LSP_Ray Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 I just saw this and haven't seen any topics about it. Anyone know more, seen one, or tried one? Would be nice to get an upgrade to the old ALPS. Micro-Mark Decal Maker's Special. Alburymodeler 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juggernut Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 Well, it does say it prints white so that's a definite plus. The cost is a bit steep at this point at almost $800 but if you're going to dive in, dive in deep. Don't forget the vector art software for designing the decals. That's almost a must-have if you're planning on doing anything but large text or simple shapes...and even then, vector graphics software is way better than raster graphics software (i.e., MS Paint and MS Word, etc.). I still have my Alps MD-1300 with lots of ink cartridges (including silver and gold as well as white) so I'm not really interested in this at this moment. If the Alps ever fails and there's no more available on the used market, I will probably look at this printer (or something similar). It is something to watch though. Thanks for the heads-up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nichenson Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 I have looked into it. The printer can be had for much less and is being phased out. The white toner comes from a company in Germany I believe. It is inserted in place of the black toner so you have to make either dual prints or pray for alignment. I have heard that the white is no where near as opaque as it needs to be. Finally the printer is at the low end of 600dpix600dpi. I will wait for something else. Was excited, but nope. I do wish the Oki printers would come down in price. nmayhew 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 Nice option, but pricey, I have seen Alps selling for about half, but this looks like a nice alternative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 This is simply Micro-Mark combining some remanufactured toner cartridges from a company in Germany (that have been refilled with 'white' toner), with a particular model of HP printer that suits them. What they don't appear to be telling you is that the white cartridge replaces the black one in your printer, so you can't print black and white at the same time. In fact, I suspect the entire package comes from the same company in Germany, as they offer a similar bundle. I can also get from them a white cartridge to suit my own HP printer (MFP477), but at an incredibly expensive price once shipping is included. It's an interesting and clever solution, but expensive, and not completely practical in my opinion. Kev D Bellis, D.B. Andrus and Out2gtcha 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 40 minutes ago, LSP_Kevin said: This is simply Micro-Mark combining some remanufactured toner cartridges from a company in Germany (that have been refilled with 'white' toner), with a particular model of HP printer that suits them. What they don't appear to be telling you is that the white cartridge replaces the black one in your printer, so you can't print black and white at the same time. In fact, I suspect the entire package comes from the same company in Germany, as they offer a similar bundle. I can also get from them a white cartridge to suit my own HP printer (MFP477), but at an incredibly expensive price once shipping is included. It's an interesting and clever solution, but expensive, and not completely practical in my opinion. Kev Another negative...the white cartridge is $349.00 USD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 (edited) 3 hours ago, Juggernut said: If the Alps ever fails and there's no more available on the used market, I will probably look at this printer (or something similar). It is something to watch though. Thanks for the heads-up. Here's a Japanese outfit called Elephant's Rocket that still sells lots of ink cartridges (and say they will be doing so until 2030) and refurbed Alps printers, sell some OKI stuff too. See the tabs at the top, kinda hard to follow https://www.paoon.com/decal/nagdzizc.html Edited August 29, 2019 by MikeMaben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Ray Posted August 29, 2019 Author Share Posted August 29, 2019 Guess I will keep my Alps setup then. Still, we need something soon as Alps stuff is petering out and drivers are tough for later Windows versions and parallel interface required. Not to mention lousy Alps resolution. Looks like with this one you need to print the white separate, too. Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 Disappointing. I did some ALPs work on one of my commission projects years ago, and thankfully the customer was happy, but I wasn't. The resolution reminded me of dot-matrix in a way, and the register of the decals in the end was sub-par at best. Im hoping, not unlike 3D printing there will come along a big leap in technology that will eventually allow the home user to print white and other stuff for simpler decal setups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 I used to print and do commission work back in the early 2000's and printed with Alps (mainly for police departments). I used to do multi layer printing using Gold, Silver, and White cartridges. The software and interfaces were sketchy at best back then. But I made it work. I sold all my stuff back in 2003, I now wish I still had it. But I agree, it should not be this hard to print white, its just another color. I really need custom decals for a project right now, but the lettering is too small to make stencils, and the font cant be pieced together from anything else. Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 You guys must be doing something wrong. My MD1000 can print 600dpi and my MD5000 can print 1200dpi. 20 hours ago, LSP_Ray said: Guess I will keep my Alps setup then. Still, we need something soon as Alps stuff is petering out and drivers are tough for later Windows versions and parallel interface required. Not to mention lousy Alps resolution. They have drivers for XP , Vista and Win7 , and there's a parallel port to usb that's available just in case you didn't know. You can either join the alps yahoo group or the FB group. All the files and more info is there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hacker Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 l found the company that does the Ghost whites in both laser and ink. From my research the inks only work in Espon printers. Something to do with how their ink cartridges are make and how they print. Some ink printers l did not know use heat which would turn the white ink into goo and bugger the printer. As for Laser at the moment they only have l think two printer manufacturers toner cartridges available. Trust me when l say they are expensive. l have been looking into it for myself but like a lot of you guys l am not loaded with money https://www.ghost-white-toner.com/find-your-dealer/ here is dealers available world wide For you USA guys it is US Cutters. It seems to be pretty straight forward as you only have to change out the black toner, turn your artwork into an black and white image then turn it into a negative image so all those white parts are black to fool the printer. Unfortunately for me l have a Samsung C410 laser and a Canon ink printer both that does not have these cartridges available. l would have to run the expense of getting a new printer and the cost of the toner/ink Hacker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juggernut Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 9 hours ago, MikeMaben said: You guys must be doing something wrong. My MD1000 can print 600dpi and my MD5000 can print 1200dpi. They have drivers for XP , Vista and Win7 , and there's a parallel port to usb that's available just in case you didn't know. You can either join the alps yahoo group or the FB group. All the files and more info is there. Where do you get drivers for Win7? J keep an old , coal-fired XP machine just so I can use the Alps printer? I tried it on a Windows 7 machine but I could find no drivers to make it work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hacker Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 2 hours ago, Jennings Heilig said: It “seems to be,” but “seems to be” and “is” are two different things entirely. I’ve checked into this extensively, and gotten samples of the output, and the white is anything but opaque. From what I can tell, pretty much useless for making decals. Don't know about that as l got some printed decals from this guy https://www.facebook.com/Philippine-Military-Scale-Models-1548733742048308/ and he gives you the printed decals and the white backing separate and they seem good to go all you have to do is seal them. l have seen them used and they seem pretty good but l have yet to try mine. hacker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 (edited) file:///C:/Users/micha/AppData/Local/Temp/Which_Driver_to_Use.htm 16 hours ago, Juggernut said: Where do you get drivers for Win7? J keep an old , coal-fired XP machine just so I can use the Alps printer? I tried it on a Windows 7 machine but I could find no drivers to make it work. They're in a Yahoo group. They're free to join and there's boatloads of info about Alps printers. https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Alps/info They are also on FB https://www.facebook.com/groups/107365966389391/ Click on 'files' on the left. For Win7 you need the 32bit version. They do have drivers for Win 10 but you have to run virtual box software. They also have drivers for Macs , for those interested. Edited August 31, 2019 by MikeMaben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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