by Joseph T. Sinclair.com
I visited Magna Chrome (http://magnachrome.com) recently in their Concord, California facility to investigate how they make metal prints.
The process is an interesting one. They first print the photo’s reverse image on a 5‑ft wide Epson printer on special paper with special ink. Then they take the sheet of paper to a heat-press where they place the metal plate (aluminum) over it. The press compresses the print and the plate under one ton of pressure and 400° of heat.
The metal plate has a translucent coating on it which gives the print its backlit effect. The special ink under pressure and heat goes from a solid to a gas bypassing the liquid state (sublimation). The gas penetrates the coating and fuses directly with the metal leaving the translucent coating on top. Then they cool, trim, and smooth the edges of the plate. They attach a mounting apparatus to the back with adhesive. The print is ready to be shipped.
Magna Chrome invented this process seven years ago. It has supplied the technology and designed and built the heat presses for several large national full-service photo services. Magna Chrome itself remains small and specializes in just metal prints. Because Magna Chrome is small, it prides itself on the extra care it takes in making metal prints.
Besides being beautiful the metal prints have an archival life of 330 years so long as they are kept out of direct sunlight. In addition, you can clean off the surface using alcohol. For that reason, hospitals are using a lot of metal prints because they can clean them regularly for hygienic purposes.
I like metal prints because their cost is lower than having a photo printed on paper and then custom framed. Even with ready-made off-the-shelf frames, the metal prints are comparable in cost but less trouble. However, none of this would make any difference if the metal prints didn’t look so good. They are high resolution and dazzling.
In my opinion, framed prints and metal prints don’t mix well on the same wall. But in a room with just metal prints, the metal prints look natural and a natural part of the room.
Besides MagnaChrome, you can have your photos printed on metal by AdoramaPix (http://adoramapix.com) or Bay Photo (http://bayphoto.com). The prices are comparable to MaganaChrome. Bay Photo even goes so far as to provide digital edges and digital frames that you can choose to make part of the photograph so as to give the effect of being framed on the wall. Indeed, I saw metal prints in a downtown San Francisco gallery that had such a framing effect, and they looked pretty good.
All in all, this is a dramatic new way to display photos. I expect these metal prints to become commonplace in the next few years. Give metal a try!