What printer for making decals. in the UK.

[chrisonord]

I am thinking about getting a new printer/scanner for making my own decals with, I don't want to fork out on an expensive one as nothing electrical seems to last too long in this house. What does everyone else use who makes their own decals, and what software would I also need.
Cheers.
Chris.

[pyro-manic]

I recently bought a Kodak C310 all-in-one printer. Haven't used it for decals yet, but I will, and it's great for everything else I've done with it so far. Much cheaper to run (ink costs) than most other brands as well. No special software needed - just whatever image editing program you prefer and the appropriate paper.

[rickshaw]

Are there any guides to printing decals around?

[markmarples]

i often make my own decals, infact my recent Atlantian builds have my own decasl on, i have a epsom sx205 printer / scanner and get cheap o ink

the key to making decals is the scaling, i have recently found a supplier of A4 decal paper so i can do most of the printing in microsoft word, if you want a guide let me know im doing one for my web site at the moment

any injet printer will do
decal paper
acrylic varnish

thats all you need!

[rickshaw]

i often make my own decals, infact my recent Atlantian builds have my own decasl on, i have a epsom sx205 printer / scanner and get cheap o ink

the key to making decals is the scaling, i have recently found a supplier of A4 decal paper so i can do most of the printing in microsoft word, if you want a guide let me know im doing one for my web site at the moment

any injet printer will do
decal paper
acrylic varnish

thats all you need!

A guide would be good.  I have the decal paper but lack the knowledge of how to do the process.

[PR19_Kit]

As markmarples says, scaling the image is the root of it all and you have to know how your software communicates with the hardware as a first step.

I use an HP Officejet 6310 All-in-One, it's about 4 years old now and still works a treat. For software I use equally old PaintShoPro 4 that cost nothing as it was freeware back then! I have a blank .bmp file archived that has the basic data printed in the top left hand corner so I don't forget it. That states the pixel/mm scale for the artwork that I put on the sheet and the paper size that PSP needs to output to the printer. In my case these figures are 7.85 pxl/mm and 180 mm paper width.

It takes a while, and quite a few sheets of A4 paper (ordinary printer paper, not more expensive decal paper) to get the sizes sorted out but you only have to do it once for the same printer/software combination.

[The Wooksta!]

Make sure the image resolution of anything you're printing is a minimum of 200dpi.  Anything lower than that will turn to pixelated mush.  What looks fine on a monitor won't print the same way. 

[chrisonord]

i used to have an Epsom sx 205, it went in the bin a few weeks back as it kept chewing the paper up and not doing what I asked it to do, just out of warranty too so off it went. I will look into the HP one though, as they seem to make good stuff.
Cheers,
Chris.

[Supertom]

Hi Chris,

I'm in the process of replacing my printer too, with an eye on some homemade decals to be printed on the side.  If possible, get an Epson inkjet - the DuraBrite inks are water resistant so they won't run when you brush or spray on the decal sealer, and since Epson does individual inks you only replace the one you run out of.

I'm currently using an HP at the moment and I'm encountering issues with both of the above.

[chrisonord]

Cheers for the heads up on the Epsom printers Tom, I just don't want a repeat of the lst one I had.
Chris.

[Weaver]

Hi Chris,

I'm in the process of replacing my printer too, with an eye on some homemade decals to be printed on the side.  If possible, get an Epson inkjet - the DuraBrite inks are water resistant so they won't run when you brush or spray on the decal sealer, and since Epson does individual inks you only replace the one you run out of.

I'm currently using an HP at the moment and I'm encountering issues with both of the above.

Actually, I'm encountering those issues with an Epson, although you've made me think now that it might be cheap non-standard inks that are to blame....

[thedarkmaster]

I use an epsom  all in one for my decals and find the best results with " Epsom" inks not generic ones.

[PR19_Kit]

I use H-P inks on the printer I mentioned above and they work fine with the Crazy Computer Co. paper and spray varnish that I use. The inks aren't cheap though and using generic inks show a distinct lack of quality compared to the H-P ones.

[MilitaryAircraft101]

I use a big office Laserjet printer. On another note, does anyone have an Alps? I'd like to have an image with white inside it, and I'm not willing to spend hours cutting out on the line.  Cheers 

[Green Dragon]

Don't have an Alps I'm afraid but I read on Britmodeller a while ago that Epson is supposed to be making white ink packs for their printers soon. Don't know if anything came of it?

Paul Harrison