DIY Laser printed images on bottle caps

[EJay]

I'm going to feel stupid if this has been covered elsewhere, but I didn't see it in a search.

Over in the thread on building your own wooden beer crate, there's instructions on using an iron to transfer an image from a laser-printed document onto a piece of wood.

I thought I'd try it with bottle caps. First, I made an image printing in reverse on my laser printer:



Then I cut out the part I wanted, flipped it image-down on a bottle cap, then ironed the image on:



I hope this inspires a few of you. I had a tough time and wasted a lot of bottle caps, but got a decent image -- for instance, the QR code above is good enough to scan. I had a lot of problems with smudging.

I hope this inspires a few of you to try this out and maybe perfect the process. I'd like to figure out how to reduce the smearing, get the heat dialed in, etc.

I believe it works because toner is basically powdered plastic. The heat releases it from the paper and transfers it to the bottle cap.

 

[Sudz_Makenzie]

Nice, albeit a bit labor intensive. But that's the fun of DIY.

 

[heckels]

Any issues with the rubber part of the cap melting/deforming?


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[kickflip_mj]

I love this idea!! Definitely going to do this

 

[EJay]

Any issues with the rubber part of the cap melting/deforming?

Yes, a little during my experiments. My main problem was smearing of the toner - I think when the cap gets hot enough to melt the toner, it stays hot a while, which gives the opportunity for smearing. In my next attempt I think I'll try putting the caps on a wet washcloth as something of a heat sink.

But I think for proof of concept, it was a success. I'm hoping some of the rest of you will try it and between all of us we might find a way to make it a little more reliable and less labor-intensive.

 

[GrizzAndFish]

Another thread from the project locator uses an inkjet printer and acrylic transfer. If heating up the caps causes issues, check out https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f46/diy-custom-crown-caps-103859/

 

[MrFoodScientist]

Slice up a an appropriately sized wooden dowel and mount the slices on a clipboard. The dowel slices will hold the caps in place, while the clip board holds the paper in place and you can do a whole sheet in one swath without worrying about pieces moving and hopefully it will reduce smudging.

Just my two bits.

Just don't mount the dowel slices with hot glue, that would be a bad idea.