Window Decals

[sburris]

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!!

[thomasgeorge]

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

[sburris]

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.

[thomasgeorge]

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

[sburris]

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

[thomasgeorge]

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

[sburris]

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

[thomasgeorge]

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