Best inkjet printet/ink for decals

[John R]

I have a Canon MG5350 which is fine for printing black decals but when I tried to print the red stripes for the fuselage on my prototype Phantom they looked OK on the decal sheet but when transferred to the grey fuselage they turned out to be semi-transparent and looked awful. I ended up printing on white decal paper with a grey surrounding the red. It sort of worked but was not really satisfactory.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234982036-prototype-phantom-f4h-1-172/

Are there other printer/ink combinations that work better, giving a more solid colour on a clear decal sheet? I can't believe that I am alone with this problem - maybe I am doing something wrong. If so, please help!

John

[Black Knight]

I've had different makes of ink jet printers and they all lay down the colour thinnly.

Two things you could try;

Tweaking the print settings. I've found with one of my printers I get denser colours by printing as for a photograph. ie setting the printer on 'photo paper' and 'best' quality.

I've not tried this one yet; put the paper through for a second printing. It needs care and a good accurate printer so the new second layer goes exactly on top of the first.

[alan1302]

You can alwas put two decals on to boost the colours as well

[roymattblack]

You will never get dense colours using clear decal film as all inkjet inks are transparent and depend on white paper for density.

Try printing on something even as light as cream paper - the colours come out wrong. Only black prints well on clear film.

A laser printer will give better decals on clear film - still not 'perfect' - but the resolution won't be as good as a decent inkjet.

For something like coloured stripes, print them on white decal film and cut close to the stripe edge.

The only other solution is an ALPS printer - hens teeth now and blinkin' expensive, or a thermal transfer ribbon printer - also somewhat 'pricey' and not very high quality...

Roy.

Edited October 20, 2015 by roymattblack

[willie fixit]

morning all, the trick i use is to spray paint white decal paper to whatever colour i want then cut it to what size you need,works well for pinstriping,as it's paint it's stronger than printing ink,this works for me

[viscount806x]

I've succesfully printed decals on our Canon MX7600 for what it's worth. Nice solid reds and blues too.

[John R]

Thanks. I'll check it out

[little-cars]

Don;t forget different decal papers can give different results especially with inkjets.

Paul

[Pin]

I use Canon Pixma 6500 for my decals

But I agree with what has been said above - it is not possible to get good red on gray neither with ink nor with laser printer on transparent film.

I would suggest using white decal paper instead

Example - cheatline, cockpit windows and airline logo are printed on clear, the tail flag - on white decal paper/film

[John R]

Canon MX7600 and Canon Pixma 6500

Are these still available? When I googled them I found none for sale, only inks. If not, what are their present equivalents?

John

[shood23]

Could these also work with a canon pixma 2950

Shaun

[Marin]

Hello

I would also join to this topic with one question about custom decal print.

I tried to print some decal art designed in Corel on Testors decal paper and some no name paper (both for inkjet printer) with Epson L365.

Problem is same with all combination of printer settings - ink doesn't adhere/spread to paper evenly, but sets up in "little drops" . Anyone knows the solution?

[John R]

Which settings were you using. i.e. photo printing, plain paper etc. and which resolution .i.e dpi did the originsl have?

Edited January 6, 2016 by John R

[Marin]

Regarding origin resolution, it is vector drawing so there should be no problems with resolution.

I tried all printer setting combination that Epson printing software have - photo/glossy paper, plane paper, high quality, medium quality...

and result is same. Ink just doesn't spread evenly. In high quality settings printer uses more ink but result is same.

All other printing (text documents, photos, etc...) on this printer (Epson L365) is OK.

[Giorgio N]

Your problem may be due to the paper being not able to absorb the ink properly. I've had this problem before on a decal paper sheet that was quite old, no matter what I tried the ink did not adhere. Some improvement can be achieved by rubbing the decal paper with a rubber eraser but it may or not sort the problem completely

[CliffB]

Hello

I would also join to this topic with one question about custom decal print.

I tried to print some decal art designed in Corel on Testors decal paper and some no name paper (both for inkjet printer) with Epson L365.

Problem is same with all combination of printer settings - ink doesn't adhere/spread to paper evenly, but sets up in "little drops" . Anyone knows the solution?

My suspicions lie with the printer ink.

For years I printed decals with no problems using a Canon inkjet. I then changed to a Kodak and was always having beading problems, no matter what I did. Just changed to an HP (but haven't tried any decals yet!)

Interesting to hear how others get on with Epson?

Cliff

[John R]

I tried your picture on my Canon and it was OK.

I looked up the spec for the Epson L365 and it says it uses Dye ink. Other epson printers use Claria Photo ink. I think that Dye ink is a different animal to normal inkjet colour ink. Perhaps someone else can tell us more.

John

[Paul @ Parkes682Decals]

Hi All

I use Epsons,i have 8 of them best on the market for decals

Admittingly,i specialise in custom decals and have the worlds only white,silver,gold inkjets along with colour.

The inks you buy are the cheapest,you have to buy better quality inks.

Decal paper is the same,you get what you pay for.

Paul

Parkes682Decals

[John R]

Is there one model you could recommend which would double as a good photo printer/decal printer that would not break the bank?

John

[Paul @ Parkes682Decals]

Hi John

I have a DX3850 which is 17 years old for drawing/printing artworkon paper it uses standard cartridges and compatilbles from N&J Inkjet really cheap 5 sets for £12.79 it keeps the costs down on drawing stuff up.

Yes its 17 years old,and i still can get ink cartridges for it.

I have a SX-115 "The worlds only A4 white inkjet" i developed it myself it uses special white ink from JPNL

Not available to the public im afraid.

R200 and R245 to do the decals again with JPNL inks (much higher quality inks)

Also a Canon MP280 its "The worlds only Silver and Gold A4 Inkjet" with JPNL inks.

This technogly is not readly available to the general public due to restrictions on its use.

But if you want to print your own decals ,which will be very grainy due to the inks you can well anybody can.

But the Quality will not be there,theres only so much a normal inkjet can do.

The technogly i use is cutting edge and is protected due to restrictions it carry's.

There is only so much i can tell you.

Paul

Parkes682Decals

[John R]

Thanks Paul

[Marin]

@Paul

OK, Paul I respect Your cutting edge inks.

As I said, for this print that I post in example I used Epson L365 with original Epson ink provided in printer pack (it is ciss printer) and original Testors paper.

Regarding no name paper I admit Your suggestion about low quality.

Original Testors paper is also in low quality category?

What paper do You suggest?

I think that problem is most likely in ink, because I printed before on other Canon and Epson printers, on both before mentioned papers, and got satisfying results.

Unfortunately, I don't plan to use other than original inks for 365, because printer is under guarantee.

Thank You

[Hotel Papa]

What you could try: Brush flow enhancer on the decal paper first, let it dry, then print. If this results in the ink spreading out, try thinning the flow enhancer.

A shot in the dark, but worth a try.

[shood23]

Ok so what paper that any Joe can buy do people suggest as I'm doing one of those airfix quick build mclarens but taking a longer approach and making it look proper just it comes with normal stickers so I have scanned them into the computer ready to reprint as decals just I don't want to buy a brand of paper that won't work and like Martin I use a standard canon printer with normal inks in photo mode.

Shaun

[ChocksAway]

Ink splatter: I've had this problem in the past. I have an Epson PhotoPx730WD inkjet and use cheap internet inks from a third party supplier together with pretty cheap decal paper (<£1/sheet). How did I reduce the problem - by using this set-up ...

1. I cut the decal paper to about 20% larger than the required size and use masking tape to apply to backing paper (usually plain A4) - I tape it on all sides and across whole length and width

2. Set printer to Epson Premium Glossy Paper / Best Photo / Photo enhance / Photo RPM (max dpi) / High Speed OFF / Edge Smoothing OFF

It's possible you may need to use thicker backing paper. My suspicion - okay guess - is that the problem is caused by the paper being too far away from the nozzles for the photo settings (i,e, it's expecting a specific paper thickness). Not being an airbrusher, I guess you might see similar problems if you get airbrush head too close to the model for the pressure being used?

I don't think I've completely cured the problem, but it's much better than it was. As I sometimes use scanned images, that may have an impact when comparing with "solid" colour.

Also I think some decal papers go "off" with age. The ones I currently use - "Lucky Rose"** don't seem to have this problem as they appear to work as well as when I first opened them quite a while ago (12 months plus).

** I can only see this brand advertised here now - I think I may have originally found them on that well known named jungle supplier, but it looks like no longer stocked. Sorry that doesn't help the cause much, but the fact it's available for wholesale purchase means it is still being made! The dodgy edges to the decals in the model beliw is just my lack of cutting and finishing skills (on a par with the painting and joining ones!)

Here's an example of decals based on images culled from the web - all printed on white paper for the reasons already much talked about

Where you need to support a light colour, you can either

(a) print on white and trim to the edges

( print on white and edge the required decal outline with background paint colour to blend in (I found very difficult, but depends a lot on the size of decal and where it sits on the model)

© use the decal to create an all white version shape that you can then sit underneath - the top decal can then be printed on clear - this tends to be quite thick as two decals, both of which have been clear lacquered. I've tried putting straight white third party decal paper on a model without lacquer but I could never get it to stop wrinkling up / folding!

(d) use the decal shape to create a "negative mask" (i,e, cut-out) that you can then use to paint white on the model and then overlay clear based decal on top.

Hope this is of some help.