recommend me do. I need an A3 printer for printing bike decals. I will be printing onto white decal vinyl, then laminating it. Cheap/compatible ink would be a massive bonus.
What type of printer does your vinyl stock manufacturer recommend? e.g. no good getting a big inkjet printer when the stock will only adequately accept dyesub.
I have no idea. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-A3-Wh...rentrq:a6164ab21730a69d343eb1b6ffdab3ba|iid:1 It's that. I used a matt one a couple of years ago (A4) and it was very good ! but soppy me forgot to laminate it and the ink ran in the rain I just need to do that with some laminate film, basically. So the printer would just need to be a photo printer, as the surface is pretty much like glossy photo paper? Example of what I will be printing.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-OfficeJet-7720-All-Printer/dp/B073FJ3B77 I think I am decided on that. The compatible XL ink is very cheap. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/953XL-Mu...991925?hash=item1a9a9ae435:g:Y-0AAOSwGTBe6dcC Especially when you consider I would pay £35 for a set of bike stickers.
I used to use an Oki C821 to print onto decals and transfer paper. Grabbed the printer used for a song, but the genuine toners were terrifyingly expensive. They are wax-based which is apparently the best technology for this type of application, although I actually found the compatibles to do a good enough job.
I got the HP. Bit peeved, as when I went to order it Argos changed from the £3.95 delivery option to collect only. Gits. So I paid £16 more for it on Prime. It's still £100 less than they were at the beginning of the year when reviewed. The ink doesn't matter so much tbh dude. I found this stuff. For much cheaper than the A3 sheets. I will never have a bike decal higher than 6" tbh. It's also tough that stuff, and UV protective It's also how the originals were made for the frame. Like you will notice it has like "Dirty patches"? they are not dirty, the laminate has torn/scratched off the decal underneath leaving residue and then **** has stuck to it lol. I'm just absolutely sick and tired of people trying to charge ridiculous sums for bike decals. A modern set is about £9-10. For repros people want £35+. For this bike? they are $100+ shipping and import tax. Yeah, F that. Tired of being held to ransom tbh it's time that stopped. Illustrator is so good now that you literally take a photo, trace and convert to vector and then basically add colour.
Ooh, would you mind feeding back as to what this stuff is like once you get it, @Vault-Tec ? I'm looking for some helicopter tape to protect my new bike frame and this looks like it could be an alternative (depending on exactly how tough/thick it is, of course). Cheers
@bawjaws I can confirm it's the shiznit. I deliberately took this pic with tons of reflection to show how clear it was. It's also very, very tough. Like a fool I have forgotten my squeegees (3M ones, I left them at home) so I used a credit card. Like, HARD. And it didn't mark or scratch at all.
BTW make sure you do it on release paper if you are putting it over something like a sticker because it just removed some colour from my mouse mat lmao.
Cheers @Vault-Tec , appreciate you following up I need something like this to protect vulnerable areas on my new bike frame (when it finally arrives) so if this is tough then it looks ideal
