In reponse to Liquid Magma’s finding on the OKI printer and white toner, I’ve done a bit of research. OKI is actually an Okidata printer used for businesses. It is expensive - $3000 - $22,000 depending on what you want. I cannot find anything regarding whether or not it will work on decal paper. However, the reviews is here:
https://www.betterbuys.com/office-equipment/reviews/oki-c900-family-review/
As you can see, it’s mainly for graphic arts and publishing but not for office uses. It does have its uses for making homemade iron-on transfers since the toner needs to be heated. It can be used on other surfaces such as metal, wood, and glass. However, it doesn’t specify for uses on plastic - considering no one has tried it on plastic since plastic can melt in high temps - let alone low temps.
As I said before, I have my doubts whether this printer with white toner can work on decal paper or not.
I took the liberty in contacting Okidata website and inquired about white toner for decals and did in fact, get a response.
This is the response from Okidata representative concerning whether or not the white toner can be used for making your own decals:
Thank you for your inquiry.
There is no documentation showing you could or couldn’t print on decal
paper. With this said, When printing on any media there are rules that
apply:
There are some basic rules to follow regarding these types of calls.
-
Print media must be able to withstand 446°F (230°C) for 0.2 second.
-
20 psi(pounds per square inch)
-
Check with the media company for the proper media settings.
-
OKIDATA does not know what the long term effects could be using
specialized media.
These type of media could compromise the fuser and/or drums
I would suggest you contact the manufacture company of the decal for best
white toner printer to use.
Thank you, OKIDATA Rubyann
No surprise here. It’s clearly states it must withstand high temps so this tells me it’s more for t-shirt decals not water slide decals. I said it once and I’ll say it again. I had my doubts and knew it couldn’t possibly work.
Thanks for the investigative work! Certainly sounds like that one would not work. Too bad there seems to be little market for an affordable printer that can print white. [8-)]
Because paper is white…
Pressure sensitive vinyl film comes in white.
Making a decal to include white just is not hard to do.
About the only glitch I have had is that if the art has white, it often prints as a gray tone on clear film. That just means adjusting the color density.
I’ve done screwy stuff too. Like for a white star on armor, print the star on the back of the film, cut out with a razor blade and bingo a white star with no outline.
If I could make a suggestion?
Perhaps an ALPS printer is the answer to the problem here. Back in the early 2000’s, the company introduced a dry print system that advertised directly to the modelling community. The printers are capable of printing a wide variety of colors (including white!) and metallic finishes. The company went out of business, but there have been a number of other firms which have stepped in to fill the vacuum by offering reconditioned printers and ink refills for the system.
A lot of “cottage industry” decal manufacturers use the exact same technology (Don’s Light and Magic and Fireball immediately come to mind) to print aftermarket decal sheets. The price on these reconditioned units isn’t necessarily cheap, but it’s pretty much on the same scale as what I paid for my Canon ink jet printer. The ink refills are almost identical in price to what I pay to refill my printer.
You can find them on e-Bay regularly, but alps-printer.com appears to be pretty much a “one stop shop” for reconditioned printers, ink, and information on what these machines can do for water transfer decals.