How to get better decals printed...?

[Sam Cates]

I am looking at getting some decals made, my dinky deskjet just will not suffice. Who would I contact to have them printed so they look somewhat professional? I know there is a certain printer a lot of guys use but for the life of me, can't remember what it is called. Is there anyone here on the forum who would be interested in printing them for me? I would gladly do some trading or pay for them. Below is the set I had in mind. Let me know if any of you know who could do this for me!

I want Two of ^these^ at 7/8" wide x 1 1/8" long

And two of ^these^ at 1/2" wide (length to be determined by width)

[Drake69]

There are a couple of ways to do this...

1: buy laserjet decal paper and an Alps printer for well over $1000.

2: get someone here who has access to a decent color laserjet printer who makes decals to print it off for you.

3: buy laserjet decal paper and take it to Kinkos along with your graphic and pay them to print it for you.

4: invest in a better printer and decal sheets.

For the convenience, I would recommend either 2 or 3, preferrably Kinkos due to the quick turnaround time on printing what you need. But be sure your pictures are properly formatted in a Word document before doing it or you could waste your decal paper quickly.

EDIT: be warned about the Alps printer. They are no longer being made and the price I quoted is for a refurbished one I saw a month or so ago on eBay. Better conditioned Alps printers go much higher in cost than that!

Edited August 9, 2011 by Drake69

[Sam Cates]

Alps is what I was thinking of, not nearly cost effective for me...

I will check out Kinko's, and ask around here.

Thanks Allen

[sjordan2]

The big question is whether the artwork requires having some parts in white against colored background paint. Kinko's can't print white on clear decal paper, and the art needs to be specially prepared for an ALPS printer.

[Drake69]

Didn't know that about the Alps. Thanks!

[sjordan2]

Didn't know that about the Alps. Thanks!

I don't know exactly HOW ALPS art needs to be prepared, but I would imagine the white parts would have to be created as a separate file layer. My guess is it's something like silk screen printing, where a photoetched stencil would need to be created for laying down the white color (in silk screen, same goes for each different color). You'll note that the decals in some kits, such as the Dukes of Hazzard Charger, come in 2 stages, with the white decals to be laid down first, then the color parts applied over them.

This looks like a relatively easy-to-follow tutorial:

http://www.clubhyper...ustomDecals.htm

EDIT: The 2-stage General Lee decals I saw the other day may have been aftermarket.

Edited August 9, 2011 by sjordan2

[Repstock]

The ALPS gives you the choice of printing the white as an underlay, or you can print it seperate and have two part decals as mentioned above. $1000.00!!!! I got mine for $120.00 a few years ago, and it wasn't refurbished!!! Supply and demand, I guess...

[sjordan2]

I forgot to mention that today, most of the kind of stencils I was describing are laser-cut, providing incredibly fine detail. Over the years, I've received samples from printing houses with amazingly complicated lace patterns and once, even a spider web. It might be worth talking to a sign company or custom T-shirt shop to see what they can do for you if you want to use stencils to paint the white part. I'm sure it won't be cheap.

[Harry P.]

I suggest you post your request in the "Wanted" section.

[scalenut]

for the alps ,each color has to be a seperate layer , so even if you have the art, most cases the decal has to be completely redrawn anyway , but it sure helps big time to have this art and a size requirement.

I can do these, but my computer is down, won't be back up until next week sometime.

I'll check back than , to see if you still need them.

also if you want that lettering in gold foil ,, you almost need an alps,, Alps does more than just white

Edited August 9, 2011 by scalenut

[Aaronw]

This is the one alternative to an ALPS printer I am aware of

http://www.pulsarprofx.com/decalpro/

I have no personal experience with it, and have seen some mixed reviews from really good to works ok, but not great. Cargostar posted some info about a year ago from a friend who was trying it out. It will cost you more than the listed $89 unless you already have some of the required equipment (Lamination machine and a heat gun).

There are some custom printers out there, I've used diecast and decals and he did great work. the last I heard he was very backed up though so you might have to wait in line.

http://www.diecastanddecals.com/

As far as the ALPS printer they are awesome, but very delicate (so don't handle shipping or neglect well) and expensive. New they were about $1200, and you could get ones used for $400-600 before the ended production. I have no idea what the market for a used one looks like now that new ones are not available. You can get a good used one, but I would be very nervous doing so if I couldn't physically see it work and take it home myself. Lots of people are selling these with no idea what they actually have, how well it works or how to pack it for shipping (the print head has to be secured or it will move around and get damaged in transport).

You should use a vector based program (Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator) to get the best effect. ALPS print one color at a time so you need these programs to layer the artwork into colors. I guess you could get by with a program like MS Paint if you printed a seperate sheet for each color and layered the decal on, but that doesn't seem like a good idea to me, not only would the quality of the artwork be reduced, you would also end up with a rather thick decal.

There are some free vector based draw programs available, but I don't know of any to recommend.

[diymirage]

(had to edit out my post since my boy posted it and it made no sence)

Edited August 9, 2011 by diymirage

[Sam Cates]

Thanks guys for all the info!