[WWI] printing decals

[Dave Calhoun]

Well for short run decals screen printing is not really an economical method unless you work at a shop that does this kind of work.  (Unfortunately I work for a large lithographer and we don't have this type of equipment)  Depending on your personal resources, the most economical way to get into the market is to buy a used ALPS printer on ebay. There is also plenty of white cartridges for sale here as well, only not so cheap any more, but far cheaper to spend $500-$1000 for a used setup & ink ribbons than to invest in a commercial screen printing setup.  The other risk in buying a used ALPS is most of these are at least 10 years old, and if they break I know of no place that can still service them (trust me, I have a broken MD 1000 sitting in my closet!)
Dave
Hi Dave

 

Many thanks for that extremely detailed explanation. You're right, it's
certainly not a process that would be useful for short run sheets which
is in a way what I expected but it was worth asking the question. I'm
not against the idea of 'putting my money where my mouth is' and getting
professionally printed sheets produced as long as I felt that I had a
good chance of recoupeing my investment without being left with 100s of
sheets that nobody wants, but then you have the logistics of setting up
web sites, supply and ordering systems etc, which just isn't me. I think
I need to to do some more digging, probably to no avail.

 

Once again many thanks for the info.

 

Regards     

 

Dave
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