I finally got the artwork for my Lola Phase from DEFx designed. It's in a massive 1550G enclosure, so I'm forgoing my normal etching style for a waterslide. I have some Lazertran laser waterslide paper from some earlier projects, and tried to use that. I had previously used the color printer at work, but since the office is closed, I went to a local Office Depot. Their printer ate two piece of my paper. I've been calling around to various print shops in my city, but no one knows how to print on it (and most don't even know what it is).
For those who print on waterslides, do you have any recommendations I could use to print them at a printing store?
In my experience with waterslides, anything bigger than 1590BB and I use the photopaper, glue-stick & ArmorAll method.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25BnW3aTU9I (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25BnW3aTU9I)
Quote from: Timko on May 26, 2020, 05:39:21 PM
For those who print on waterslides, do you have any recommendations I could use to print them at a printing store?
Can't really help with print shops, but I printed a few waterslides just yesterday on a HP Color Laserjet Pro MFP M281 FDW and was quite happy with the results. Build report to follow.
When ever I do water slide decals I do a test print on regular paper. First I mark the paper to see what side it prints on. Then I print the test page. I then cut the water slide paper and tape it over the test print with painters tape. I always cut the water slide a little bigger for two reasons. One so I have some thing to tape to, and two just Incase if misalignment. Once I have the water slide taped to the test print I put the paper back in the tray and reprint.
I can't say I've done a decal as big as you are planning but this method almost always works. I use a Samsung laser printer and usually don't change the settings on the printer at all. Once again this is a really big decal. The largest one I did was for a 1590DD and it worked just fine. I also did a 1790xx too.
I hope this helps.
-Mike-
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After quite a bit of research, I have determined the brand of laser waterslides I use (Lazertran) are for use with older laser printers that use fuser oil. Apparently more recently produced commercial/office printers use a different chemical.
https://theartfulcrafter.com/blog/lazertran-decals.html (https://theartfulcrafter.com/blog/lazertran-decals.html)
This article pointed to a brand of waterslide called Papilio, which I cannot find for the life of me. For those who use laser printers for printing waterslides, what brand of paper do you use? It's possible that I need to use something different than what I already own. For those printing laser waterslides, are you doing it at home, or are you taking it to a print shop?
Papilio products are available here, haven't tied them. They do also recommend HP printers.
https://duradecal.com/products/laser-clear-waterslide-sheets-8-5-in-x-11-in
dave
Quote from: Timko on May 29, 2020, 05:07:29 PM
After quite a bit of research, I have determined the brand of laser waterslides I use (Lazertran) are for use with older laser printers that use fuser oil. Apparently more recently produced commercial/office printers use a different chemical.
https://theartfulcrafter.com/blog/lazertran-decals.html (https://theartfulcrafter.com/blog/lazertran-decals.html)
Thanks for the heads up! I have an unopened pack of Lazertran waiting for me to finish the unbranded decal sheets I've been using. Now it looks like I'd better throw the Lazertran away.
Quote from: davent on May 29, 2020, 05:45:56 PM
Papilio products are available here, haven't tied them. They do also recommend HP printers.
https://duradecal.com/products/laser-clear-waterslide-sheets-8-5-in-x-11-in
dave
And on top of it, they recommend desktop (home) versions. Is there no waterslide paper that works on commercial paper?
Are you planning on doing color or is it going to be just a black graphic? If you are not doing a color graphic might I suggest an alternative. Reverse the image and iron it on like you would an etch. Then just leave it. Clear coat over it and voila! A transferred image that is tough as nails and looks like a silk screen. I've done this loads of times and it looks great and no one will know the better.
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It's in color. Because I only do waterslide graphics on large enclosures, they're normally colored designs.
After much struggle with Office Depot, we finally got them to print! Label setting with a 115lb paper weight did the trick. Too bad it took me 6 sheets of waterslide to figure that out :(.
Quote from: flanagan0718 on May 29, 2020, 07:33:09 PM
Are you planning on doing color or is it going to be just a black graphic? If you are not doing a color graphic might I suggest an alternative. Reverse the image and iron it on like you would an etch. Then just leave it. Clear coat over it and voila! A transferred image that is tough as nails and looks like a silk screen. I've done this loads of times and it looks great and no one will know the better.
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That's pretty good. Can you do colors or just black?
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I would suggest getting your image laser printed on datapol, especially for something that size.
What is datapol?
I ruined my first waterslide trying to apply it; more paper coming later today. Something this size is definitely going to take a lot of touch to apply.
Quote from: Timko on June 01, 2020, 02:18:55 PM
What is datapol?
I ruined my first waterslide trying to apply it; more paper coming later today. Something this size is definitely going to take a lot of touch to apply.
What if you did it in 2 halves? Maybe make them and then apply one, let it dry a little then apply the other. You would need to line them up but it may be easier and cheaper to do this. I've never tried it this way but it may be an option. Any hoo, sorry I couldn't be more help.
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No worries! I figured out a printer setting that worked and order 20 more sheets of waterslide. I think I can do this correctly, it's just going to take patience. Hopefully there will be a thread soon showing off the enclosure with the artwork on it!
Datapol is this stuff here:
https://everylabels.com.au/datapol-synthetic-white-labels
It's basically car sticker stuff, chemical/weather/everything proof, takes clearcoat like a champ, every build I've done in the last ~3 years has been done with it. I drill out my enclosures, cut a small corner of the backing off, hold the sticker against the enclosure up to the light so I can line the holes up to the labels, press that corner down, and then remove the backing while rubbing down the sticker. It's taken a bit of practice to get good at it, but it's the best method I've found so far.
Have a look for my builds in the build report, namely Hellboy, Megatron, Space Station, and Reactor for the largest, mist detailed graphics.