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Showing results for tags 'decals'.
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Hi All, Just wondering if some of you who make your own decals have had this problem I have just started having. I have been printing my own decals for many years, originally on my home inkjet printer, then eventually moving to laser paper using the laser printers at work, because it was much less hassle with the whole sealing of the decals before using issue. I have been successfully using this method for many years, using laser decal paper (both clear & white) from a local ebay supplier. However, about 6 months ago I think it was, I started having hassles with dark colours, getting a bit of leaching of colour around the edges, which just shouldn't happen with laser paper. What I eventually discovered happening was that the ink was flaking from the edges of the cut, as I was cutting out each decal. It is really only noticeable on the darker colours, particularly black and dark blue. I am pretty sure this started happening during the middle or towards the end of a batch of 10 sheets I'd bought the year before. I thought perhaps the paper was going off, so order a new batch, but had exactly the same issue. We had two different types of laser printers at work by this stage, one being slightly better quality than the other, so I thought I'd test out both, and still got the same issue on both printers. I contacted the decal paper supplier, and they say they haven't changed brand or supplier of their paper. They did say the paper is extremely sensitive to cold and moisture in the air, and that I needed to dry the sheets out thoroughly using a hair dryer, or even an oven, which s a bit impractical when I am at work. Besides, its an air-conditioned office, so that shouldn't really be an issue. I did try leaving the sheets sitting on top of my laptop the entire day, which warmed them up quite a bit, and that didn't work either. I even tried another ebay supplier, but got the same results (although I think they all get their paper from the same guy anyway, because one ebay company I spoke to said they supplied the decal paper to other place I was buying it from anyway). So I was wondering if anyone else has ever encountered this issue before. The suppliers are saying it must be the printers, but I have used the same printer I used last year, plus the newer better quality printer, with no success. I did try sealing the decals first with clear acrylic before cutting them, which worked, but that just takes me back to the issues which drove me away from inkjet decals in the first place. The issue there is that eventually the clear coating becomes brittle, and sort of shatters along the edge of the cut, allowing the ink to bleed off. That means you have to cut out an entire sheet of decals as soon as you've sealed it, rather than simply cutting out each decal as you use it, which is what I tend to do. When there are hundreds of tiny decals on a sheet, it becomes a very time consuming process. Would be very interested to know if anyone else has encountered this issue and found a cause/resolution. Can't really justify buying a colour laser printer for home, assuming that will solve the issue anyway, but am starting to think about it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.