Post by indycals on Oct 5, 2009 15:14:36 GMT -5
So as not to further hijack the "T88 need ideas thread", I'll continue my thought process here:
Thanks Mike for you insight on decal making. That's quite interesting. I think more of us need to hear what it takes to make quality decals. Just those couple of paragraphs makes me greatful for what we do have, but it's always great to see something new! Thanks again Mike!
Jim
Thanks Jim... I'll elaborate a little further.
I print my decals on 8.5 x14 sheets. It typically takes 30-45 minutes to print one sheet. All my decals are designed to be 8" wide, so that I can easily stack them on one sheet to fill up the 8"x13" print area that I have on each sheet. If I have some extra space at the end of a sheet with no more pending orders I'll typically add a sheet that I know will sell or to place on eBay... or I'll use that space for testing new artwork. FYI... don't buy my decals on eBay - I pretty much use eBay to get new customers - it's more cost effective for me and the buyer to go directly through my website.
When printing, each color is a separate pass through the printer. The minimal number of times a sheet goes through the printer is 8 - first one I print clear registration marks to make sure the paper seats itself properly in the printer. Then 3 passes of white - all my printing has white underlay, even if it's going on a white car - this insures better print quality. Not every logo/number/stripe has 3 layers - it varies. Something like a white "ELF" logo that goes on a dark blue Tyrrell will get all three layers, wheras, something that will be white on a yellow background will get two, and white on white will get a single pass. This helps me insure maximimum opacity where needed, while not wasting white where it's not needed (A single white cartridge costs over $20 and lasts for three pages). After the white comes Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. This brings the total up to 8 passes. If I'm doing the 64 Sheraton Thompson sheet, that alone requires 12 passes - in addition to the 8 above, there is 2 passes of orange, one pass of gold and one pass of metallic cyan. If I'm doing a 1976 Tyrrell on the same sheet, it goes up to 14 - one pass for silver, and an extra pass of yellow. With some sheets requiring extra passes of magenta or cyan, it's possible that one page can go through the printer as many as 16 times. The order of the passes is important too. If I do an extra pass of Cyan, that must come before the process CMYK, whereas extra shots of magenta and yellow come afterward, as the inks are designed to lay down in CMYK order. Putting yellow down first and having cyan or magenta print over it can muck things up. After printing I coat each 8.5x14 sheet with liquid decal film. While not a true clearcoat it does offer a slightly extra margin of protection.
The life cycle of a printer is iffy... I've gone through 4-5 printers in one year, and I've gone 18 months with the same printer. I currently have a stash of about 10 MD-5000 and 5500s in various states of usefulness. Many of you may have heard that ALPS was no longer supporting the MD-5000 anymore and that the end of consumables came in 2007. This is somewhat true, particularly for the US market. In fact, in 2006 and early 2007, I invested over $5000 in consumables and printers to keep me going for a few more years. However ALPS still makes an MD-5500 for the Japanese market, and consumables will be produced for 7 years once they cease production (and at this time there is no plans for that). The downside, the costs of printers and consumables are more than double the price they were just a couple of years ago - in fact my printer costs are now about triple what they were - and as my stash of consumables bought at that time is nearly gone, I've had to start investing in the more expensive consumables. Despite this I've managed to keep prices reasonably inline without doubling or tripling my prices. I've done this a couple of ways. The most noticeable is that some sheets that used to have markings to do more than one car, have been divided up. Ie, my 73 STP Eagle sheet used to have markings to do either the Johncock or Savage car - now you must specify one or the other. This allows me to keep the price the same and use less resources, while still supplying you with the markings to do one complete car.
As I have a day job, family and a 7 day workout routine, time is precious. I typically print orders during the week, print up invoices and pack orders on the weekend and mail on Monday.
Jim
Thanks Jim... I'll elaborate a little further.
I print my decals on 8.5 x14 sheets. It typically takes 30-45 minutes to print one sheet. All my decals are designed to be 8" wide, so that I can easily stack them on one sheet to fill up the 8"x13" print area that I have on each sheet. If I have some extra space at the end of a sheet with no more pending orders I'll typically add a sheet that I know will sell or to place on eBay... or I'll use that space for testing new artwork. FYI... don't buy my decals on eBay - I pretty much use eBay to get new customers - it's more cost effective for me and the buyer to go directly through my website.
When printing, each color is a separate pass through the printer. The minimal number of times a sheet goes through the printer is 8 - first one I print clear registration marks to make sure the paper seats itself properly in the printer. Then 3 passes of white - all my printing has white underlay, even if it's going on a white car - this insures better print quality. Not every logo/number/stripe has 3 layers - it varies. Something like a white "ELF" logo that goes on a dark blue Tyrrell will get all three layers, wheras, something that will be white on a yellow background will get two, and white on white will get a single pass. This helps me insure maximimum opacity where needed, while not wasting white where it's not needed (A single white cartridge costs over $20 and lasts for three pages). After the white comes Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. This brings the total up to 8 passes. If I'm doing the 64 Sheraton Thompson sheet, that alone requires 12 passes - in addition to the 8 above, there is 2 passes of orange, one pass of gold and one pass of metallic cyan. If I'm doing a 1976 Tyrrell on the same sheet, it goes up to 14 - one pass for silver, and an extra pass of yellow. With some sheets requiring extra passes of magenta or cyan, it's possible that one page can go through the printer as many as 16 times. The order of the passes is important too. If I do an extra pass of Cyan, that must come before the process CMYK, whereas extra shots of magenta and yellow come afterward, as the inks are designed to lay down in CMYK order. Putting yellow down first and having cyan or magenta print over it can muck things up. After printing I coat each 8.5x14 sheet with liquid decal film. While not a true clearcoat it does offer a slightly extra margin of protection.
The life cycle of a printer is iffy... I've gone through 4-5 printers in one year, and I've gone 18 months with the same printer. I currently have a stash of about 10 MD-5000 and 5500s in various states of usefulness. Many of you may have heard that ALPS was no longer supporting the MD-5000 anymore and that the end of consumables came in 2007. This is somewhat true, particularly for the US market. In fact, in 2006 and early 2007, I invested over $5000 in consumables and printers to keep me going for a few more years. However ALPS still makes an MD-5500 for the Japanese market, and consumables will be produced for 7 years once they cease production (and at this time there is no plans for that). The downside, the costs of printers and consumables are more than double the price they were just a couple of years ago - in fact my printer costs are now about triple what they were - and as my stash of consumables bought at that time is nearly gone, I've had to start investing in the more expensive consumables. Despite this I've managed to keep prices reasonably inline without doubling or tripling my prices. I've done this a couple of ways. The most noticeable is that some sheets that used to have markings to do more than one car, have been divided up. Ie, my 73 STP Eagle sheet used to have markings to do either the Johncock or Savage car - now you must specify one or the other. This allows me to keep the price the same and use less resources, while still supplying you with the markings to do one complete car.
As I have a day job, family and a 7 day workout routine, time is precious. I typically print orders during the week, print up invoices and pack orders on the weekend and mail on Monday.
