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Inkjet decals

I had previously posted a message on how well I liked the Micro Mark decal paper. This was the regular paper and I made the decals with my laser printer.

I have now tried their "inkjet" paper. I am NOT as thrilled with the inkjet paper. The results have fine reticulation in them. The reticulation is too visible for me, and similar to what I have observed on other "inkjet" papers. While the results may well depend on the brand of ink and printer, at least for me the results are not acceptable. Also, in patting the test decal down, I took off a little of the color, even though I had clearcoated the decal.

I will continue to use my old method for color decals. I print the design on a sheet of good quality glossy paper. I then take the printout and a sheet of decal paper to my local copy shop. They then copy the design on the decal paper. There are some copy shops who will not print on your paper, but many will. I find the Canon or Ricoh machines do a great job.

I will continue to use the Micro Mark paper because it nestles down and conforms to curves very well, and is quite strong. But I will just buy their regular paper, not the inkjet stuff.

An alternative is a color laser printer. I see the prices dropping rapidly, now at or just below $300. I may buy one soon.

Reply to
Don Stauffer
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I have had none of those problems with micro mark paper. Your printer settings may be the problem. I print a lot of larger 1" and up decals with large firleds of red and black and havent noticed any problems.Try the transparency setting. and highest quality.

Reply to
bigjim

Just a word of advice with regard to color lasers. Most manufacturers are lowering the cost by including toner that will only print 50 or so copies before they run out. The replacment toner (the full ones) are quite expensive. Also, some of these printers also have color drums that need replaced. Make sure you check the duty cycle of these drums. The printers that have disposable drums usually take at least half the toner in the original cartridge to fill these drums. What sounds cheap (300-400 dollars) winds up being $1000 in a very short amount of time. This is advice from someone who has paid the price for all of these bad assumptions. As I mentioned in a previous response I now have an Okidata C9000 and so far it has worked out well. I had serious bad luck with Xerox Phaser and HP Color lasers. TheOkidata's quality of color is remarkable, even on decals, and so far, the cost per copy has been reasonable. Unless you are doing a lot of printing, I would stick to outsourcing at a good copy centers and look for one with Okidata equipment.

Reply to
Count DeMoney

using a epson c66, my current inkjet printer and using "expert's choice" my curretn favorite decal film from "bare metal" works great, IMO. watch you settingswith your printer. ya want a "glossy" or "bright white paper", but probably not your "best" setting in the printer properties. do test decals on smaller pieces of paper, using the smaller paper setting to experiment.

Reply to
jack

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