Decal printing

[JagPilot]

Hello from Mr. Newbie.

 

Has anyone here ever tried to print their own decals?  I understand from another site that it can be done.

 

I ask because I am able to design and produce almost anything using expensive industry-standard graphics software.  This has over 100 million colours available.  Having retired from RAF fast-jet flying I became an aviation technical author before finally retiring in 2012.

 

I offer my services should anyone be interested.

[Rainer Hoffmann]

Yes, anyone with access to a laser or inkjet printer can do it. Just make sure to get the correct decal paper for your type of printer. A high resolution printer is required for small type (my printer can print type as small as 0.8 point (!). You can only read it with a magnifier, though). There is also transparent decal paper and white decal paper. If you use an inkjet printer you have to seal the printed decals with some gloss coat to prevent the ink from dissolving when the decal is soaked in water.

 

When you have access to a vector graphics program (as I understand you do) then you are good to go. There is only one difficulty: You can't print white with a "normal" printer. To do that you need a special (third party) white cartridge that is available for some, but not for all laser printers. As far as I know printing white on an inkjet printer is not possible.

 

Having said that, my personal experience with self printed decals is mixed. The decals are fairly thick compared with good commercial decals and it is hard to conceal the edges after applying the decal.

 

I hope that helps. There are a lot of knowledgeable members on this forum who might chime in.

 

Cheers

Rainer

Edited Sunday at 12:37 PM by Rainer Hoffmann

[Juggernut]

I design and print my own decals using Adobe Illustrator and an ALPS printer which will print white, silver, and gold in addition to the 16 million range of colors common to other printers.  
 

The Achilles heel of the ALPS printer is that the color mixing is not internal to the machine.  It “dithers” the five colors in its cartridges to create the desired color.  From a distance, 12” or more, it looks fine but up close, you see the dithering.  In other words, up close you see the tiny dots of the other colors the printer used to arrive at the desired color.  Not good for a decal.  You can fool it with some colors but not for most.

[LSP_Kevin]

15 hours ago, Rainer Hoffmann said:

high resolution printer is required for small type (my printer can print type as small as

What printer are you using, Rainer? My HP multi-function unit is limited to 600 dpi printing, which is too low I feel to do more than a passable job.

 

Kev

[Rainer Hoffmann]

3 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said:

What printer are you using, Rainer? My HP multi-function unit is limited to 600 dpi printing, which is too low I feel to do more than a passable job.

 

Kev

I'm using a pretty old Epson Stylus Photo PX720WD inkjet printer (no longer in production). I've tweaked the driver parameters somewhat and on glossy paper I can indeed go as small as 0.8 point. I was quite amazed. However, the quality is not as good as screen printing, but we didn't expect that, did we?

 

Cheers

Rainer

[LSP_Kevin]

Thanks, Rainer. I've opted to stick with laser printing for decals, as the toner is much more colour-fast and water-resistant thank most inkjet inks!

 

Kev

[JayBee]

On 3/1/2026 at 4:27 PM, Juggernut said:

I design and print my own decals using Adobe Illustrator and an ALPS printer which will print white, silver, and gold in addition to the 16 million range of colors common to other printers.  
 

The Achilles heel of the ALPS printer is that the color mixing is not internal to the machine.  It “dithers” the five colors in its cartridges to create the desired color.  From a distance, 12” or more, it looks fine but up close, you see the dithering.  In other words, up close you see the tiny dots of the other colors the printer used to arrive at the desired color.  Not good for a decal.  You can fool it with some colors but not for most.

 

 

To solve the "dither" problem the best way is to use the "spot color" option in the printer settings and a 100% black colored artwork

 

For warm yellow, grey and orange and other colors there are different spotcolor ink cassettes available at Elephant Rocket (Japan)

 

Yes, they are expensive, but they greatly expand the possiblities of dither free color prints.

 

All colors are spotprinted on this sheet without dither.

 

In the upper row the typical ALPS inks are used

 

From the middle to the bottom (Pastel White to Blue Green) the Elephant Rocket inks are used.