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Making Custom Decals

How Does the ALPS Print?

This information is condensed from what I read on the ALPS web site.

Unlike an ink jet printer, the ALPS printer uses a dry "ink" to make its printing. The "ink" is actually a resin that is impregnated onto a thin cellophane tape and wound onto spools inside the print cartridges. Micro-small, heated needles in the printer's print head melt small dots of resin off the cellophane tape and onto the paper to make the printed image. Hence, the images are not water soluble and have an amazingly long life without fading. The web site literature claims the printed images from an ALPS printer are more color-fast and fade resistant than actual photographic images. I have yet to put this to an acid test, but it sounds good.

The Dye Sublimation process is a bit different. There is an actual dye impregnated onto the cellophane tape that is chemically matched to transfer onto special photographic paper (available from ALPS and other sources). This dye does not transfer well to any types of paper that lack the chemicals found on the photographic paper. Attempting to do a Dye Sublimation print on non-photographic paper can damage the printer.

Watching the printer print an image is a bit of a treat. It prints the entire image in one color, then sucks the paper back in to print the entire image a second time using the next color. This repeats multiple times until all the needed colors have been printed to the image. If the printer needs a color not currently loaded into the printer, it stops and displays a message on the PC screen that asks for the appropriate cartridge. You can then open the printer, swap in the requested cartridge, and close the printer. The printing then continues as if nothing happened.

Watching the image grow one color at a time is rather neat (at least to me). Because of this repeating process, a printing of a single image can take quite some time. Printing an 8 by 10 inch photographic enlargement can take upwards of 20 minutes for the printer to complete its printing. Using the standard ink cartridges on normal 8½ by 11 inch paper generally takes around 2 minutes for a full-page, full-color image. Printing a normal 8½ by 11 page of just black text takes only one pass and about 20 seconds.

Special cartridges for the printers provide the ability to print in metallic colors. This is not limited to only silver and gold, but includes cartridges that allow full-color graphics in metallic colors. I know, this has little to do with modeling, but it is a cool feature. I have used the metallic silver and gold in various decals with great results.