I know there was a thread somewhere that talked about this, but for the life of me I can't find it--even tried the search engine but no luck.

Anyway, I've heard some people talking about putting window decals on their cars. I stumbled upon this while browsing through Amazon.com so I thought I'd post it here.

Might be worth a try.http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00002Z754/ref=pd_sim_electronics/102-8751572-6792134

Amanda

Akj, Looks interesting. I think that removable window decals might appeal to folks around Election time. Might be a good idea to contact the local Offices of the major political parties plus any of the non-dangerous fringe dwelling political parties and let them know that these are avaliable. Plus printing bumpersticker type messages on them might bring in some business as well. Tom

Hi Tom

Good idea about the bumper stickers. I think the same company that makes the decals product also makes bumper sticker paper for ink-jet printers. I know I saw it on Amazon somewhere.

Amanda

Let's not stop there guys. I put removeable window stickers in my windows every Christmas and Thanksgiving. How about home decorations personalized for the holiday seasons. I don't remember this suggestion in any other threads but I know there was a what to do for up coming holiday thread that this reply would fit under also. Great find Amanda.
DJ

All good ideas. Halloween might be another good one. People around here decorate pretty heavily for it.

Ed

Another thought just came to me. How 'bout a decal "I survived _________ High - 2002" for the graduates?

Ed

Great find Amanda! Thanks for passing it on. -Jeanie

Well this one has me stumped...if using the decals for outside and printing them off an inket printer, how do they withstand moisture without the ink running off them?

Chris,

I'm not sure just what the process was, but we had decals printed to put on the doors of our truck. I know it was printed on a computer printer, but I'm not sure if it was an inkjet or not. Also, like I said, I'm not familiar with the process, but they've been on the truck for about three years (maybe four), and they still look great.

Ed

Chris W., I think these are the kind that are placed on the inside of the window rather than on the outside. I have seen those type before and they can be applied and removed very easily with no residual mess. Tom

oh okay Tom,

Guess this slow thingking country life is rubbing off on me..LOL.

I thought perhaps that was the case but just checking to see if everyone is thinking as hard as I am today!

This is something I've been interested in as well but my problem has been finding good materials for ink jet. I'm looking for some white interior window cling stock and white exterior adhesive stock - if you know of a good source, please let me know.

I intend to print a 3 color decal with my Epson Photo 1270. Ideally I'd like to find sheets with 2.75 or 3 inch pre-cut circles. For the exterior adhesive, vinyl would be nice. If not pre-cut, I'd need either a die cutter (expensive) or some sort of reliable circle cutter.

I have seen some weather proofing sprays to use for inkjet but don't know how reliable they are or cost effective. Had also though I could distribute the decal along with a square sheet of some clear 'weather proof' material to apply over it after application to a window or bumper.

Alternately, anybody have an experience with a printing service for decals? I'd rather do this myself because of low volume but I could probably see an order for 250 -300 of one particular decal that I want to have printed.

I was looking at http://www.websticker.com and http://www.stickerguy.com but have experience with neither.

-Scott

Scott. Try the following link, I know that they carry circular cutters which are very sturdy( used to cut material for buttons-- the cutter is a cast iron device) and spray coatings for ink jet prints. Hope this is some help. http://www.prostudiousa.com/eq.htm . Tom

Thanks Tom,

While I have seen a lot of circle cutter items associated with button assembly machines, I don't actually want to mess with the button part. I just want to cut stickers/decals out, but finding a good cutter seems to be a challenge.

Here is a page that lists some 'cheap' circle cutters (swore I'd never buy another Fiskars product):

http://www.cutnfun.com/cutters.htm

Here's an overpriced cutter that I'd like to find a comparitive cost on, but haven't been able to so far:

http://www.buttonsonline.com/cutter.html

Here's some vinyl stock I'd try but the cost isn't good, 10 sheets at $16.00:

http://www.paper-paper.com/bumper_stickers.html

The same company also sells their own protective spray, at $8 for a 4 oz can. Wonder how long that would last?

-Scott

Scott, The sprays I played around with seemed to do a pretty good job of providing protection here, but, since this is a low humidity area I really cant say how they would work else where. The one thing about the sprays that I didnt like very much was the fumes , you really must be in a well ventilated area to use them and some sort of protective mask similar to what is used in Body and Paint shops is a pretty good idea.They also need to be applied under the right temp. conditions as well. Thanks for the links!. Tom

Decided to try this vendor for sticker stock. Would be no problem if I had a wide format printer (24 plus inches), but finding a good outlet for this material has proven to be difficult.

Source: http://www.mcgpaper.com

Ordered: 20 sheets of 8.5 x 11, white, vinyl adhesive backed for $29.93.

Their e-commerce is setup as a Yahoo store. They do take most credit cards, shipping via UPS w/ order tracking.

I'll report back on the product once it arrives and I get a chance to play with it. Now if I can only find a good circle cutter!!

Scott, Thanks for the link. Let us know what the quality of the paper you bought is and if you think it will work. I am still looking for circle cutters but have not had a whole lot of success. Tom

The vinyl sticker paper with adhesive backing arrived.

The package was folded and stuck into the mail box....the material, 50 sheets in all, is in good shape. I guess the vinyl didn't hold the fold, I was relieved.

Have done a test print, it looks good but need to find the optimal ink setting for my Epson 1270.

Scott, Dont you just love it when items labeled "Dont...." arrive looking as though they had been shipped via the Titanic? Have you tried the setting for transparency in the printing setup? What resolution are you printing at, and how doed the ink react to the vinyl--smears? Bleeding out to surrounding areas, etc. Thanks for the info and keep up the good work. Tom

Thomas,

No problems with bleeding, only smearing has come on the edges at the transition between the vinyl and the backing. The vinyl is a millimeter or two inset on all four edges but it's only a wisp or two of smear off the first pass or so.

Print settings. I confess to NOT knowing what the heck these settings actually do as far as laying the ink down.

First I tried the Photo Quality Ink Jet Paper setting....mistake. Colors were muted.

Next tried Photo Paper setting. Color much better. The dark blue came out just right. Only problem color was a sky blue I tried but I think I goofed on the image prep.

The vinyl is not gloss coated, more matte. I think that a thin cold laminate might pop it up nicely.

More experimentation as time goes by....still waiting on my circle cutter. Also printed some more complex shapes, will play with different cutting methods for those.

-Scott

Scott, Thanks for the details. Very helpful!!! Have you tried setting the print quality from High to Medium on the first window that pops up when you initiate the print command from the file menu window? I found that this is sometimes necessary, as well as printing at the 720 dpi setting in the print set up menu ( found by pressing the the Advanced button) when printing on matte paper, otherwise I notice the same color degradation you mention. Just a thought. Keep up the good work and let uo know how things are progressing !! Tom

I've printed a small series of test runs and can report some results. My decals are three color, 2.75 inch circles. On a 8.5 x 11 sheet of adhesive backed, white vinyl stock I'm printing 8 decals per page.

Example of stock I'm using here:
<http://shop.store.yahoo.com/mcgpaper/inpapbumstic.html>

The optimal ink setting for my Epson Stylus Photo 1270 has turned out to be "Photo Paper". Note that standard Epson ink is NOT waterproof. My solution for this problem was to obtain some cold (manual) application laminate sheets. Laying these over my printed sheet of decals has worked nicely. I use a non-abrasive cloth or tissue to "rub in" the laminate over the decal area and the results are very satisfactory.

Now the hard part, cutting the decals. The cutter I obtained does cut nice circles, but the problem for me has been alignment.

Cutter 2nd from top here:
<http://www.cutnfun.com/cutters.htm>

IF you can line up the cutter in the exact middle, cuts should be easy. I have four point reference marks printed with each decal. With those guides, I draw a center cross on the back of the decal page, line up the cutter and cut from the back. Unfortunately, my rejection rate for off center cuts is running between 30 & 50% per 8 decals a page.

Perhaps another cutter would solve this problem, but am not sure what type that might be. A die stamp would seem to be the best choice; however then you are restricted to the die size and they're not exactly cheap.

-Scott

Probably some sort of die/stamp cutter based on the arbor press design or something similar would cut way down on the miscuts, but those are, as you said, expensive and you are restricted in what type of cuts and the size of the cuts you can make, although for circular type I seem to recall that 3-4 inch are pretty popular sizes. Have you looked into any of the roller type devices for applying cold laminate? Tom