Making Decals and needing a new printer

[njee20]

Surely you can define whether or not it resizes images in whatever application you're printing from? I can see that it not doing borderless printing is a pain though.

Frustrating experience.

[Doc Pye]

Yes, it was strange. You can only print borderless (full scale images that I had) using certain settings, notably photo paper ones. Otherwise, I found it adjusting the scale of the images to accommodate the border. I would like to hope that if I got the Epson WiFi/USB connection working that on my computer I could bypass all this. Yet, I could only get it to print via a USB stick, and the options were limited. It literally wouldn't let you print borderless on certain papers and quality choices.

I think the previous view expressed that these 'photo printers' are just for photos using photopaper may be correct.

I will keep looking...I am determined to find something that will make it work. 

[Alcazar]

The problem with doing transfers on a home printer (definitely laser, not sure about inkjet) is that they don't have the colour depth of commercial transfers which are screen-printed using paint. Therefore some colour combinations of transfer and underlying paint just won't work.

I promised to report on my efforts with an Envy 5530 inkjet printer. The loco numbers came out perfectly on a white background and looked OK under the magnifying glass. Unfortunately, as chrism point out, they don't have the depth of colour required and are practically invisible on a black background. The transfers were printed at "best quality", which I suspect is 300 dpi x 600 dpi. Maybe with a different printer and a higher dpi there will be better results.

Peter

[chrism]

The problem with doing transfers on a home printer (definitely laser, not sure about inkjet) is that they don't have the colour depth of commercial transfers which are screen-printed using paint. Therefore some colour combinations of transfer and underlying paint just won't work.

I promised to report on my efforts with an Envy 5530 inkjet printer. The loco numbers came out perfectly on a white background and looked OK under the magnifying glass. Unfortunately, as chrism point out, they don't have the depth of colour required and are practically invisible on a black background. The transfers were printed at "best quality", which I suspect is 300 dpi x 600 dpi. Maybe with a different printer and a higher dpi there will be better results.

I doubt you will get better results, I'm afraid.
General-purpose printers and inks/toners are designed for use on white paper and, with the exception of black, the resultant colours seen are reliant on light passing through and being reflected back off the white paper through the print.

Commercially produced transfers are, I'm pretty sure, produced by screen printing (or a similar process) using paint as the "ink", which doesn't rely on the light passing through it to render the colour depth.

[ntpntpntp]

With my ancient Alps printer there were two flavours of white cartridge:  White and Opaque White.  Funnily enough the opaque cartridge actually renders thinner and more transparent than the other.

One trick is to print the white decals twice as two separate items and overlay on on the other to increase the density.  Not a problem when you're using very thin carrier film as I do, but start to show up on the model rather more with the thicker sheets used with most inkjet printers. Indeed with the Alps some of the "recipes" to achieve solid colours rather than dithered involve multiple layers of spot colour.

[Doc Pye]

So following A Cooks advice, I picked up one of these cheap Canon MG3650 printers from Argos....35 quid. So got it out of the box and after a lot of time think it is now set-up properly (why don't they make the Wifi connections easier???). In any event, it is actually a descent printer. It doesn't provide the detail I am after but it is pretty darn good in terms of resolution. I am concerned that the colors are slightly off, notably the red but will have to play around with that.

So while I am still looking for a better printer, this new Canon MG3650 will help with test prints and such. So thanks again A Cook!

If anyone else has some good experience with other color printers suitable for the projects I want to do, please don't hesitate to join this chat and/or IM me. 

[acook]

Hi Doc

Just received some Mr Decal paper.
Using the white paper:
Told the printer it was 5"x7" photo paper glossy II set high quality and left the colour settings as is. (the previous MG 2850 had a checkbox for vivid photo, which was quite handy).
Result is cracking using the 600 x 600 dpi bitmap, just given a waft of Wilko clear sealer and does look good, even under magnification.

Alan

[RBTKraisee]

@Doc Pye So it has been a while since your last update and I'm curious what's the latest on your decal adventures?

Ross.

[Doc Pye]

Hi Ross,

Well test prints were quite good. I have been searching for 'better' ways to make decals, and contacted a few decal producers (cottage industry types), but so far the DIY approach seems best. Yet, I haven't given up on my search for a better quality print.

All that said, the artwork on my current project was started with an artist in Russia, and given all the ongoing issues (sanctions and such), this has greatly delayed the project. I am still hopeful of getting all the artwork done but it has dragged on...

Whenever I get more info I will of course share it hear. I really appreciate all the input from members who have been there and done that, as it was very helpful in getting me this far.

As the saying goes, whatever doesn't kill you, will make you stronger! 

[RBTKraisee]

Being in the states, the shipping on transfers from places like Fox costs more than the transfers themselves, so a cheaper option has been of great interest to me.

Ghost White Toner is probably the best solution for printing them at home, but at a starting price of nearly a grand for the printer, toner and paper!  That's way too much just for a few pages of decals!

Gareth @thebrighton did just confirm, on his thread, that his Canon inkjet can produce some remarkably good results, so I'm very interested to see what you can find that avoids breaking the bank.

And white ink seems to be the biggest piece of the puzzle.

Ross.

[njee20]

Keep an eye out for Ghost Toner on eBay, then buy a printer to suit. That's how I got mine, paid about £200 all in. Admittedly i was lucky that there was both a toner and a printer for sale at the same time (from different sellers). Definitely not a faultless solution, but probably the most accessible. That said, I'd also actually urge you to consider how much white printing you actually need to do. Of course 'intensity patches' are also a factor here for printing light colour decals over dark colours.

I probably said this somewhere in the thread, but what drove me to make my own was working with a noted producer on some custom decals. The process was insanely frustrating and protracted, with me providing artwork and him needing to 'rebalance' all the colours, that being a never ending cycle of posting samples back and forth. Yes he had the printer to create lovely detailed decals, but if the colours was awful then it seemed moot!

[ntpntpntp]

So here's the stuff I use to create decals, bear in mind this is 20 year old tech





An example set of decals.  The small print is legible, just not in this poor photo


The green ASF needed white ink for some of the text and for backing the yellow and red.

[Doc Pye]

The other option Ross is to simply outsource the white printing to someone who has the necessary set-up to do it. That's what I am thinking, as while I will need to print white it won't be worth investing in a Ghost Cartridge and Printer.

Speaking of printers, the Canon MG3650 printer works great, it very inexpensive, and provides sharp detail...not perfect but a really good color printer. I still love my old Lexmark 9575 but it sadly suffers from problems of missing print lines occasionally....they definitely don't make printers to last long!

[njee20]

Goes without saying I'm happy printing white stuff for folks. I'm not interested in profiting hugely, just happy offering the technology as its sat there.

I'm very envious of @ntpntpntp's ALPS printer though, great results.

[RBTKraisee]

Jeez, I just found a website out there where one lady got her Ghost White Toner and printer bundle in 2021 for $400. Now, just two years later, their lowest cost bundle is $900!

225% increase in 24 months?   That's totally ridiculous.

Ross.