I've managed to misplace my last sheet of laser printer waterslide decal, and I'd really like to finish some enclosures this weekend. I've never found it looking at Staples or Office Depot. Are there any kinds of places that carry this stuff? I can't imagine that you can only find it online.
UPDATE: Hobby Lobby has something they call "Image Art Waterslide Transfer Paper", but it sounds strange. They describe it as "for glass" and mention that it produces "beautiful sepia tone results once fired"! They also mention that it is "designed for laser printers with iron oxide toner". I have no idea what kind of toner my HP uses.
hobby shops that carry car models, rc cars, or model train stuff
Yeah, I think I'm gonna be spending some time on the phone tonight or tomorrow. Thanks.
For the record, further searching seems to suggest that that stuff at Hobby Lobby is for transferring images onto ceramic or glass. Doesn't sound like standard waterslide decal stuff, but it's cheap enough that I might give it a try.
You can give Hobby Lobby a try, but I know the one near me doesn't carry it at all :(
Good question. I used to try and just gave up. There is a train store near me but they are always out of everything so I never call them any more. But they did tell me if they had it in stock they do carry water slide decals. See if you can locate one wherever you are at.
The Hobby Lobby near me did sell something different than what you describe but I never tried it.
I found a place called Scale Reproductions here in Louisville that normally carries it, but only has white (not clear) in stock right now. I just put put in a SmallBear order and threw in a few sheets. Looks like I won't be finishing any enclosures this weekend....
Gonna have to work on one of my FIVE new boards instead!
What kind of biz is that mg?
It's a model/hobby shop, but they seem to concentrate on remote controlled vehicles. Most places like that knew what I was talking about, but no one else had anything in stock.
In the meantime I made some steady progress putting the resistors on a new EgoDriver board and a guitarpcb.com EA Tremolo.
This is a great request, I had the same a few months ago. I rode around to almost all places locally I could think of and no one would print, or had any advice about them. The places that knew refused to print water-slides through their laser printer and told me the companies that sold them the printers told them not to ever try. It's funny to me that I had no luck when so many people online are doing it very well.
I indavertantly bought 5 sheets of white inkjet decal sheets when I meant to buy clear sheets. If anyone wants them, I paid $7.75 and will turn them around for the same. Just PM if interested
Well, I managed to get my hands on some InkJet clear waterslide sheets today from another model shop, and just took them over to my parents' place and used their InkJet printer. Crisis averted, and I can finish enclosures tonight and tomorrow for four of my finished boards (Mudbunny, FatPants, Thunderpuss and Aristocrat). That recent thread about boards you've never gotten around to finishing really lit a fire under my rear end. I've had these populated for months, and I've played them all through my test rig, but I really need to get these into enclosures soon!
bigmufffuzzwizz: The first time I tried to get anyone to print laser printer waterslides for me, I went to Staples and they gave me the gas face. The Kinko's/FedEx near my house has always let me do it -- I just ask them to do it on a printer that hasn't been busy lately and isn't too warm. If I'm just doing black graphics I do it on my home (non-color) laser printer.
I've probably printed 75 sheets and never had an issue. I think a major key is not having the printer hot.
Mg you've had one productive weekend.
Hasn't been as productive as I hoped. Even with two (very light, apparently too light) coats of clear and drying overnight my first decal bled like a stuck pig the second it hit the water. I put several more coats of clear on the remaining decals this morning, and will try again tonight.
For the record, I've never had any bleeding at all with laser printer decals -- even the one time I forgot to clear coat them.
Here's the disaster from this morning:
(http://matthewwhitworth.com/fxbox2011/runny-decal.jpg)
I tried another one a few minutes ago and it bled, too (although not as bad). Gonna try again in the morning.
Did you figure out what happened? How did the next batch come out?
So, over 40 hours after printing and 24 hours after laying on the last of six (6!) coats of Krylon Clear Gloss, my last InkJet decals bled within about 15 seconds of hitting the water. I will never use InkJet decals again.
Sorry to hear that. :(
I would try something other than the krylon to clear coat with. I would try polycrylic instead. I only use laser stuff but I don't think krylon clear coats quite enough even with a lot of light coats.
Josh
Thanks! I've got some clear gloss enamel that I've used successfully (with laser printer decals) before. Maybe I'll give that a try today. Have to print another sheet of LaserJet decals first, though. Fingers crossed that SmallBear gets my order with the laser printer sheets out today....
FWIW, I never clearcoat laser waterslides. I tried it once and I had a harder time sliding the decal on properly.
josh
I am floored mg. I've used inkjets for about 8 months now and have not had a single one bleed as it hit the water. I'm afraid I'm going to have to call out the decals you got maybe as a defective product :-\
I can tell you my process and that is all I know (although many folks at BYOC use ink jet without issue, once the learning curves is obtained of course and they sort of had their own routine. I learned from this sticky http://www.buildyourownclone.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=8896).
I print, let dry 24 hours. Spray testors decal applier (I've used Rustoleum clear gloss too without issue on this first coat). Wait 15 minutes, light coat of Rustoleum clear gloss. Wait 15 minutes, final third coat a little heavier right up to the point of a gloss look (as opposed to the orange peel look).
Let dry 24 hours.
What kind of drying times did you use for both after you printed it and then before you stuck it in the water?
Quote from: gtr2 on October 10, 2011, 04:38:30 PM
FWIW, I never clearcoat laser waterslides. I tried it once and I had a harder time sliding the decal on properly.
josh
Me too. I only clearcoat once the laser graphic is applied and has dried for 24hours.
TNblueshawk, it may well have been crappy technique on my part, and I'll admit I was wondering if any InkJet users would actually raise their hands on this thread. I printed the decals and only let them dry for about 2-3 hours before I put on the first two coats of Krylon clear gloss. After that I let them dry for about 18 hours before I made my first attempts. After that I sprayed more Krylon and waited another 24 hours.
I never used any decal setting fluid, so that may have been my first mistake. If that's an absolute requirement for InkJet decals then I certainly didn't follow the instructions.
I had a partial sheet left and managed to print out another decal. I was going to clear coat it with enamel tomorrow, but if decal setting fluid is a requirement I might as well wait for my laser printer sheets to arrive.
Thanks, everyone, for piping in!
I have decal setting fluid but I've never used it. I got it after I started using white water slide decal backs (since I was tired of white pedals) and those are so easy you don't need the setting fluid.
The 18 hours is surely enough time. Not sure if spraying after a few hours of printing would really matter. The reason I wait overnight after printing is for fear of it running when I put the clear coat on, but if that didn't happen I wouldn't think that would matter. I honestly can't think for the life of me what the deal is. If you got a couple of clear coats over the top it can't leak...but....
Let me ask this. How did you cut out the decal? With scissors or blade or xacto knife? You must use scissors for a couple reasons. One, is the xacto will drag that decal/lacquer and tear some. If it does tear I could see water getting up under the edge of the decal and then working its way under the lacquer. I think when using scissors the action of cutting sort of pinches the lacquer and the paper together forming a sort of bond. The only bleeding I ever have is on an occastional edge, but you just wipe that up as it runs. Even then it is just a drop or two as I proceed to get out the bubbles. But that happens less than 5% of the time.
Another thing you could do if the edges are an issue is cut out the decal first and then spray the lacquer as this will seal the edge. I have not done this except in testing and it came out fine.
I know it is a long link, but you could compare what you did with that link I posted above. The money part is on pg 1 towards the middle on Subbacultua's note dated Dec 26, 2006. There are also some great do's and don'ts peppered in that link too.
Busted! I used a hobby knife to cut the decals this time -- always used scissors in the past, but wanted straighter edges.
Thanks for the link to that article. I read it over lunch today. There were several parts in there that made me groan out loud when I read them (including the scissors vs x-acto bit) because of my own fairly casual approach.
Well, if that is it then cool. At least you know going forward should you want to give the waters a shot again. You would think that xacto, being so sharp and all, is the way to go. I was like you. I still tried the xacto with a ruler for that straight line and it pulled the lacquer on me. So I said forget it. I guess I'm glad it did or it sounds like that water would have leaked under on me.