BroadwayLion LIONS no longer buy inkjet printers. Only laser printers, and then mostly black and white. We have a big 11x17 output Xerox Color laser copier/printer for all of our color work. As mentioned it was, the printers are almost free and you pay for the ink. LIONS found liquid ink far too expensive and ink jet not as good as the lasers, although ink jets put out some darn good work. I did buy a color laser for the potter who works in a different building, so he does not have to change buildings just to pick up his work. since we lease the big Xerox, and toner comes as part of the package, it is cheaper to use that machine for color or even for large runs of B&W work. And when the lease is up, they simply bring a newer model around. : ) Sometimes buing a big outfit helps : ) ROAR
LIONS no longer buy inkjet printers. Only laser printers, and then mostly black and white. We have a big 11x17 output Xerox Color laser copier/printer for all of our color work.
As mentioned it was, the printers are almost free and you pay for the ink. LIONS found liquid ink far too expensive and ink jet not as good as the lasers, although ink jets put out some darn good work. I did buy a color laser for the potter who works in a different building, so he does not have to change buildings just to pick up his work.
since we lease the big Xerox, and toner comes as part of the package, it is cheaper to use that machine for color or even for large runs of B&W work. And when the lease is up, they simply bring a newer model around. : )
Sometimes buing a big outfit helps : )
ROAR
Inkjets are sold on the Gilette principal (Give away the razor sell the blades) but thats ok with me as I do very little printing at home
Lasers are rented to busineses it seems to me and that is where I do my also very limted printing.
Joe Staten Island West
I had to use my dads Cannon unkown model printer the other day as my Epson printer is out of ink. It worked better for printing black decals than my Epson printer did. Did not have any probelm with them sticking to the decal sheet etc.
Also agree its almost cheaper to buy new printer than replace the ink on a old one.
Not sure about laser prineters being better, the one time i tryed to print to decal paper with it, the toner had proeblems sticking to the sheet even after i sprayed a sealant on it.
Modeling on the cheap
There are three sources I've found that will print your designs that need white in them to apply against dark backgrounds. All sources use the (in)famous ALPS printer.
The first one I found through Spookshow and is based in Australia. The second is from Ebay and is the seller that has the refurbished ALPS printers and inks.Lastly, is Kaydee.
All three charge about the same, $25 per A4 sheet. A little pricey, perhaps, but a fair price if you've got a custom design you can't get any other way.
If Admin approves, I'll post the links.
Paul
Thanks, no need for me to try to reinvent the wheel.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I bought a 10 clear + 10 white decal paper pack. 5 years later I still have 9 of 10 white sheets, and only 1 sheet of clear.
Others have shown various methods of using the white back round decal paper to effect, but I tried and had poor results in attemprong a B&M interlocked initial decal with the white decal paper- ended up ordering from Microscale after several frustrating efforts. I also order from them for white lettering of named railroads, or use dry transfer letters for unique lettering. For me, I'll just stick with clear paper.
Cedarwoodron
Thanks, I see some sellers sell 1/2 clear and 1/2 white decal paper. Is there a use for the white? I was thinking of signs, maybe a negative type print where the black would print around the white letters. Most of us can't print white directly.
The Bel decal sheet folks advised using Krylon color master acrylic crystal clear gloss spray. I have stuck with that brand for over 5 years.
I taught Autocad for 20 years (thru ACAD2015) and am very comfortable with the precision I obtain, particularly with very small lettering or use of jpeg images imported into the Autocad drawing of the decals I make. There are several other software design programs which work well- I stick with Autocad, although I use Photoshop when I need to clean up an image before saving it as a jpeg for insertion into my cad decal drawing.
My procedure is to draw the decal set (I make 6 sets of decals for safety, in case I mess up applying something to the model). Then I print it and let the ink dry for at least 12 hrs (just being cautious). After that I cut the unused decal remainder sheet from the printed portion and tape the smaller printed piece to a sheet of regular copy paper, to cover over spray of the clear gloss coat. I then make 3 slow passes horizontally across the printed decals.
Again, I let the coated paper dry overnight (12-18 hrs) and then use a single razor blade (the old gem blade style) to do a general separation of a particular decal from the set. If there is a curve or special additional trimming needed, I use very small precision scissors (nail trimming ones). I usually spray my models with gloss paint, so I can directly apply the decals, then knock down with dull coat after all work is done and the decals have set for 2 days
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Oh well! This came a month too late. Just spent the same amount of money on an HP all in one, two cartridge machine. Still haven't unboxed it, being frugal and using up the previous editions ink. Have never made decals, but have thought of it.
Yes, prices have dropped dramaticly on electronic stuff. Our origingal computer cost $1500 used in the late '70's, 64K, not even a blip on new computers capacity. Most of the stuff is obsolete before it hits the shelves for us to buy.
Have fun,
Richard
mbinsewi My daughter recently bought that Canon printer, and she loves it. So what is a good drawing/graphics program to use for making decals ? I've always wanted to try this. Mike.
My daughter recently bought that Canon printer, and she loves it. So what is a good drawing/graphics program to use for making decals ? I've always wanted to try this.
Mike.
I use Adobe Photoshop to edit images and then import them into Adobe Pagemaker to print. Also any text I create in Pagemaker because it stays sharp where text in photoshop becomes part of the picture and is no longer printing the actual font and can get jagged edges.
As for printers: Laser printers are better for decals because they automatically seal the ink with the heat. Laser printers also print a lot more pages for less cost.
Inkjet printers you have to spray on a finish or they smear.
Been using HP for years but bought a wireless Canon pixma 470 about a year ago. Great with PC, iPhone and iPad. And yes, ink can be costly but with digital age, do not have to print as much anymore.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Cedarwoodron what do you use to coat your decals prior to use?
My You Tube
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
cedarwoodronMy new Canon Pixma cost only $89.98 at BJ's, compared with a $200 price for the old HP in 2006.
They practically give away the printers because then you have to keep buying the ink.
I also print short bands of decals and keep putting the same sheet into the printer until it's used up. I slice the printed portion off with a flatbed paper cutter to give me a clean, square edge each time. When the paper gets too short, I Scotch tape the last of the decal paper to a piece of white paper to make it long enough to feed.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
My old HP All-In-One inkjet printer finally died after 10 years of loyal service, so I bought a new Canon Pixma MX922 inkjet printer which uses 5 color cartridges: Magenta, Black, Yellow, Cyan and a bulk-sized Black. My old HP used 6 separate colors, and I wanted a similar discrete capability, rather than just a tricolor+black dual cartridge set that most current HP's were offering, so my replacement costs could be managed better.
I do a lot of custom decal printing on Bel clear decal paper (check E-Bay for best prices), and just printed a sheet of decals for my current boxcar project.
The Canon settings I used were "High" for print quality and "Photo Paper Glossy" for the paper type. I removed the regular paper sheets from the paper tray and inserted only thr Bel decal paper sheet with the glossy side down. I set for portrait format orientation. As I am frugal, I usually print a 2"-3" band of decals, located from the top of the sheet image on my monitor screen, and made sure the paper tray guides were adjusted to fit the size of the decal sheet (as I print successive sheets, the length of the sheet gets shorter as I trim off the printed portion of a prior sheet).
The result was every bit as clear, if not more than my old HP printer. There are a a number of settings on the front control panel ("Tone") for color management that I have yet to explore, which may be of value in producing different effects for decals.
My new Canon Pixma cost only $89.98 at BJ's, compared with a $200 price for the old HP in 2006.
Hope this info helps