Decals bleeding at the edge

[aggromere]

I just bought a new printer so I could print better looking decals. Got a cannon 5220. It has five ink cartridges (two different kinds of black) and can print to 9600 dpi. I printed some decals and they looked fantastic, one set was almost all black.

I sprayed them with 3 coats of the fixative and let them dry for several hours. Then cut them out using an exacto knife. Soak them in water for probably a minute or more and they hold on to the backing paper and are hard to slide off. I tried soaking them longer and longer but still the same problem. when I would get them off and put them on the pen the ink would bleed off of the edges of the decal paper. I used testors paper and spray.

Is it me, or is it the spray and paper. I never had that problem with my old printer. Any tricks or suggestions on how to set the printer to print on what kind of paper, etc. to make sure the bleed doesn't happen.

any info would be appreciated.

 

[PTownSubbie]

I just bought a new printer so I could print better looking decals. Got a cannon 5220. It has five ink cartridges (two different kinds of black) and can print to 9600 dpi. I printed some decals and they looked fantastic, one set was almost all black.

I sprayed them with 3 coats of the fixative and let them dry for several hours. Then cut them out using an exacto knife. Soak them in water for probably a minute or more and they hold on to the backing paper and are hard to slide off. I tried soaking them longer and longer but still the same problem. when I would get them off and put them on the pen the ink would bleed off of the edges of the decal paper. I used testors paper and spray.

Is it me, or is it the spray and paper. I never had that problem with my old printer. Any tricks or suggestions on how to set the printer to print on what kind of paper, etc. to make sure the bleed doesn't happen.

any info would be appreciated.

Peter,

Is the paper and spray new since the last time you did decals? I have had problems with the bleeding that you speak of. I think it was the spray that was bad. I tried laquer and they stopped bleeding. After that, I tossed the testors spray and used laquer.

Just a thought and my experience.

 

[aggromere]

Probably was an old can. Thanks for the tip

 

[DozerMite]

Spray them with a light coat after you cut them out. The water comes into contact with the raw ink edge and will make it bleed. That is the purpose for the clear coat, to seal the ink in. You can also use something like Krylon or Rustolium clears. A bit less expensive.

 

[Moosewatcher]

How close to the ink did you cut the decal? Could you have cut so close that the water is getting to the ink?

Ken