Hi, I've searched google forever on this, to no avail. Does anyone know of a printer that will print on thick (5mm) non-flexible material? My panel is only 158mm x 242mm (6.25"x9.5") so it doesn't need to be big.

Currently I'm having my panels screen printed, but I'd like something I can do at home without doing screen printing.

Thanks!

1.5mm is the thickest anything I have seen will print on. You could try asking on printplant.com .

What material are you printing on?

Possibly a modified ink jet printer of the type that can print onto compact disc ?

Or printing onto a thin film that can then be bonded to your panel?

Ink durability requirements?

There seems to be a variety of Solid Surface printers out there, but I don't know if any of them would fit your requirements. Most seem to use UV curable inks.

Thanks, the verbiage here got me searching again. I still didn't find an off the shelf printer that's reasonably priced (I'm looking for hundreds of bucks, not tens of thousands...).

I did just find a place that has a transfer paper product whereby one disables the fuser on a laser printer and then takes the paper to a lamination press to fuse the toner image to a substrate. I think I'll try it.

There also some folks that have gutted inkjet printers and made them into cheap flatbeds. If I had more time on my hands I'd love to do that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a14zELKPw8M&feature=player_embedded

Youtube of printer hacked into flatbed.

Inspiring. If you follow the link from the description, it's goal is to become a 3d printer.