where to find waterslide decal sheets locally...?

[mgwhit]

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.

[gtr2]

hobby shops that carry car models, rc cars, or model train stuff

[mgwhit]

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.

[thetrend77]

You can give Hobby Lobby a try, but I know the one near me doesn't carry it at all

[TNblueshawk]

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.

[mgwhit]

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!

[TNblueshawk]

What kind of biz is that mg?

[mgwhit]

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.

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

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.

[Meowy]

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

[mgwhit]

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.

[TNblueshawk]

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.

[mgwhit]

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.

[mgwhit]

Here's the disaster from this morning:



I tried another one a few minutes ago and it bled, too (although not as bad).  Gonna try again in the morning.

[shawnee]

Did you figure out what happened? How did the next batch come out?