Shp4man

All these questions about frame decals has motivated me to try making some. So I did some research and found this:

The first lesson you learn in this is that inkjet printers don't print white. Unless you use "white" decal paper. Which I haven't bought yet.
You also need a program to help design images. I used one called "Paint Shop Pro". The decals also need to be sealed after printing, I used Dupli-color clear coat which seemed to work OK. The color of the final installation of these decals depends on the color you paste the decal over. Here's an example- this:

Looks like this on a dark colored frame:

I also did a decal for my motorcycle that came out pretty good, I thought. The "Hat in the Ring" on the battery cover:


I'll keep playing with this until I get competent enough to duplicate a decal set!

Bianchigirll 

are you taking orders?

Fibber

My wife has moved from expensive embroidery sewing machines (Viking Designer 1, etc.), to expensive paper cutting. Her newest toy is a Craft Robo, that can cut intricate designs or text with the look of a laser cutter. Anyhow, it can work in conjunction with a printer, and can cut a variety of media (paper, vinyl, etc.). Any graphic that you can design or import to your PC can be colored and then cut. I've been thinking of having her try some fancy text like "SCHWINN" on thin material, and then lacquer it into place. Just a thought...

Shp4man

LOL, not yet.

unterhausen

I was going to fix your picture, but here's the link to the product

Apparently, once you've visited the tower hobbies site, the pic shows up, before that I got a red x

Chris_in_Miami

You can find similar waterslide decal medium on eBay also. I'm waiting for a cheap dye-sub printer to fall into my lap...

illwafer

i had to look twice at your post date. looks like you like c&v applications too.

luker

oh, I want one...I just spent about 30 minutes cutting out a simple decal (on white), and they look just okay. I'm now trying to paint over the clipped out decals, so that I'll be putting paint down on the bike, not dye. I'll let you know how it goes.

If it isn't too rude, how much did that machine cost?

Shp4man

Yep. The price was right- free- and it works OK.

khatfull

Hey PSP and more recently, paint.net are fine image manipulation programs...not everyone needs Photoshop (although I have CS2 )

USAZorro

If Photoshop is as unintuitive as GIMP, PSP would get my vote in a heartbeat. (never got around to Photoshop)

mkeller234

Yeah, that is the nice part of working in the printing/design industry. I am currently running CS4 and I see CS5 is either out or coming soon.

cudak888 

I'm surprised you've found that Testors decal paper to work. It's nasty stuff in comparison to good quality decal paper.

-Kurt

clasher

I haven't used the modern version PSP but I was really impressed with paint.net. GIMP drivers me bonkers but that's because I was so used to photoshop.

I'd like to get into this if I ever get a printer again. Is the paper on ebay of better quality than the testors stuff?

BigPolishJimmy

GIMP has a pretty heavy learning curve, but if you've used PhotoShop then it's pretty easy to use. For someone new to photo manipulation, it's tough to understand, but once you do, a whole world opens up in what you can do with it vs. using Paint or other simple programs.

USAZorro

After about 30 failed attempts to complete the very first step in creating a project, I gave up.

mudboy

For Windows, Paint.net (https://www.getpaint.net/) is good for image editing. Inkscape (https://www.inkscape.org/) is for vector graphics (i.e. similar to Illustrator) and would be a better choice for creating graphics like this.

Both are free and pretty good.

Pete

Fibber

It really wasn't that much. I got her (2 years ago) the entry level 200 series from Graphtech, for something like $250. The Zyron Wishblade is essentially the same machine with a little better USA support but at a higher price.

Compared to the sewing machines, paper cutters are practically free!

khatfull

Hey Shp4man, still working with the decals? How they holding up? Did you feel like you needed to cover them with anything? Once dry how to they react to water?

So many questions....thanks.

Chombi

Question:

Are these decals waterproof after you print your images on them? in other words, will the colors not run or "melt" if exposed to moisture/rain??
I ask this because I know that most inkjet inks do run if the paper they are prointed on gets wet.

Chombi

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

Chombi, I beleive the OP is clearcoating over decals.

Chombi

That makes sense but there had been instances where the actual clear coat paint can actually affect materials under it, but I guess it's been done with these decal sheets without any problems. I'm trying to find out whether I might be able to handle a re-decal job on my Vitus bike myself. Thing is, the decals are not transfers but stick-on type. Unfortunately, after over 20 years on the bikes all these vitus frames have the same problem with their decals cracking and peeling off easily if you're not careful handling the bike. Mine's still generally OK, but I'm sure I'd like to freshen them up sometime in the future.
Why Vitus did not use transfers and clearcoat on their supposedly upmarket bikes is beyond me....I guess they're french bikes afterall...
Chombi

khatfull

I'm looking at paper from these folks:

https://www.decalpaper.com/

They mention using a clear Krylon spray to cover the decals for protection. I could be convinced to loosely mask and spray the decals in such a manner once applied.

I'm going to try the laser stuff though because I have access to so many different color laser printers.

Cassave

I've used the Papilio clear waterslide paper. https://www.texascraft.com/hps/home.php?cat=263
Printed using an Epson R1800 that uses pigment based inks instead of dye based.
Before application you need to spray with Krylon or similar.
After application, they got overcoated with a 2 part automotive acrylic urethane clear coat.

The oldest decals are two years old and show no signs of fading.
My only complaint is that the material is rather thick.

Wogster

There are protective sprays for inkjet photos, the cheapest is aerosol hairspray, you seal the ink image give it a good 24 - 48 hours to cure, apply and then clearcoat. The biggest problem in all this is that you need a good clean initial image, you can photograph with a decent digital camera, you need macro capability though. You then need to use software like Photoshop or The Gimp, zoom in at 800% and make sure there are no defects in the image, even if you start with a JPG file, you don't want to work with it as such, JPG loses quality every time you save it, use TIFF or the native format. You need to cut out the background so that it prints clear, be very careful about the colours, your screen and your printer will have slightly different colour properties, and they change over time. It's best to produce new decals before you get rid of old ones so that you can compare your copies to the originals.

If your getting a professional paint job done at a shop, then send your decal art work to a custom decal shop, get them to produce the decals for you and send them to the paint shop for application before the final layer of clearcoat.

BTW take one set of photos of the old decals with a ruler in the pictures, this way you will know exactly where they go later on.