ALPS PRINTED DECALS

[ROY AVERY]

CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN ALPS PRINTED DECALS ?

[Harry P.]

Alps is a specific brand of printer that can print colors, plus white... so you can print decals that include white as part of the design on clear decal paper. A "regular" printer doesn't have white ink, so if the decal you want has white as part of the design you'd have to print on white decal paper and trim the decal exactly around the edge of the image. The problem is, Alps printers are no longer being sold here (I think).

[ROY AVERY]

CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN ALPS PRINTED DECALS ?

DO THEY APPLY THE SAME?

[Harry P.]

I guess so. It's still decal paper you're printing on, so they would apply the same way.

[Jon Cole]

It cannot be emphasized enough, the ALPS printers are no longer in production! What is available (afaik) is refurbished units.

Then you need to consider the print ribbons. Yes, ribbons. They apparently do not use ink. Plus, replacing a ribbon is not quite as easy as running down to your local Staples. I believe they are purchased overseas. I don't own an ALPS, so others can supply more details.

[capsgs]

Alps printers are still available new, but you would have to order it from New Zealand. It will cost you about $900 us. Supplies are still available, but are expensive. There are a couple of distributors in the US that carry supplies. You can purchase a used machine for between $350 and $550, depending on the model,but it's buyer beware. These machines are very finicky and prone to problems if not cared for properly. Also there is a quite steep learning curve in the use of these machines and the graphics software to draw the decals. However if your up to the challenge the results can be quite rewarding.

Cap

[Aaronw]

As Harry said ALPS is just a brand name. If you just want to know about using them, then yes, for the most part they are like any other decal.

One big difference is they are printed on a continuous sheet of decal film, so you need to trim it close to the decal. Most kit decals only have film right around the actual decal.

Most of the ALPS printed decals I've bought are on a very thin decal film, so you have to be careful applying the decal. Since each person making decals can buy whatever decal film they choose, this is not universal, you may find someone using a thick film.

With that, probably way more than you wanted to know follows.

An ALPS is a dry printer that uses ribbons to deposit a waxlike material on the paper. It requires several different ribbons to do all of its stuff.

New ALPS printers are available, they are not remanufactured or made from left over parts. ALPS just stopped marketing and selling the printers to the US. They even make them with USB ports and drivers compatable at least through Windows XP (don't know about Vista or 7).

If you really want one I can recommend ALPS Supplies in New Zealand, good prompt service.

http://www.alps-supplies.com/

He has a whole page about the current status of the printers.

The printers are not cheap, and since you are buying overseas the price fluctuates, today they run about $950 US, I saw it as high as $1100 when the dollar was really down last year, it was around $800 when I bought mine 2 years ago. Add to this about $200 for shipping and another $200-300 for supplies to get you set up for awhile (how long depends on how often you print).

To get the most from the printer you will need 9 different ribbons cyan, yellow, magenta, black, white, silver, silver foil, gold, and gold foil. The foil ribbons are very shiny like chrome, the regular metal colors are duller, more like paint. The printer only comes with 4 ribbons (1 ea Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black). Each ribbon costs about $20 (+/- depending on type). The ribbons don't go nearly as far as they do on an inkjet or laser printer, a couple dozen pages is suposed to be a good average, so you could be looking at $5-10 per 8.5x11" sheet printed just for the ink.

You can find ALPS printers on Ebay, but many people do not know what they have, how well it works, how much life it has left or how to properly ship it. The printer will be destroyed it the print head is allowed to travel during shipping. Some people are outright crooks and will sell you a damaged machine and claim it worked great when they had it. There are lots of horror stories of people spending $300-500 for a boat anchor. Many think their several generations old, or worn out printer is a rare wonder and will try to get almost as much for it as you can spend on a new one. I've seen people selling the ribbons "buy it now" for $100 when you can buy them for $20 from most suppliers. If you decide to go the Ebay route be careful and make sure you know what you are getting.

The printers are tempermental, easily damaged, and absolutely worthless for run of the mill printing (unless you don't mind using a slow printer with expensive ink), so don't try to justify the expense by subtracting the cost of a new inkjet printer.

The print head has a life of 3000-4000 sheets, then you have to get it replaced at the factory which is not cheap. (this is a lifetime of normal personal use, they are very specific that their printers are not intended for commercial use).

There are decals that you can make better and cheaper with a laser or inkjet printer.

I guess this all sounds pretty bad, where the ALPS shines is its ability to print white and metallic decals. Other printers make transparent decals, so the underlying color shows through altering the color of the decal. The ALPS prints a layer of white under the color layer so you can use your decal on any color background. Unlike using white decal film, the ALPS only puts the white under the decal.

Making decals isn't everybodies thing though, I would strongly suggest you try making decals with a regular printer first to see if it is something you really want to do. Many of the good deals people have found on ebay tend to be from those who bought a printer first then discovered they didn't like making decals.

I would also suggest buying Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator or a similar vector based drawing program and learning to use it before deciding to buy an ALPS. These drawing programs will allow you to make the good quality art work you will need for good quality decals. There is not much point in buying a fancy printer if your artwork is going to be rough edged and fuzzy.

I love my printer and have had fun making decals, but I would not recommend someone buy one without giving it a lot of thought first. I build a lot of stuff that needs custom decals and could easily spend $100-200 a year for decals, so for me the cost was a worthwhile investment.

If you actually made it this far, and have any other questions feel free to ask.

[djway3474]

Not sure if this was mentioned above but the alps inks tend to react with quite a few clears. I coat all of my alps decals with future before application to avoid reaction problems.

[Drago]

I would like to thanks all people but specially Aaron for his complete, objective and enlightening reply.

It was very useful to me! Thanks!

[Casey]

I purchased an ALPS printer ten years ago, and it was definitely very finicky. Since each different color (magenta, cyan, yellow, black, and white) are is printed in it's onw layer, you have to plan out the colors before you print so that the lighter colors don't get darkened by the darker colors. Plus, the decal sheet must remain in the printer and not slip out of position until all colors are finished printing- one slip and you have to start over.

Once I got the hang of it, I was able to print some really great 1/16th scael F/C decals, and using Photoshop I was able to get great resolution, too.

The printer turned out to be more of a hassle than it was worth for me, so I sold it for about what I paid- $450 or so, IIRC.

I used Tango Papa clear decal sheets are they worked great.

Edited December 24, 2009 by Casey

[PatRedmond]

BOTH of these were done with ALPS style decals. Only the base colors of paint were painted (Orange on the Dodge and black on the Chevy)

In the hands of a good artist, ALPS decals can be great. MANY NASCAR odd schemes are done by ALPS guys

[limoman39]

This question is for Aaron,

(Very enlightening post by the way)

I have a decal sheet that I created with Corel Draw4, I have had no luck in printing these decals using my inkjet printer.

Would you be willing or would you know of someone that would print this sheet for me using an Alps Printer?

I have considered purchasing one for myself but I do not know if I would do enough with it to justify the cost.

Thought if I could find someone that I could pay to do this when I need it might be better...

Thanks to everyone on this site, it is truly a wealth of info!!!

Rick

[Aaronw]

Unfortunately it is not as simple as just printing the decals. The artwork has to be layered for each color which can be time consuming (and not something I have much of).

I can recommend diecast and decals as a custom printer. I bought some decals from him before I got the printer, he does nice work. If you don't have a large need for custom decals (and it takes a lot to match the cost of buying a printer), he is a great alternative to buying your own printer.

http://www.diecastanddecals.com/

I see he is on vacation, right now and obviously getting backed up on orders listing a 6-8 week turnaround. The fact you already have the artwork may speed things up. He walked me through my first set of decals, which was a great help in learning more about designing decals. It also moved things along since he just had to tell me what to fix then print when it was already to go.