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Digital Printed Vinyl Graphics. (using home desktop printer)

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hey everyone

    I just bought a epson 1400 wide format printer. It has Claria High def ink.    I wanted to make some decals etc.  I picked up a sample of 3m printable vinyl.  The ink doesn't absorb at all.  I've read that the epson inks work well for printing this sort of thing.  Any ideas?  Is this the wrong ink?

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Guest fivestar

hey everyone

    I just bought a epson 1400 wide format printer. It has Claria High def ink.    I wanted to make some decals etc.  I picked up a sample of 3m printable vinyl.  The ink doesn't absorb at all.  I've read that the epson inks work well for printing this sort of thing.  Any ideas?  Is this the wrong ink?

I would say the 3M printable vinyl you got is for a solvent ink printer that requires a heater.

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All COATED vinyl that is designed for working with water based inks.

Read back from the first post and you will see some brands passing! :-)

Paco

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As mentioned before.

Laminating by foil or spray prevents the print from scratching or water influences.

Paco

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for laminating what is being used ? Hot or cold lamination ?

Thanks

Mark

Cold laminating film with UV

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The big Sceeq or something.

See the laminator section.

Paco

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I bought the small epson.  As Banner John said.. that sucker is noisy.  I also bought the recommended printable vinyl for the durabrite inks, as well as static clings and tatoos. I haven't tried any of them yet. :thumbsup:

As soon as I do I'll post the results also.

azdecals.

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Just finished reading all 17 pages  :thumbsup:

Thanks to all who contributed to this effort - lots of great info here.

In the next few months I plan on getting an 1100 and a CIS system, but for now I am having good results with my little HP 950C and laserpoint.

Once again Thanks to all for a great read.

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I too just read all 17 pages...  as anyone found a place to buy a roll of water-based printable vinyl???  I have the Epson 1100 and I can easily cut the roll down to fit my machine...  will the MacTAc previously mentioned be the correct kind?  I need rolls, as I would like to print up to 35 inches long.

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Does the Epson 1100 runs with rolls or only shetfeed paper?

paco

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it is a sheet fed style printer, it will accept up to a 13 X 44" sheet, so I was planning on cutting the the roll as needed...  I have a 2 foot Refine MH721 and I already cut vinyl to fit it from 4 foot rolls, and I want to simply cut 40inch pieces to feed into the machine...

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See no reason why this would not work.  :thumbsup:

As long as it is coated and made for dye or pigment ink.

Anyway as mentioned before laminate the print for waterfroofing and UV stability.

Paco

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Guest debogus

I just concluded a test of some office depot inkjet receptive vinyl and it started to delaminate from the vinyl base, at 2 years on a bumbersticker

Was sealed in frog juice .Color was still OK and was just canon dye ink.

It was lifting on the corners abit so I decided to remove it , this is when I noticed the delam.

Now I have a epson workforrce30, and that pigment ink has greater posiblities.

Which leads me to the question what solevent  will etch vinyl to burn the shine off ?

Or has anyone used the pretreat for nontextile surfaces used  in DTG printing, on regular vinyl. ?

A perpetual tinkerer

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I now have my Epson 1400 and debating which CIS to buy.  Pigment or Dye?  If you have a CIS for your 1400, where did you buy it.  I checked out the few on eBay and just not feeling it with some of those sellers.  I want good ink and I'm afraid I'll end up with a China Cheapy. 

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Guest debogus

So this is my attempt at a desktprinter vinyl sticker.3x6"

Learning curve , cant do full saturation  stuff like solvent but, stuff like this wasnt to hard to do.

Graffic was from our club fly-in Tshirts 2yrs ago

4287030856_41437d4af2.jpg

Workforce30 ,Arlon calender,sealed with krylon(hint:  take the shine off with green scotch bright before printing,dry it in the oven before touching it) after drying the scotch brite didnt touch it.

So who else does things they aren't suppose to do ? Put a dated copy of this on the top of my truck will post when it fails( thats where all of the experiments go)

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Done a few now for some friends with the help of everyone on here.  I'm using the WorkForce 1100 with the durabrite inks.  I know you can put a laminate on afterwards to protect and make it look glossy, but is there an inkjet glossy vinyl anywhere.  Right now I'm just using Papilio's white matte inkjet sheets and some Sihl matte white, both sprayed with laminate, but I would like to try some gloss if it's available anywhere.

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Guest debogus

Really wish I got the 1100 now .

Getting inkjetcarts HT tuesday , Hope I can still do the same or better than this.

7" decent coverage

4298933030_06da880861.jpg

Can't print on plain uncoated cheap vinyl ?Well maybe not everything ,but so far I can do graphics like this, :D

Learned if it smudges,didn't bake it long enough

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Guest debogus

Has to be dryed/baked in the oven

I was running the oven up to 180 then shuting it off and let the pc sit in for awhile

I got my print settings down but still need some work on the heating part.

thought they were done put one on the truck(experiment area on top) with no seal

Later ,on another thought I would try sealing half as another wear sample ,so it got heated again.

Put it right next to the first.  The first one I thought was dry, smudged so I wiped it with the liquid sander on a paper towel ,crap 75% wiped right off ,?

  I was pissed ,wtf ,everything was going so well,so I wiped across the newest one , nothing no smudge no removal at all( and I wasnt  being nice in the scrubing)

So it has to be the cooking/drying time.

The last one I tryed photo type was weak and moteled newer method yielded this

Also bake was 185@5min then sealed (learned use cookie sheet or get rack burn/discolor)

Lets see how long this one last

4300456199_030d0cff37.jpg

Next I need to order the matte white arlon to see how that works.

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