Laser Printer for decals?

[Larry Renger]

What laser printer will do decal paper without burning it? I have run stuff through Kinkos and failed horribly due to the excess heat their printers use. I have a suspicion that Brothers printers also run too hot, as they tend to curl the paper.

The other issue I keep finding on their reviews is lousy color control. I want to be able to get accurate renditions of my desired decals.

I already have an excellent inkjet printer, so please, NO comments about using inkjet.  If you can't contribute useful information, SHUT UP!  Too many people just want to see their name in print. I have seen a lot of "Well, I don't know anything about this, but..." type of comments.  And if you want to discuss THAT topic, start a separate thread.

[Alan Resinger]

Larry,
I bought a Samsung CLP 315 laser just for the purpose of making decals.  It was relatively inexpensive and does a pretty fair job.  the trick with printing decals with a laser is to do one sheet at a time and turn the printer on just before you intend to print. After printing a sheet you want to turn it off and let it cool down.  If you don't you'll get just what happened at Kinkos.  Most of those places won't let you print on anything but their paper for that reason.  I use decal paper from an outfit down in Florida that Phil Granderson put me onto.
Hope this helps.
Alan Resinger

[Douglas Ames]

Here's a link. Good info on "White color" laser printing.

http://www.decalpaper.com/category-s/3.htm

[Larry Renger]

Thanks for the link. It has a very interesting point. They say to print immediately after turning thr printer on to keep the paper from melting onto the platen. Hmmm, it seems to me that is what happened at Kinkos. They do not make any specific recommendations as to machine brand, which is what I need.

[ptg]

Hi Larry,

The best printers I have found for printing decals are Lexmark and Oki.  I belive the Lexmark is made by Oki.  They are not laser printers.  They are LED printers.  They do run hot but that is not a big deal when you use a good quality paper.  Either brand has inexpensive models that will work well for printing decals. 

Now for decal paper.  The best I have found is Bel Decal.  They sell both laser and inkjet paper.  What I have found and have been using for the past few years is the Inkjet paper in my Lexmark LED printer.  The colors seem to go on more evenly using Inkjet than they do laser paper.  The printer software will have a variety of settings for color saturation, paper thickness, type of paper etc.  In general the best settings for me have been:
1.   Bond paper for paper type
2.   Full saturation for color setting

You will have to experiment with the various printer settings to get the right color density which will depend what the base color paint you are applying the decal over.  I always use clear decal paper and have only limited experience with white. 

Finally, when using these LED printers it is not necessary to coat the decal before submersing it in water and applying it your plane.  The decal film is very thin but quite durable.  I have actually removed decals and repositioned them without tearing the film. Decals work best when applied to a very smooth painted surface.  To get this I always spray a couple of coats of clear dope thinned enough to produce a very shinny surface only in the places where the decal is to be applied.  Once applied and positioned I use a piece of tissue (Kleenex etc.) to squeegee out the bubbles and excess water.  When completely dry, usually at least 12 hours spray several coats of clear dope over each decal sanding the edges lightly after the second coat until they (edges) disappear which usually happens on the third or fourth coat.  Also, there is no need to mist on coats, in fact it actually works better if you put on wet coats over the decals.  I only use dope for under and over coats of decals.

For an indication of how good this method can work see the thread in the electric section “Attitude” which is my latest plane.  It is difficult to tell the decals from the paint even when you are close up.
Good luck and hope this helps

[Randy Cuberly]

Hi Larry,

The best printers I have found for printing decals are Lexmark and Oki.  I belive the Lexmark is made by Oki.  They are not laser printers.  They are LED printers.  They do run hot but that is not a big deal when you use a good quality paper.  Either brand has inexpensive models that will work well for printing decals. 

Now for decal paper.  The best I have found is Bel Decal.  They sell both laser and inkjet paper.  What I have found and have been using for the past few years is the Inkjet paper in my Lexmark LED printer.  The colors seem to go on more evenly using Inkjet than they do laser paper.  The printer software will have a variety of settings for color saturation, paper thickness, type of paper etc.  In general the best settings for me have been:
1.   Bond paper for paper type
2.   Full saturation for color setting

You will have to experiment with the various printer settings to get the right color density which will depend what the base color paint you are applying the decal over.  I always use clear decal paper and have only limited experience with white. 

Finally, when using these LED printers it is not necessary to coat the decal before submersing it in water and applying it your plane.  The decal film is very thin but quite durable.  I have actually removed decals and repositioned them without tearing the film. Decals work best when applied to a very smooth painted surface.  To get this I always spray a couple of coats of clear dope thinned enough to produce a very shinny surface only in the places where the decal is to be applied.  Once applied and positioned I use a piece of tissue (Kleenex etc.) to squeegee out the bubbles and excess water.  When completely dry, usually at least 12 hours spray several coats of clear dope over each decal sanding the edges lightly after the second coat until they (edges) disappear which usually happens on the third or fourth coat.  Also, there is no need to mist on coats, in fact it actually works better if you put on wet coats over the decals.  I only use dope for under and over coats of decals.

For an indication of how good this method can work see the thread in the electric section “Attitude” which is my latest plane.  It is difficult to tell the decals from the paint even when you are close up.
Good luck and hope this helps

Hey Phil,
That's great info...Thanks a bunch!

Randy Cuberly

[Larry Renger]

Interesting indeed! I never heard of a LED printer before. I'll have to look into it. Thanks!

[Howard Rush]

Would people please post model numbers of printers known to work?  I bought an HP CP1025nw because somebody told me that HP printers work.  The HP CP1025nw doesn't.  Bob Reeves reports that the Minolta 3100 color laser printer works on either laser or ink jet decal paper. 

[Phil Krankowski]

This is probably less than helpful.

http://www.alps-printer.com/index.php

...fast becoming unobtanium.  No I don't have one.  

This company appears to provide the service of printing from digital file too.  Says email for information.

Phil

[Larry Renger]

Thanks to Phil's advice we are looking at the OKI MC562w printer. It looks like it handles pass-through printing too, so you can print directly on Balsa!!!    Not cheap at $800, but 5000 copies per cartridge has a lot going for it.  Anyone out there with experience on this particular printer?

[Tim Wescott]

I have heard -- and noticed on one example that I tried -- that the colors on inkjet decals, particularly red, fade in the sun.

What's the experience of the laser printer folks?  I'm sure that to some extent it depends on brand, but in general do the laser-printed colors fade, or not?

[Phil Krankowski]

the OKI website does not indicate printing on non-paperlike materials
http://www.okidata.com/printers/multifunction/mc362-562

Bonus if it will though.

Glad to be of some help, I looked for making a couple sheets of water slide a few months ago, and decided it was out of my league.

Phil

[FLOYD CARTER]

My experience trying to make water-slide decals with special paper;   it was necessary to tape the special material to a piece of 8 1/2 X 11 bond paper that would grind its way through my Canon 560S ink jet printer.  The feed mechanism would not accept that double thickness, only scrunching up the paper and jamming the works.

There must be a better way?

Floyd

[Tim Wescott]

Floyd, different printers handle this stuff differently.  Mine works fine (it's an HP Inkjet something or other).  If you're shopping for printers, look for ones that allow "pass-through" printing -- those will let you feed cardboard and keep it perfectly flat, at the expense of having to hand-feed stuff from the back of the printer.

I used to have such a printer -- I could print tissue paper then cover a model with it.