!!!I love your horse!!!That is awesome! Post some more of that sign would ya? Capt.- that was the stuff I was after. I was talking to Rodger about this stuff and he did give me some tips but I didn't write them down. And I'm the type that writes everything down. Need to in order to slam it into my brain. Thanks Ken. Dave that looks great!!!!!!!! My husband just bought us a car yesterday and I think that's exactly what I'm going to do with it. And that's the type of pic I was after to show him. Thank you.
Posted by Frank Sanborn (Member # 6772) on :
I've been doming for several years. I did a lot of prototyping for emblems, steering wheel centers etc. as well as a lot of one-of-a kind parts.
Some tips:
-Wear gloves! - I use cheap disposable vinyl or latex gloves.
-Wear long sleaves! - I once had a job where I needed to dome almost 500 good size parts and I was working in the summer with short sleaves and ended up with a nasty rash on my arms. I've heard of other people getting the same reaction and simply wearing a long sleave shirt has prevented it.
-Use less than you think you'll need. If you put on too much resin, the surface tension at the edges won't hold it and it will run off the part. This part takes practice to get a feel for how much is right.
-Round the corners of the part that you're doming, especially inside corners. Production domers usually require a minimum .08" radius on both inside and outside corners. Doming by hand in small quantities can allow you to get away with tighter radius corners.
-Chrome parts show EVERY little bubble and flaw.
-When you start a tube, make sure you squirt out the recommended amount of resin at the beginning to make sure that the resins get fully mixed and the air bubbles are worked out. I usually shoot it into an old pop bottle, watching the resin come through the mixer tip until I see a little stream of bubbles come through. This may seem wasteful, but the first resin that comes out won't cure correctly and you'll have a bubbly, sticky, gooey mess.
Shoot me an email if you have any more questions!
[ October 01, 2006, 07:25 PM: Message edited by: Frank Sanborn ]
Posted by Deri Russell (Member # 119) on :
Thank you Frank. That is the stuff Mike was telling me last weekend but I didn't write it down. Now I can print it out. Chrome parts- you are domeing pre manufactured chrome parts?
Posted by Frank Sanborn (Member # 6772) on :
quote:Originally posted by Deri Russell: Thank you Frank. That is the stuff Mike was telling me last weekend but I didn't write it down. Now I can print it out. Chrome parts- you are domeing pre manufactured chrome parts?
No, I've domed parts cut from Gerber Deluxe Chrome (the REALLY expensive stuff!). It's such a smooth, clear surface that parts cut from it and domed come out looking just beautiful. But I usually end up with a higher number of bad parts just because of the bubbles. I've yet to find a good way to prevent it, because I can pour the doming resin on, let it sit for a few minutes and flow out to the edge, then pop any bubbles with the small torch and have them appear crystal clear, only to come back the next morning and new bubbles will have formed. Drives me nuts....
Multi colored parts, as well as solid colored parts don't show the bubbles nearly as bad as the chrome does.
I know from speaking with a provider of commercial doming equipment that in a large scale process, the resin is put through a "de-gassing" step (insert your own joke here....), but I don't know what they do to accomplish this and I know from seeing commercially produced domed parts that it works. Not a bubble in sight!
Posted by Bob Rochon (Member # 30) on :
Frank I was told to use the freshest resin you can when using chrome. I had the same problems, with fresh resin it worked fine.
![[Applause]](graemlins/applause.gif)
low and behold is a fantastic article by Steve Kafta on this technique. Now Mike had been using this stuff for quite some time I think, and he was using it on vinyl for vehicles as well as printed stickers. Is anyone else using this stuff? I'm calling to get some. Any tips or tricks would be appreciated. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
