(Topic ID: 5317)

Ever made your own insert decals?

By CadillacMusic

12 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 12 posts
  • 7 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 12 years ago by Trident
  • Topic is favorited by 2 Pinsiders

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#1 12 years ago

Has anyone here ever made insert decals for a pin? We've got this Stern Harley Davidson that was just beat on for months and months. When it came back in, our head tech took the mylar off...and half the insert decals with it. No one makes replacements, as far as I can tell. I've tried both adhesive and non-adhesive Grapfix brand printable transparent plastic. The problem is that the decals are not as clear as the original ones, and have the wrong opacity for the ink. Light shines through the letters. I can put enough ink on so no light gets through, but then it never dries. Not sure what to do at this point. Hints, anyone?

#2 12 years ago
Quoted from CadillacMusic:

I can put enough ink on so no light gets through, but then it never dries.

How about sticking a piece of mylar over it?

#3 12 years ago
Quoted from gweempose:

How about sticking a piece of mylar over it?

I guess, but it's hard...it's very easy to smear. I was looking for an easier answer

#4 12 years ago
Quoted from gweempose:

How about sticking a piece of mylar over it?

Sticking a piece of mylar onto wet ink is not a recipe for success.

I would not use an ink jet printer for a task like that - they were never very good for transparencies in general. Use a laser printer to print it - and try to find a more transparent decal blank to use. Maybe you could even print it on mylar? Not sure if you can laser print on mylar, but you can try.

#5 12 years ago

Another option would be to print and laminate at an office depot or staples. I told a friend of mine to do it on one of his machines and he did it, he created his own design and they actually look really good.

#6 12 years ago

I made a custom pin awhile back out of an old alien star. I sanded the playfield all the way down to the wood( and when i say sanded im mean inserts and all). I then cut letters for the inserts out of black vinyl, layed them down and then polyurathain over the whole playfield. maybe you could do that to just the insert. Here are some pics of that custom pin i did.

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#7 12 years ago

more pics

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#8 12 years ago

There was some discussion on RGP about using this method:

http://ezscreenprint.com/

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.pinball/browse_thread/thread/f60006dbf09e8ccb#

Gallery of the process:
http://photos.scriptpirate.com/GalleryFilmstrip.aspx?gallery=564947

I was thinking of trying it for my Whirlwind. I know that when I remove the Mylar I'm going to lose some text on a few of the inserts.

#9 12 years ago

Laser printing doesn't seem to give enough darkness to the plastic. I do think I will have to go for painting directly on the inserts. Even if I print it on clear and get it laminated, it would smear during lamination. But that silkscreening....egad. That looks anything but EZ. Still, it will probably give a better look than what I've been trying.

Also:

Wow, Trident, is that a World of Darkness: Hunter pin? That is just frickin' awsome. Though I was always a werewolf gal myself.

#10 12 years ago

It's based on a comic i drew about five years ago called hunter in the dark.I sent it to image comics but never heard anything so i decided to make my own pinball machine out of the theme.

#11 12 years ago

I replaced some decals on a swt after removing the mylar. Buyer never noticed although they weren't 100 percent. Recreated the artwork in illustrator and printed it off on transparency paper. then I sealed it in using varathane. It would work well on a williams, but sega/stern do not do true clear. Everything is opaque and it showed when i was done. Overall a huge improvement, but not perfect. Also you cannot print white.

#12 12 years ago

we have an old gerber edge printer at my work that you can print white on.

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