Looking for a printer

[Raduque]

I'm looking for a decent affordable printer that would be good for printing on decal paper. I'm talking about model car water-slide decal paper.

Would anybody have any ideas what models/brands would be good for this?

 

[mpilchfamily]

Cosidering the material being used to print on you'll want a photo style printer. One that can handle slick paper and has water resistant ink. Your best option is a laser printer. Problem is overall cost especially on those that print color. But in the long run you could save allot of money. The price per print on laser printers is better then inkjet. You get allot more prints out of a laser printer cardtridge then you do with inkjet. So keep cost of ink/toner in mind and the amount of money you'll spend through the life time of the printer (about 4 years).

 

[Zepper]

Laser printers use significant heat to bond the toner to the medium (paper, etc.), e.g. letterhead paper with some pre-printing (raised plastic ink) will gum up laser printers, so you have to shop for special heat-resistant letterhead. I doubt any typical decal material could stand up to laser heat. I'm thinking that inkjet would be about all that decal material could tolerate. I'd make an effort to actually try the various brands on decal material to see if/how well they work. If there is not an adequate assortment of printers within your circle of friends, perhaps you could send some decal material samples to some of us ATF denizens. I'd be willing to run your experiment with my HP K5400. You could also send a sample of the types of image/text that you intend to print on them as an eMail attachment for use in the test. For sure you'd want to try late model Epson, Canon, HP, Lexmark (Dell has been OEM by Lexmark) and Brother. IDK any other makers of inkjet printers with widely available inks. The inks used by different series of printers within a mfr's line can be different. And you could ask the makers of your decal material about their experience in this area - perhaps they have a recommendation...

.bh.

 

[Raduque]

Zepper, I'll be using paper like this. I'll be going with an inkjet, thought I would love a laser, the cost is prohibitive. My budget is about $150. I'd really prefer a straight-up printer vs a multi-function/all in one.

Was eying some of the various HP models - they still make good printers, right?

 

[Zepper]

HP still makes good printers but I think Canon has had them beat for some time in most areas. Great photo output along with excellent black text in their 5-tank models (iP4X00/5X00 series). Canon's paper feeding reliability is also much greater. If it wasn't for Canon's chipped ink tanks, I'd have no reservations about recommending them. Now there are clone tanks with clone chips (some recycled tanks are still being sold with reset chips) so you can save some money over OEM tanks. IAC, with both HP and Canon using OEM tanks, you'll save money with Canon.
. But as I tried to say in my first message, you are trying to print on an unusual material and there is no way to tell how the inks will interact with your material without doing your own testing and/or getting reliable info from the mfr. of the material. But I guess with the fixative they talk about, you won't have to worry about the ink running. Epson inks are still more fade-resistant that what the other brands use, but clogging is still an issue for them if the printer isn't used ALL the time. Even with Epson ink, fading will occur if the decals are in direct sun a lot of the time. A UV protective spray might be useful for outdoor decals (or even indoor) to lengthen the fading time. Looks like that media company has thought of everything as they have an anti-UV overspray too - may be able to use that as a combo fixative, anti-UV to save some $$s .

.bh.

 

[Raduque]

Well, I won't be displaying my models outside, so no need to worry about fading. Epson's clogging will be a problem though, because I'll only use the printer to print decals and things like invoices and such when I order something online (which isn't too often).

I'll narrow it down to HP and Canon photo printers and go from there.

 

[Zepper]

Fluorescent, some LED and direct sunlight from windows emit significant UV, so consider the UV protectant spray anyway.

.bh.