What is the best colour printer for down loaded kits?

[muddy water]

My old Printer has died and needs to be replaced.

Which printer currently available is good for downloadable kits?

I am looking for good quality printing with separate black and colour cartridges. 

Replacement cartridges should not be too expensive as they always need replacing just before you have a large print run!

 

which makes and models do people find good?

 I had a Kodak one that was ok when new, but deteriorated as it got older.

[brossard]

Mines a HP OfficeJet Pro 8720.  It uses oil based ink and has been very reliable with about 1000 pages from the cartridges.   However, the cartridges aren't cheap.   I've made a fair few Scalescenes kits with it.  At least I get to use the ink instead of it drying out with the water based ink printers I've used.

 

John

[Paul80]

Have a look at the Epson Ink Tank models, they offer a good quality print and don't take cartridges, they have big refillable tanks and cost a fraction to run compared to the expensive cartridges, and run fine on third party inks so can be even better value.

 

Paul

[Theakerr]

Only comment I can make is make sure you get one where you can adjust the colours.  I purchased a brother HL-3040CN laser jet that overall i am very pleased with.  However, I cannot adjust the colour tones and the colour of things like red bricks and grey slates simply looks wrong with the installed settings.  I have talked to at least one other person who is into photography and he has a similar complaint.

[Tim V]

Getting the colours on the screen to match the colours on the print is exceedingly difficult. Ask any magazine editor (like me!).

 

If the colours don't match, have a look at your colour profiles - you need to match them up throughout your process - so, screen and printer profiles have to match.

 

 

[Theakerr]

Hi Tim,

I have a MAC and I looked at trying to adjust the screen colours although for the most part I was OK with what I saw on the screen.  I was sort of successful but even then the print colours did not match.  On my previous Epson inkjet I could go in and change the colours at the printer level.  This did change the colours on the screen with the result that sometimes I could get the colour print I wanted but the colour on the screen looked terrible.

[Tim V]

You are not looking to change any colours in the printer. RMweb is not the place to look at colour theory! WYSIWYG

 

Have a look at https://www.epson.eu/en/viewcon/corporatesite/cms/index/10471

 

[Philou]

I've got a Canon Pixma MP550 that has colour adjustment when printing (got to look for it in the menu). The printer cost about £180 about 4 years ago. Original cartridges (double volume black, single volume black, cyan, magenta and yellow) are not cheap (around £12-£15 each!) but I get mine through Amazon in a big pack of 20 generic ones (4 of each) and they work out at £1 a cartridge.

 

I did get their infamous 'printer not working' messages but that was overcome by getting a new look-alike printer-head that didn't cost much and was dead easy to replace - again through Amazon.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

 

PS: Reminds me that I have to get a new box of cartridges - toodle-pip.

 

PPS: Forgot to add that insofar as I am concerned, the default printer settings and the generic cartridges copy pretty much faithfully the colours of the Scalescenes products. As the inks are water-based, you do need to protect the sheets, or the finished building, with a coating of matt varnish. I use artists' acrylic matt varnish that comes in a big can.

 

Here is a slightly modified Scalescene set, printed 'as is' without fiddling about with the printer settings and using the cheap cartridges:

 

Edited November 25, 2019 by Philou
Added a PPS

[sagaguy]

The problem with colour matching on the screen is that monitors need to be colour calbrated,i used a Spyder pro.These coach overlays were dowloaded from a forum on the web & processed in Adobe CS2.I tried to match the colour to some existing coaches.I printed them on glossy Kodak 150gsm photo paper.The forst problem to arise was that on my Canon MX495 two cartridge printer,the print had a purple sheen.I had to print them on my Canon A3 printer to lose the sheen.This printer has 8 inks.

 

                          Ray.

[JimFin]

23 hours ago, sagaguy said:

The problem with colour matching on the screen is that monitors need to be colour calbrated,i used a Spyder pro.

 

That is one big problem and really if you are trying to match you need a 4k screen with a Spyder.

 

Back to another aspect of the question in hand however - 

On 21/11/2019 at 18:32, muddy water said:

Replacement cartridges should not be too expensive as they always need replacing just before you have a large print run!

 

 There is an issue longer term in that lower quality (usually cheaper) ink is not as colour fast / UV resistant as premium or specialist inks and a beautifully crafted model can looked washed out quite quickly so be careful in this regard - also in the building process coat with a UV block - acrylic matt varnish - to seal and preserve the colour. And that's before you get onto the choice of paper to print on! Again longevity is the issue and acid free the best option to preserve the ink.

 

As far as hardware, to be honest any of the big 4 will work pretty well the same - Canon, HP, Epson and Brother inkjet with decent specs a shade over £100. You could consider colour laser as they are dropping in price e.g. Samsung C430 is under £200 but toner is currently more expensive than inkjet. The advantage however is roughly double the print resolution at 1200 d.p.i rather than the 600 with inkjet.

 

If I were in the market now, I would probably go for a Canon Pixma Pro 100. Prints up to A3 including a straight through option for cardstock so its not going round rollers and a resolution of 4800 x 2400. It has 8 ink cartridges to give better adjustment of colour. Retails around £350 and gets good reviews.

 

Tough call for you but plenty of choice for sure at all budget points.

 

[sagaguy]

I use a Canon pro 9000 A3 printer with original inks,expensive but I haven't had any problems with colour. 4K screens weren't around when got the spider.I always let Photoshop determine the colours.

 

        Ray. 

[sagaguy]

It all depends on your budget and the quality you want.Maroon is a difficult colour to print,the mail van overlay was originally printed out on Kodak 150 gsm glossy photo paper but printed with a two cartridge printer,in certain light conditions,it had a very noticeable purple tinge.It disappeared on the print out after using the A3 8 ink printer.It really comes down to how much you want to spend.I used to do a lot of photography,non original ink cartridges as i found out in the dim & distant past,can give an image a rather peculiar result.I nearly always print at 300dpi which will give a good quality print.The Meccano print is an example of the A3 printer at A3 size.These are using Canon original ink.One of the advantages of using these big printers is that the printer heads are in the cartridge,any problems,just replace the cartridge.

 

                                    Ray.

[KeithMacdonald]

Thanks for all the previous replies about colour choices and options. But one question I haven't seen mentioned yet is : What's the thickest paper or card that the printer can cope with?

 

Some might say : Why?

 

Because, in other posts, I've noticed some people have printed ScaleScene's excellent products onto thin paper. But they end-up with a very noticable ripple or corregated effect, especially on platforms. For that reason, I chose a Canon printer that can print directly onto heavyweight paper or card (c.200gsm upwards).

 

It seems like a win-win situation, because the end result looks better. I don't need to glue the thin printed paper onto stiffer backing card, and then weight it down with a ton of bricks to try and keep it flat. I've not found any negative reasons (yet). 

 

YMMV ... ?

[brossard]

I use photocopy paper in my printer which is relatively heavy.  To stick the brick paper down I use Pritt glue sticks and a roller to ensure that everything is adhered.  If you do get curling at the edges and corners, it is easy to go back and apply more Pritt.

 

I have run decal paper through it but it doesn't do a great job with transfers as they tend to smear, probably because the sheet is run through internal rollers before the ink is dry.

 

Here's an LCut engine shed faced with Scalescenes brick:

 

 

The apparent different colours of brick is due to the rubbish lighting.

 

John

Edited December 9, 2019 by brossard

[JimFin]

5 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said:

Thanks for all the previous replies about colour choices and options. But one question I haven't seen mentioned yet is : What's the thickest paper or card that the printer can cope with?

 

 

In part the answer is choosing a printer that has a straight through option for cardstock so its not going round rollers. Each printer in its options should allow you to select the type of material you are printing onto and allow for different thickness by adjusting the pickup tension (lower tension for thicker stock)  and height of the print head (higher for thicker stock) for the stock being used. Afraid there is no simple answer to your question.  Its printer specific depending on how sophisticated it is.

[Izzy]

I would suggest a basic Epson A4 MFD is all you need for such as Scalescenes. They have a big advantage over many other printer makes of any type with regard to their software and the paper sizes you can use/specify as well as many other options which other makes just don't have or allow.

 

I only use label paper for card kits - normally A4 sheet size. The advantages are that it is thin, and can be overlaid onto any thickness of card stock as required and wrapped around the card as is often the general design with Scalescenes to cover exposed edges etc.

 

Izzy

[justin1985]

Resurrecting this thread with a query on types of printer ink.

 

I normally model buildings in plasticard, but I downloaded a Scalescenes bridge for a quick project. My home printer is actually an HP colour laser - the prints look great, but on fold lines I've noticed the printed surface tends to crease and crack.

 

I guess that makes sense as toner is basically fused on as a surface layer, rather than soaking in like an ink. For now I've tried to touch in the creased white spots with watercolour pencils - which seems to have worked quite well (touched in on left hand buttress, creased on right)

 

 

I will be needing to make quite a lot of brick buildings soon as part of bigger projects, and frankly printed brick does look an awful lot better than what I can do with textured plasticard (I think the reverse is true with stone).

 

So I'm beginning to wonder if it might be worth buying a cheap inkjet printer if it might avoid this "cracking"? i.e. assuming ink that soaks in rather than forming a "crust" like toner does?

 

Could anyone share experiences of inkjet colour fastness of different brands? Not much seems to be written about this aspect, but I got a sense Epson have the advantage of pigment rather than dye inks? But on the other hand they tend to clog more? (Which might be an issue it's only for occasional modelling use)

 

Cheers

 

Justin

 

[Izzy]

In my experience with Epsom printers none of the inks are long term uv resistant and you need to spray the printed sheets with something like Ghost Matt varnish, which I use, but it’s not cheap. Others though, even Matt ones, tend to give a sheen to the surface. So use the cheapest Epson MFD you can get. Never had any cracking. But only use Epson inks. Otherwise clogging will be a continual problem. Once others have been through the head that’s it, stuffed, even if you then use Epson. Been there etc.....   Unlike other (bubble) ink jet printers, HP, Canon etc, the heads don’t get replaced with each ink cartridge.

 

[sagaguy]

Laser prints crack because they are a plastic print which is not absorbed by the paper,ink jet inks are being a liquid.If you can,buy the original manufacturers inks,cheap inks tend to give curious colour results.

 

        Ray. 

[Thunderforge]

Having worked in the print/copying industry I’d recommend getting a copyshop to do a laser print. For a few quid you should be able to get decent colour accuracy and have it on some stout card (up to 300gsm). If you pay a bit more they should be able to get it on self adhesive label paper. The advantage of laser is that it isn’t water soluble like inkjet is, so you can weather and varnish it easily.

I’ve made platforms this way stuck to a wooden form; with a dab of matt varnish it looks great!