Bandspread Dial lettering - horror!
jjbunn
Hallicrafters SX110, I made the big mistake of placing the bandspread
dial glass under some lightly running water, and watched in horror as
all the dial's white lettering collected in a puddle in the sink!
I am now faced with the problem of re-creating the white lettering on
the glass, and am looking for suggestions from folks in this group.
Here is what I have tried so far, with little success.
Fortunately I had taken some decent photographs of the receiver before
I cleaned it. One of the photographs, cropped to the dial, is here:
http://pcbunn.cacr.caltech.edu/jjb/Hallicrafters/dial_photo_raw.jpg
I took this, and photoshopped it to remove perspective, removed the red
tuning bar, and fixed to black and white. The result is here:
http://pcbunn.cacr.caltech.edu/jjb/Hallicrafters/dial_photo_w.jpg
Then I put that image into Powerpoint and, by hand, drew lines and tick
marks and lettering on top of the image, lining everything up
carefully. Finally I removed the original image, leaving just the
artwork, which I can then print in any colour I want.
http://pcbunn.cacr.caltech.edu/jjb/Hallicrafters/recreated-dial.gif
I was expecting to be able to find clear transparent 8x11 sheets of
sticky Avery labels, but the only transparent labels I could find were
matte. I experimented printing onto those, but the results are poor,
and certainly not see-through on glass. Even worse, printing in "white"
on the paper results in a very faint image indeed, essentially useless.
Am I approaching this the wrong way? Is there a better method for
recreating the dial lettering?
(I realise that there are people advertising replacement dials for the
SX110, but they tend to cost almost as much as I paid for the receiver
itself, so wanted to see if I could do it myself.)
Many thanks in advance if you have any suggestions for me.
Julian
Uncle Peter
You can have a decal made professionally.
If the receiver isn't worth much.. Consider doing a white letter
print on black paper. Put the dial on the backside of the pointer,
instead of on the glass in front of it. I'd bet it would look okay.
Pete
Phil Nelson
they have a computer hooked to a printer that can do a color printout onto a
sheet of clear acetate? If the original dial is white lettering on clear
glass, I guess you would want to replace the black in your image with
"transparent." You could also phone around to art shops (T-shirt shops,
whatever) and try to find someone who can take a computer image and
silk-screen it onto glass, but that might exceed your budget.
Phil
Sniper
wrote:
>In the course of (not) carefully (enough) cleaning a recently acquired
>Hallicrafters SX110, I made the big mistake of placing the bandspread
>dial glass under some lightly running water, and watched in horror as
>all the dial's white lettering collected in a puddle in the sink!
>
>I am now faced with the problem of re-creating the white lettering on
>the glass, and am looking for suggestions from folks in this group.
>Here is what I have tried so far, with little success.
>
You might want to check with these folks:
http://www.radiodaze.com/reproglassdials.htm
One of their repros is for the front plate of the SX-110
Good luck.
jjbunn
Thanks for the suggestion regarding the back plate: I'm sure it would
work. However, I would like to recreate the original look as far as
possible, which really requires lettering the front glass plate.
Julian
jjbunn
Good ideas ... thanks. I think silk-screening is the proper way to do
it, but usually v. expensive.
jjbunn
isn't yet ready for prime time, and is being re-manufactured. I fancy
this will be my fall back solution: to buy one of theirs at $29 once
it's available if I get nowhere with a homebrew solution.
Julian
John Goller, k9uwa /W4 Snowbird
jul...@cacr.caltech.edu says...
>
>
>In the course of (not) carefully (enough) cleaning a recently acquired
>Hallicrafters SX110, I made the big mistake of placing the bandspread
>
>Julian
>
Did U call Kinko's yet?....
your local Hobby Store will have the clear acetate paper to print
it onto .... reverse it in the computer... have Kinko's print it
and stick it onto the back of your glass.
John k9uwa / w4 snowbird
Bill Miller
From: "jjbunn" <jul...@cacr.caltech.edu>
Subject: Bandspread Dial lettering - horror!
Date: February 17, 2005 7:26 PM
In the course of (not) carefully (enough) cleaning a recently acquired
Hallicrafters SX110, I made the big mistake of placing the bandspread
dial glass under some lightly running water, and watched in horror as
all the dial's white lettering collected in a puddle in the sink!
snip
No suggestions, but an experience to relate. Years ago, I was repairing
marine equipment, and one particular British-made depth sounder had a
plastic motor with two mechanical governors inside, switch-selected. One
governor was a little erratic, and I sprayed a contact-cleaner-lubricant
that I'd used previously on other motors into it. Then, I watched in horror
as the whole motor dissolved in front of my eyes, just as if it had been
made of sugar and came in contact with water. What a sinking feeling in my
stomach, as in the early 60's, ordering a part from a foreign country was an
ordeal.
Never did get that fixed, and I don't remember what the outcome was with
the (former) customer.
Bill Miller
Bill Morris
"John Goller, k9uwa /W4 Snowbird" <k9uwa...@THISarrl.netSTUFF> wrote in
message news:E8lRd.99367$JF2....@tornado.tampabay.rr.com...
> In article <1108686398.9...@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
> jul...@cacr.caltech.edu says...
> >
> >
> >In the course of (not) carefully (enough) cleaning a recently acquired
> >Hallicrafters SX110, I made the big mistake of placing the bandspread
> >Many thanks in advance if you have any suggestions for me.
Supercal White Letter Inkjet Decal kits at www.paper-paper.com
I swear by 'em.
Nelson Gietz
"Bill Morris" <z...@mw.net> wrote in message
news:4215ef1c$0$38731$39ce...@news.twtelecom.net...
Bill,
Does it work as slick and well as advertised? It looks like a "bingo!"
for all of us who
have been puzzling over the white lettering problem. What do you have to
watch out for
with this stuff?
Nelson
Dave Allen
I recreated a glass dial scale that came out OK. Got some scrap glass
from a glass shop, cut several blanks. Printed the scale as an
overhead transparency on a LASER printer for permanence. Laminated the
transparancy film to the back side of the glass using clear silicone
RTV used for aquariums. The silicone was a small tube from Walmart for
$3-4. Start with a line of silicone in the center of the glass, squish
the transparency down into the RTV, and work it down to a thin layer
while working any bubbles out to the edges. Your scale being all black
should work pretty well with this technique.
Dave Allen
But the idea works great!
Bill Jeffrey
> I was expecting to be able to find clear transparent 8x11 sheets of
> sticky Avery labels, but the only transparent labels I could find were
> matte.
Keep looking, and look in the section for HP paper, not Avery. What you
want is Vugraph (transparency) stock - 8-1/2 x 11 sheets of clear
acetate. Until recently, it was used for making PowerPoint (etc)
presentations via an overhead projector. I have several 50-sheet packs
in front of me right now, bought at Office Max. It is called "HP
Premium Transparency Film", and it is specifically intended for ink-jet
printers.
Now, printing white onto it may be a trick. Is white ink available for
ink-jet printers?
Bill Jeffrey
Tom Adkins
> From: "jjbunn" <jul...@cacr.caltech.edu>
> Subject: Bandspread Dial lettering - horror!
> Date: February 17, 2005 7:26 PM
>
> No suggestions, but an experience to relate. ... and I sprayed a contact-cleaner-lubricant
> that I'd used previously on other motors into it.... Then, I watched in horror
> as the whole motor dissolved in front of my eyes,... What a sinking feeling in my
> stomach...
>
>
> Bill Miller
>
>
I hear you Bill. I've had the same experiences with dial scales, lenses, plastic
parts, etc. Luckily, I tend not to make the (exact) same mistake twice, or at least a
third time. The worst "Oh Noooo" was last summer. I had to pull a Ford Supercab pickup
truck into my garage at a sharp angle through the narrow doorway. Not knowing if the
fold away mirrors had ever been moved, I grabbed a can of PB Blaster and lubed the
pivots and folded them back neatly out of harms way. I went into the house for lunch.
When I returned both mirrors were laying on the floor, separated from their mounting
bases. In a matter of about 37 nano-seconds my insides turned to jello and I knew
exactly what had happened. The Blaster softened and crazed the plastic housings and
the spring tension popped them off as pretty as you please. That was a $300 brain
cramp. Another mark in the Don't Do This Again column.
Good luck with your dial glass Julian.
Tom
Nelson Gietz
"Dave Allen" <dav...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1108747350....@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
I'm gonna put that in my "dail scale" folder. But the problem I have is
with a monstrous
Northern Electric clear dial, where the lettering in three colours is
flaking off. The
thing is down the queue, partly because one of the colors is white and the
problem is
getting that done without going to a silk screener. I even checked with a
kiosk T-shirt
shop, and they didn't do white either. The suggestion from Bill Morris:...looks like a solution to achieve white lettering using an inkjet printer.
Nelson
Jeffrey D Angus
Tom Adkins wrote:
> Bill Miller wrote:
>> No suggestions, but an experience to relate. ... and I sprayed a
>> contact-cleaner-lubricant that I'd used previously on other motors
>> into it.... Then, I watched in horror as the whole motor dissolved
>> in front of my eyes,... What a sinking feeling in my stomach...
>>
> When I returned both mirrors were laying on the floor, separated from
> their mounting bases. In a matter of about 37 nano-seconds my insides
> turned to jello and I knew exactly what had happened. The Blaster
> softened and crazed the plastic housings and the spring tension popped
> them off as pretty as you please. That was a $300 brain cramp. Another
> mark in the Don't Do This Again column.
My first experience with "Chemicals that should be avoided."
I was a little kid and was playing with the odds and ends on my
dad's work bench. "This smells interesting, I'll pour it in here."
Note to self. Lacquer thinner and styrofoam cups don't mix.
Jeff
--
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin
"A life lived in fear is a life half lived."
Tara Morice as Fran, from the movie "Strictly Ballroom"
jjbunn
The paper size in the kit is too small, but I see they have other
sizes. Just how "clear" is their clear decal paper, I wonder? I'm
concerned that it is not matte clear, but glossy clear.
Thanks very much for this pointer.
Steven Dinius
news:HOpRd.104869$mt.60720@fed1read03...
??? Just set the font color to WHITE? I would reckon. Photoshop and others
deal with printing transparencies.
Steven Dinius
"Jeffrey D Angus" <jan...@socal.rr.com> wrote in message
news:CpqRd.3622$VD5...@twister.socal.rr.com...
Nor do superglue and Polyester blends, I gathered (they try to combust when
glued to a painted surface) HOOBOY...
Michael A. Terrell
Please tell us all the brand and model of printer you have that uses
a white cartridge and where we can all buy one!
--
Beware of those who suffer from delusions of adequacy!
Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
Randy or Sherry Guttery
> Please tell us all the brand and model of printer you have that uses
> a white cartridge and where we can all buy one!
Alps 106050-00 White Ink Cartridge for one...
http://www.fjaproducts.com/common/products.asp?prodid=21441
best regards
--
randy guttery
A Tender Tale - a page dedicated to those Ships and Crews
so vital to the United States Silent Service:
http://tendertale.com
Steven Dinius
"Michael A. Terrell" <mike.t...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:42175681...@earthlink.net...
> Please tell us all the brand and model of printer you have that uses
> a white cartridge and where we can all buy one!
If I can put a black piece of paper in and print white letters on it,
um...EVERY ONE I"VE EVER OWNED...
You're thinking typewriters or something and so you think too hard...LOL
Steven Dinius
"Randy or Sherry Guttery" <comc...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:uVJRd.848$hd6...@bignews1.bellsouth.net...
Steven Dinius
"Steven Dinius" <side...@srvinet.com> wrote in message
news:q4KRd.2816$h06.4...@monger.newsread.com...
Bill Jeffrey
> The suggestion from Bill Morris:
> "Supercal White Letter Inkjet Decal kits at www.paper-paper.com"
> ...looks like a solution to achieve white lettering using an inkjet printer.
> Nelson
This stuff looks fascinating. Anyone know how it works? Does the white
powder fuse directly onto the black ink, thereby covering it up? If so,
does it really make a completely opaque cover (so none of the black
shows through), but with crisp clear edges?
Or are there two layers involved, so that the black ink is removed later
in the process (perhaps during the water-soak)?
Bill Jeffrey
Scott W. Harvey
I don't know, but I may be willing to find out....
I was at a hobby shop yesterday, and saw a product made by Testors (the
model paint and glue folks) that looks a lot like the supercal product.
same inkjet waterslide stuff and spray can. See it here:
http://www.testors.com/catalog_item.asp?itemNbr=2255
If it can actually do passable white-on-clear with a standard inkjet I'd
buy it in a heartbeat, as I have an SX-110 with a broken glass, and I've
been waiting for over a year for the usual sources to start carrying it.
(one says they will, Real Soon Now). Has anyone tried this?
-Scott
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Michael A. Terrell
I probably have 20 color inkjet printers right now and not one of
them can do white. No matter how you mix three colors and black you
don't get white.
Michael A. Terrell
>
> Michael A. Terrell wrote:
>
> > Please tell us all the brand and model of printer you have that uses
> > a white cartridge and where we can all buy one!
>
> Alps 106050-00 White Ink Cartridge for one...
>
> http://www.fjaproducts.com/common/products.asp?prodid=21441
>
> best regards
> --
> randy guttery
Randy I know about the ALPS printers, but they aren't your everyday
consumer grade printer. They have been discussed on some of the
electronics groups for making custom lettered front panels. I was told
that ALPS had dropped all the printers that could print white and the
only way to get one was a used equipment dealer or Ebay.
Bill M
>
> If it can actually do passable white-on-clear with a standard inkjet I'd
> buy it in a heartbeat, as I have an SX-110 with a broken glass, and I've
> been waiting for over a year for the usual sources to start carrying it.
> (one says they will, Real Soon Now). Has anyone tried this?
>
> -Scott
The problem with a decal for this type of dial are the large areas of
clear. In my experience they will be foggy looking because you're gonna
be looking thru the less than perfect transparency of the decal stock.
Any little bubbles, etc in the application process will show up.
-Bill
Scott W. Harvey
It seems to me that much of that issue could be eliminated by making
several decals...one for each bandspread scale on the dial, and VERY
CAREFUL cutting to size and placement of the decal on the glass. It will
still show somewhat, but it probably won't look too bad since the
background is black.
Right now, I'm just wondering if printing a white-on-clear decal on an
ordinary HP deskjet is possible AT ALL. The links posted earlier for
white decal stock seem to imply that it is, but I'm somewhat skeptical.
Bill M
>
> It seems to me that much of that issue could be eliminated by making
> several decals...one for each bandspread scale on the dial, and VERY
> CAREFUL cutting to size and placement of the decal on the glass. It will
> still show somewhat, but it probably won't look too bad since the
> background is black.
I thought about saying that but trying to align a foot long x 1/4" piece
of decal nice and straight is MUCH EASIER said than done. There's a lot
of stretch in a piece that size. Major amounts of screwing around with
a wet decal may cause ink loss.
>
> Right now, I'm just wondering if printing a white-on-clear decal on an
> ordinary HP deskjet is possible AT ALL. The links posted earlier for
> white decal stock seem to imply that it is, but I'm somewhat skeptical.
If I could line up two "customers" needing this dial printed and would
be willing to pay about 10-15 each I could get them printed by my
"secret source". You could cut them into strips or whatever.
Personally I'd lay the whole decal down then use an xacto to cut and
peel up the open areas.
-Bill
Scott W. Harvey
> Randy or Sherry Guttery wrote:
>
>>Michael A. Terrell wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Please tell us all the brand and model of printer you have that uses
>>>a white cartridge and where we can all buy one!
>>
>>Alps 106050-00 White Ink Cartridge for one...
>>
>>http://www.fjaproducts.com/common/products.asp?prodid=21441
>>
>>best regards
>>--
>>randy guttery
>
>
> Randy I know about the ALPS printers, but they aren't your everyday
> consumer grade printer. They have been discussed on some of the
> electronics groups for making custom lettered front panels. I was told
> that ALPS had dropped all the printers that could print white and the
> only way to get one was a used equipment dealer or Ebay.
Agreed. these printers cost pretty big bucks new or used, and the
reliability of them is nothing to write home about. Still, they (and the
also-discontinued Citizen printers that use the same cartridges) remain
the only printers in the three-figure price range that can do white
printing, dye-sublimation printing, and printing onto foil. It is
probably for these reasons that these printers still command a premium
on eBay.
Scott W. Harvey
> Scott W. Harvey wrote:
>
>
>>
>> It seems to me that much of that issue could be eliminated by making
>> several decals...one for each bandspread scale on the dial, and VERY
>> CAREFUL cutting to size and placement of the decal on the glass. It
>> will still show somewhat, but it probably won't look too bad since the
>> background is black.
>
>
> I thought about saying that but trying to align a foot long x 1/4" piece
> of decal nice and straight is MUCH EASIER said than done. There's a lot
> of stretch in a piece that size. Major amounts of screwing around with
> a wet decal may cause ink loss.
>
Yeah, no question about it.....It wouldn't be EASY! If I was going to
attempt something like this, I would probably print out something like 4
of 5 dupes of each decal in one shot as spares to deal with inevitable
screw-ups.
Still, It can be done. There's a guy I know who does models and he has
the decal application thing down pat. I've seen some stuff he's done
that has extremely long decals applied flawlessly. I asked him what his
technique was, and he told me it's something you can't really teach,
each person has got to just develop their own technique that works.
(kinda like cabinet restoration).
Nelson Gietz
"Scott W. Harvey" <NOT_M...@email.com> wrote in message
news:cv8rl...@news1.newsguy.com...
> Michael A. Terrell wrote:
> > Randy or Sherry Guttery wrote:
> >
> >>Michael A. Terrell wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>> Please tell us all the brand and model of printer you have that uses
> >>>a white cartridge and where we can all buy one!
> >>
> >>Alps 106050-00 White Ink Cartridge for one...
> >>
> >>http://www.fjaproducts.com/common/products.asp?prodid=21441
> >>
> >>best regards
> >>--
> >>randy guttery
> >
> >
> > Randy I know about the ALPS printers, but they aren't your everyday
> > consumer grade printer. They have been discussed on some of the
> > electronics groups for making custom lettered front panels. I was told
> > that ALPS had dropped all the printers that could print white and the
> > only way to get one was a used equipment dealer or Ebay.
>
> Agreed. these printers cost pretty big bucks new or used, and the
> reliability of them is nothing to write home about. Still, they (and the
> also-discontinued Citizen printers that use the same cartridges) remain
> the only printers in the three-figure price range that can do white
> printing, dye-sublimation printing, and printing onto foil. It is
> probably for these reasons that these printers still command a premium
> on eBay.
>
> -Scott
Just speculatin' now.... but if someone on the n.g. HAD an ALPS printer,
how many people would be interested in getting prints made of their high
quality .jpg files onto transfer film, and at what price? No, I don't have
one.
Nelson
Bill M
>
> Just speculatin' now.... but if someone on the n.g. HAD an ALPS printer,
> how many people would be interested in getting prints made of their high
> quality .jpg files onto transfer film, and at what price? No, I don't have
> one.
> Nelson
>
>
I investigated this thoroughly a few years ago before deciding NOT to
buy an ALPS printer. Here are the issues...
The consumables for an ALPS are fairly expensive. Yes, the machine can
do gold, silver and white. What it cannot always do is to reproduce
colors accurately or produce good opaque colors without a white base
underneath. Many combinations require two passes thru the machine and a
blessing from the angels above for perfect alignment registration. Cost
for each try is about a buck in wasted media and ink.
The machine itself wears out fairly rapidly compared to something like a
commonplace inkjet/laserjet. Anybody who has used one for any type of
'commercial' demands will tell you that if you get a year out of it then
you are lucky. Finding a GOOD used one on the market is nigh
impossible. The main reasons used ones sell at any price is because of
an exchange/discount program that ALPS once had.
There's a reason why ALPS backed off of a very good market.
The other part of the issue is regarding simply zipping off copies of
what folks might send you to print. To them, their artwork may look
good but once properly sized and formatted for printing it looks like
crap. Mike T taught me that lesson long ago. I sent him various things
for printing and he pointed out the details that were going to result in
a lousy print. For example, you don't take a 16 million color jpeg and
pass it thru a printer with 3 ink color options and get exactly what you
see on your screen. You don't take a 72-pix/inch default image from
PaintShop and pass it thru a 1400 dots/inch printer without the result
looking like it was carved with a chainsaw. Even a simple B/W image can
be full of artifacts that the original 'creator' doesn't see on the
screen but the printer will see. NOT using jpeg for this type of work
is the first rule.
Sorry to make a short story long but this is why a guy doesn't simply
scarf up a used ALPS printer on ebay for $135 and go into bizness.
-Bill
Randy or Sherry Guttery
> I investigated this thoroughly a few years ago before deciding NOT to
> buy an ALPS printer. Here are the issues...
> The consumables for an ALPS are fairly expensive. Yes, the machine can
> do gold, silver and white. What it cannot always do is to reproduce
> colors accurately or produce good opaque colors without a white base
> underneath. Many combinations require two passes thru the machine and a
> blessing from the angels above for perfect alignment registration. Cost
> for each try is about a buck in wasted media and ink.
> The machine itself wears out fairly rapidly compared to something like a
> commonplace inkjet/laserjet.
{middle bit snipped}
> Sorry to make a short story long but this is why a guy doesn't simply
> scarf up a used ALPS printer on ebay for $135 and go into bizness.
No but commercial banner print shops (the big ones that make serious
banners, etc.) certainly can and do buy printers capable of not only
printing in white (true opaque white) - but on solid thick (inch plus)
substrates such as metal, wood, leather and plastic (I haven't seen
glass mentioned specifically - but if they can do metal - glass
shouldn't be too difficult). Since these can do other colors as well -
(they hold either 8 or 16 cartridges at a time - again depending on
model) - multi-color reverse painted dials should be do-able as well.
For those that might be interested - find a print shop with a Durst Rho
250. They use UV ink that isn't too expensive, etc. - and allows these
shops to run prototypes, etc. at very competitive prices -- you might
see if some chocolate chip cookies gain you a favor).
Re: the Alps piece of junk printers - I guess I just didn't realize how
bad they are - to the trash with mine! naw - on second thought - I think
I can squeeze a few more prints out of it...
best regards...
Steven Dinius
graphics/word processor programs could do something like that.
"Scott W. Harvey" <NOT_M...@email.com> wrote in message
news:cv8t3...@news3.newsguy.com...
Scott W. Harvey
>>
> I investigated this thoroughly a few years ago before deciding NOT to
> buy an ALPS printer. Here are the issues...
> The consumables for an ALPS are fairly expensive. Yes, the machine can
> do gold, silver and white. What it cannot always do is to reproduce
> colors accurately or produce good opaque colors without a white base
> underneath. Many combinations require two passes thru the machine and a
> blessing from the angels above for perfect alignment registration. Cost
> for each try is about a buck in wasted media and ink.
> The machine itself wears out fairly rapidly compared to something like a
> commonplace inkjet/laserjet. Anybody who has used one for any type of
> 'commercial' demands will tell you that if you get a year out of it then
> you are lucky. Finding a GOOD used one on the market is nigh
> impossible. The main reasons used ones sell at any price is because of
> an exchange/discount program that ALPS once had.
> There's a reason why ALPS backed off of a very good market.
Bill is, unfortunately, absolutely correct. The company where I work has
a technical publications/graphics arts department that has the equipment
to do almost anything. They bought a bunch of these ALPS printers with
the idea of using them for small, one-off jobs that would be overkill to
do on the large printers.
The quality of the output was absolutely gorgeous, but the reliability
of the printers sucked. They had maybe a half-dozen of them and they
were all malfunctioning within six months or so of purchase.
The real reason that the printers were discontinued was that they were
simply not cost competitive. Although they were geared for the consumer
market (Fry's and Costco were selling them for awhile), an HP inkjet
could do 95% of what the ALPS could do at one-third the price. How many
consumers really give a damn about printing white-on-black or printing
on foil? Ultimately the sales necessary to keep production going were
just not there.
That's too bad....The ALPS printers are unique, in spite of their
problems. For printing white text, they are quite good....and there
ain't a lot of competition to them in that regard.
> The other part of the issue is regarding simply zipping off copies of
> what folks might send you to print. To them, their artwork may look
> good but once properly sized and formatted for printing it looks like
> crap. Mike T taught me that lesson long ago. I sent him various things
> for printing and he pointed out the details that were going to result in
> a lousy print. For example, you don't take a 16 million color jpeg and
> pass it thru a printer with 3 ink color options and get exactly what you
> see on your screen. You don't take a 72-pix/inch default image from
> PaintShop and pass it thru a 1400 dots/inch printer without the result
> looking like it was carved with a chainsaw. Even a simple B/W image can
> be full of artifacts that the original 'creator' doesn't see on the
> screen but the printer will see. NOT using jpeg for this type of work
> is the first rule.
>
Yep, absolutely true. No one who does this commercially uses JPEGs. It's
always TIFF or some other lossless format, and always as close in
resolution to the output device as possible. The commercial houses also
use calibrators to get the on-screen colors to match what the printer
actually prints. Some of these files can easily exceed 100MB in size,
not exactly ideal for sending over the ether.
As for B&W prints, don't get me started. Rendering them correctly on
most color inkjets is damn near impossible. They will invariably come
out slightly blue or slightly green. HP is said to have special
cartridges for some of their printers that are designed specifically for
B&W printing and are supposed to eliminate this problem, but I have
never tried them.
Bill M
> Re: the Alps piece of junk printers - I guess I just didn't realize how
> bad they are - to the trash with mine! naw - on second thought - I think
> I can squeeze a few more prints out of it...
>
> best regards...
So does that mean you're volunteering to do some white decal prints for
the guys needing them?
-Bill
Randy or Sherry Guttery
> So does that mean you're volunteering to do some white decal prints for
> the guys needing them?
No, I don't think so - let the guys who do this for a living do it
right. I have no interest in having my crappie work - done on my crappie
printer -- blamed for someone else's *less than wonderful* artwork - or
bungling a decal application. Thanks, but no thanks.
BTW - I guess I should mark this post as Off Topic here in the "Social
Security & the US Government Sucks" Newsgroup. I'll have to "fix" my
newsreader to ignore this group - I have no idea how I got subscribed to
it - but I'll fix that now.
Nelson Gietz
I <thought> the whole notion of an ALPS printer looked just a little too
easy.
Nelson
"Scott W. Harvey" <NOT_M...@email.com> wrote in message
news:cv9c0...@news1.newsguy.com...
> Bill M wrote:
>
> > I investigated this thoroughly a few years ago before deciding NOT to
> > buy an ALPS printer. Here are the issues...
(Snip)
> Bill is, unfortunately, absolutely correct.
(And more snips)
Paul P
> color inkjets is damn near impossible. They will invariably come out
> slightly blue or slightly green. HP is said to have special cartridges for
> some of their printers that are designed specifically for B&W printing and
> are supposed to eliminate this problem, but I have never tried them.
>
> -Scott
Even with the Print with Black Cartridge only setting(s) or the color
cartridge removed?
Works for me every time on my HP 5150. The black ink (in my cartridge)
looks black to me.
PP
william_b_noble
able to print directly onto the glass, though that's a long shot. There is
also "transfer lettering" - I suppose you can still buy that stuff
"Phil Nelson" <philn...@nospam.xyz> wrote in message
news:S6cRd.2860$IU....@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> Nice job of recreating the dial. How about phoning Kinko's and asking if
> they have a computer hooked to a printer that can do a color printout onto
a
> sheet of clear acetate? If the original dial is white lettering on clear
> glass, I guess you would want to replace the black in your image with
> "transparent." You could also phone around to art shops (T-shirt shops,
> whatever) and try to find someone who can take a computer image and
> silk-screen it onto glass, but that might exceed your budget.
>
> Phil
>
>
jjbunn
didn't ask about a decal.
After thinking about this for a while now, I'm amazed that nobody sells
an inkjet cartridge containing white ink, that could be used in place
of the black cartridge in a common inkjet printer.
Come to that, how easy would it be to find suitable white ink and fill
an empty (well cleaned) black cartridge?
Scott W. Harvey
almost like paint. You would have to thin the hell out of them to get
them to jet properly, if at all. Doing so would make the ink watery and
transparent, destroying the effect you are trying to achieve.
Printing white on a standard inkjet is truly the holy grail of printing.
Whoever figures out how to do it will have a nice, tidy niche market all
to himself.
Until that day comes, the only way I can think of that will work is
silkscreening.....Damned expensive and/or time consuming for a one-off
dialglass.
william_b_noble
"jjbunn" <jul...@cacr.caltech.edu> wrote in message
news:1110005919.8...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
jjbunn
I don't really understand why white ink is any more difficult than
black ink (for example) to get to jet properly. Why doesn't black ink
come out watery and transparent? My naive assumption was that the
colour is determined by the pigments in the ink solution, and so why
would the jet care if they were black or white? I guess I should read
up on inkjet technology :-)
Julian