I've been wanting to get into this for far too long and figure it's time to just invest in a printer that I know will work. Would love to hear peoples experience's and some recommendations on which printer will work well without fusing the decals to the roller! I plan on using the Papilio paper if that helps at all. Oh and I want to do Laser not Inkjet..Thanks!
Don't buy a Brother, the toner does not work well for pcb transfers or decals. I'd recommend finding a HP on sale or craigslist. The toner is more expensive for them but it works fantastic for what we do!
Josh
I'm having really good experiences with the Ricoh Aficio we have at work, but it might be a bit bulky for at home.... You might be able to use one in a library or something.
Paul
Quote from: gtr2 on July 04, 2013, 12:18:08 PM
Don't buy a Brother, the toner does not work well for pcb transfers or decals. I'd recommend finding a HP on sale or craigslist. The toner is more expensive for them but it works fantastic for what we do!
Josh
Interesting. I've got a Brother laser printer and I do have to say that I have issues with getting good transfers. The toner doesn't seem to stick well. I can get it to work, but I end up doing a lot of pen corrections and I lose too much from the edges during etching to be really happy with it.
Fwiw (and i think i've said it before here), i have a brother b/w laser printer (model MFC 7320), and it works all good for both my etchjobs and waterslide decals.
On the other hand, i have never tried any other brand when it comes to this hobby, so i cant compare.
Cheers
My Brother Color laser works great for decals but is hit or miss (mostly miss) for etching. The site where I have bought press 'n peel paper for etching has a disclaimer about brother toner on their product page. It's a fine printer, but I would buy another brand if I could.
I have a Samsung CLP-325 laser printer. Works great on press n peel blue, and on water slide decals. The ones I use are from www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk/default.aspx (http://www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk/default.aspx) and they work great.
I was only going to get a cheap black and white Samsung laser to print on transparency sheets for PCBs as my inkjet couldn't do it (Epson SX600FW). I ended up getting the 4 colour Samsung as it was on offer and cheaper then the black and white one (it was ex display and possibly end of line, but not sure). Since I've found iTead, I rarely make my own PCBs anymore, too much hassle and with their prototyping prices, it works out at more or less the same price. Only just started doing water slide decals as they look better then a marker pen, and the results look great on it.
On the pics below, the boxes are powder coated, clear water slide decal, the clear coated with a powder coat clear gloss. You can't see the edge of the decals either.
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/07/05/upebamed.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/07/05/vyja5a5e.jpg)
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/07/05/epune5ym.jpg)
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/07/05/2e7ytuga.jpg)
Sent from my thumbs using Tapatalk!
I use Brother MFC srs too...and it works fine for both etching and decals......
By the way, Papilio is great paper, perfect result !
Good Luck !
Quote from: Vallhagen on July 04, 2013, 03:06:32 PM
Fwiw (and i think i've said it before here), i have a brother b/w laser printer (model MFC 7320), and it works all good for both my etchjobs and waterslide decals.
On the other hand, i have never tried any other brand when it comes to this hobby, so i cant compare.
Cheers
It looks like your Brother is a bigger brother than my Brother :D. Mine's an HL-2030. It does a fine job of printing on paper. It's just got some weird results when trying to do transfers. Sometimes I can even see ghost imprints of other pages printed in the final etch. Very weird.
any more recommendations on laster printers? I'm eying craigslist right now...
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/ele/3892078423.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/sys/3888419327.html
I just go down to the local FedEx office and print there. It's only 10 cents per copy and it's high quality IMO. The only caveat is that they have to print it for you. The self serve printers default to "fit to page" and and there is no way to change the setting when using the USB port to print a pdf. I would like to buy a home laser printer some day, but I have a hard time believing they would be able to match the quality of a commercial printer. Any thoughts/opinions/rebuttals?
Quote from: Stomptown on July 04, 2013, 11:56:58 PM
I would like to buy a home laser printer some day, but I have a hard time believing they would be able to match the quality of a commercial printer. Any thoughts/opinions/rebuttals?
I disagree here, i would definately say that a home laser printer without problem match any "Commercial printer". The difference should be speed/capacity/no of paper trays etc. And lifecycle (your home printer can for sure be "plastic cheap crap"). But for print quality; its all the same. And it has been that way about since we reached 600 dpi. I'd say printers generally run the same route as (home) computers when it comes to price/performance.
Note: I am talking about b/w lasers. But i Think color lasers is running the same way now; gettting cheaper even for home use. But im not really interested in getting a home color laser anyway, because the toner is too expensive. B/w toner on the other hand, is cheap.
Just my 2 kr:)
***
Quote from: RobA on July 04, 2013, 04:48:48 PM
Quote from: Vallhagen on July 04, 2013, 03:06:32 PM
Fwiw (and i think i've said it before here), i have a brother b/w laser printer (model MFC 7320), and it works all good for both my etchjobs and waterslide decals.
On the other hand, i have never tried any other brand when it comes to this hobby, so i cant compare.
Cheers
It looks like your Brother is a bigger brother than my Brother :D.
My Brother is tall, bald and mean! ;D
Seriously, you can for sure be right. My model of Brother printer is more of a "small office standard" than a "home" printer.
Cheers
Quote from: Stomptown on July 04, 2013, 11:56:58 PM
I just go down to the local FedEx office and print there. It's only 10 cents per copy and it's high quality IMO. The only caveat is that they have to print it for you. The self serve printers default to "fit to page" and and there is no way to change the setting when using the USB port to print a pdf. I would like to buy a home laser printer some day, but I have a hard time believing they would be able to match the quality of a commercial printer. Any thoughts/opinions/rebuttals?
I've also been going the Fedex route but would like to have one at home just to save on the trips there. I'm not building/etching all that often to necessarily justify getting a printer so I'm still on the fence about getting one.
I'm not sure if I mentioned Color..That's one of the big parts of it. On the Papilio site it says their paper works with most desktop laser color printers..Hmm just finding the right one.
I had the samsung clp 300 and fused the laser decal film from PPP first run through. Printer has not been the same