After printing the sample that Bill sent me (thank you Bill), and letting it sit for a while so the ink dries completely, it's still not as dark as the black I used to get from the old HP Printer with a Glossy Photo Paper setting. Had a local computer tech stop by, my color R,G, B values all set at 0, and other things checked out, he said that was as black as this printer will do.

Ordered some print media for my laser, as the black from that on plain paper is much darker.

I'll keep ya'll posted.

Thanks,

Marc

That is good information - thanks!

It seems to be related to the adsorption rate of the black ink on the surface of the media during the drying period.

I have an HP Office Jet 6500 that just doesn't do a good job. I ruined my last sheets of gold and silver media trying different settings and printing one decal at a time. The black looks like dark purple. I don't like the way it prints on the white either. I just can't get crisp lettering.

_________________________________________
"Angling is extremely time consuming.
That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane

Chuck, maybe you already do this but I couldn't tell from your post. If you're already doing this maybe it'll help another builder.

To help conserve my print media, whether it's the gold, silver or holo papers, I always move my image to the center of the page then print it with draft setting on standard white paper. After the draft is dry cut a piece of desired media big enough to cover the image on the draft plus a half inch or so. Then carefully tape the media over the image. The tape should cover the top edge of the media to prevent it from getting caught while being fed through the printer. Also tape the sides of the media to prevent the sliding print head from catching and smearing the ink. Then reset the printer quality settings to match the media and feed the same page back through again. I reason I move the image to the center of the paper is so the tape over the top edge doesn't affect the initial feeding of the page. It may not be an issue with all printers but the ones I've used can sometimes get a paper jamb.

Thanks,
Chad Huderle

Huderle Custom Rods
Prior Lake, MN

That's a good tip, Chad. I do that sometimes on single decals. For my testing I printed a decal, penned a number by it, and then jotted down those settings on paper. Then, using Corel Draw, I moved the image and printed again. I ended up filling a whole sheet of gold and silver with dud decals.

_________________________________________
"Angling is extremely time consuming.
That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane

I have a suggestion Marc, try an HP photo printer. I had one, can't remember what model but it was several years old, it would give you that really black crisp looking print. This thing I have now copy, scanner, printer works fine for normal printing but when I need a decal printed I email the info to my BIL and he prints it on my decal media. He has an HP photo printer that is fairly new but it will give you that super dark print.

good oils there guys i just went and got a hp photosmart b190a prints wicked photos now i gota c if i can get some form of decal papper in new zealand