GrahamF Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 I've got two Alps printers and I find the finish very close to screen printed decals, the only issue is that you need a range of other colours which are available in Japan. You have to keep your wits about you when printing as each colour is a separate 'spot print' and your artwork has to be black for each colour that is selected. Don't forget that you can run Windows XP inside Windows 7 professional but you will need to fit a parallel port for the printer. Loading the driver for that was a bit of a trial as my PC is a 64bit machine but I managed it by letting the computer find the driver via the web. Graham Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted September 1, 2019 Share Posted September 1, 2019 https://www.amazon.com/parallel-usb-cable-bi-directional/s?k=parallel+to+usb+cable+bi-directional For those interested, you'll need a bi-directional one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamF Posted September 1, 2019 Share Posted September 1, 2019 (edited) 10 hours ago, MikeMaben said: https://www.amazon.com/parallel-usb-cable-bi-directional/s?k=parallel+to+usb+cable+bi-directional For those interested, you'll need a bi-directional one. Those USB to Parallel cables won't work trust me, I've been down that road three times. The only way to get your old Parallel centronics connected printer to work is to install the card. Apart from anything else the driver software will only look for an LPT1 connection and not USB. Graham Edited September 1, 2019 by GrahamF Typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nichenson Posted September 1, 2019 Share Posted September 1, 2019 As much as there is a market for printing white for the home hobbyist and even many small businesses, I have been puzzled why no one has bothered to really try and step in to make something other than OKI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Ray Posted September 1, 2019 Author Share Posted September 1, 2019 On 8/31/2019 at 4:46 AM, GrahamF said: I've got two Alps printers and I find the finish very close to screen printed decals, the only issue is that you need a range of other colours which are available in Japan. You have to keep your wits about you when printing as each colour is a separate 'spot print' and your artwork has to be black for each colour that is selected. Don't forget that you can run Windows XP inside Windows 7 professional but you will need to fit a parallel port for the printer. Loading the driver for that was a bit of a trial as my PC is a 64bit machine but I managed it by letting the computer find the driver via the web. Graham I use an old custom XP Pro machine. I belong to the Alps yahoo group and have done artwork and decals which required up to 14 passes to make a single decal. The problem is even the ALPS white isn't opaque if you use a single layer. You have to stack two or three layers then layer the colors over that. Like Graham says, you need to do layers in spot mode and with black artwork, select the color you want to print to get good decals without obvious dithering. You have your choice of CYMK + White, also photo red, photo blue, photo green, metallic silver, bright silver, gold, metallic CYM, and a clear finishing ribbon. It worked for awhile, but with the later aftermarket ribbons and aging ribbons, it is getting more difficult getting good adhesion when layering. It is a little frustrating when you are needing to print 10 layers and the fifth layer shows streaks and tearing as it isn't sticking properly. Plus, after all those layers the decals are a bit thick. It is really too bad someone didn't run with the technology and update and better it, because it was a really cool system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 Hey Ray , I can''t imagine printing that many spot colors. I've only printed metallics or white on layers, white when I need 2 layers for better opacity (works for me). Multi color stuff I just print like any other image. Even colors like purple, the printer will mix the blue and red to get very close to what I need in one pass. You're right everything needs to be backed with white (except black) to aquire any opacity. That's why white cartridges are a little more expensive. Like you guys , I wonder why someone doesn't produce a white inkjet cartridge. How hard could that be ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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