Printing photos on metal is not a new technique of creating attractive photographs. The prior art provides several methods of ways of printing on metal using latex or UV printers/inks. The prior art also discloses the use of sublimation inks, which are used to initially print on a transfer material, then using a heat press, sublimate or transfer the image from the transfer material onto a piece of metal (normally aluminum) that has been coated to receive these sublimation/heat transfer inks. There is also prior art on creating metal plates with printing on them, where the metal plate has to be covered with some sort of clear plastic coating to seal in the ink.
While these methods are effective in transferring an image onto metal, many aqueous inkjet printers “read” the edges of the metal plate and print up to the edge—rather than over the edge—leaving an undesired “margin” around the edge of the metal plate. These printers do not offer the “edge to edge” printing capabilities that result in top quality, attractive finished products. This is particularly true when printing on metal and other rigid substrates, but even when printing on non-rigid substrates, these printers do not produce truly “edge to edge” finished products. The requirement that the metal picture be covered with a plastic sheet to seal in the ink is also cumbersome and requires a person to make sure there are no bubbles under the plastic covering. Thus, there is a long-felt need for a product that can produce a borderless metal picture without the need for additional covering, and a method by which it can be made. This class of printer is often found at retail locations that will print pictures for the customer on demand.