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Erie L-1
Section Hand
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 Posted - 07/14/2012 : 11:24:40 AM
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Any advices for a good printer for decals and signs? Laser or ink jet? Marques and models?
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Country: Canada
| Posts: 53 |
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sgtbob
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 07/14/2012 : 11:58:14 AM
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Erie-L1 (I wish you had signed your name, much more personal)
I have three printers and I make decals all the time.
Assuming you have the proper paper for each type printer, here's my take:
1. HP Color LaserJet CP2025, general decals
2. Epson Stylus C66 ink jet, general decals
3. ALPS 5000 if I want to print white or metalics
I listed the makes and models because you ask but I really don't think it matters much.
Generally speaking, I like the decals I make on the ink jet over the ones made on the
laser (My opinion)
Can't print white or metalics on any other reasonably priced printed, ALPS.
(ALPS are no longer made but that can be found on Ebay)
Cheers,
Bob
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http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=30102&whichpage=1
http://www.freewebs.com/santmod/ |
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Country: USA
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Erie L-1
Section Hand
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Posted - 07/14/2012 : 12:28:51 PM
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Thanks Bob for the advices.
Jean
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Edited by - Erie L-1 on 07/14/2012 8:19:47 PM |
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Country: Canada
| Posts: 53 |
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Sean_OBrien
Engine Wiper
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Posted - 07/18/2012 : 07:55:14 AM
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Although you didn't mention it - and I am not sure if it is even something that had ever crossed your mind - but...
Laser Printers also offer the ability to create masks for brass etching. If you don't mind dealing with chemicals - it actually isn't difficult to do, and designing the masks is about the same difficulty as designing decals.
Also, for making the white decals - ALPS are great, but the last new one was built in Japan two or three years ago - and I think they stopped selling them in the US a year or two before that. Drivers are no longer supported, ink is getting more difficult to get and if something goes wrong with it...it is FUBAR (I have one with a bad control card which is headed to the dump once I hear back for certain from everyone that I know that there are no new control cards to be had).
A friend of mine figured out an interesting work around on that though. The white decal paper was sort of put out there as the fix for the issue - and it works - to a point. You would have to very carefully cut out the decal in order to remove the white areas you didn't want and keep the white areas you did want. PITA - especially if you have small decals or odd shapes. He had figured out a setting on his Silhouette SD which would cut through the film layer of the decal paper and leave the backing more or less in place. This allowed him to print full color on white paper, load the printed sheet into the Silhouette and then cut out the decal shapes based on a mask created from the original decal. The end result is very clean decals that have white where he wanted it. When he would go ahead and get ready to apply the decal, the two parts would separate in the water - the cutout part would be applied to the model and the extra parts would be picked out and tossed in the trash.
Hope that makes sense.
Considering how expensive the eBay Alps can be (last fall when the card went out on mine, I went looking for a replacement and the cheapest I managed to find was $500 for a refurbished one...NOS were going for well over $1000) - picking up a good color laser printer and a paper cutter like the Silhouette would likely be more cost effective.
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Erie L-1
Section Hand
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Posted - 07/20/2012 : 5:41:50 PM
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Thanks for the reply, I don't know too much about printers but if I remember well the laser printers cartridges are very expensive.
Jean
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