Printing on acetate- help wanted.

[ecca]

I'm at the stage of making the PCB for the ecca-echo unit but.........
I've always struggled to successfully print onto clear acetate.
I have an Epson DX 8450 inkjet and I have the correct paper for it but the design doesn't print out very well onto normal paper let alone acetate.
Before I start cursing and swearing I thought I'd ask if anyone is good at this sort of stuff and might help me.
In years gone by I made prototype PCBs but they were never very good and when I stepped up to designing double sided boards it became nigh on impossible.
I then had the luxury of selling the devices I made using the PCBs so I could have them made out, at about £100 a throw, prototype boards.
This PCB is a single sided board and if I can get a good printout should be fine.
Anyone ?

[pjr]

When I last dabbled with it Ecca, I found the best results were obtained by using a laser printer for the output BUT you have to get hold of special acetate made to be used in lasers. (i.e. stuff that doesn't melt in a laser printer)

Cheers,

Pete

[ecca]

Thanks Pete, I was veering that way and perhaps might get one.

[Didier]

I have an Epson DX 8450 inkjet and I have the correct paper for it but the design doesn't print out very well onto normal paper let alone acetate.
Before I start cursing and swearing I thought I'd ask if anyone is good at this sort of stuff and might help me.

Have you checked if you had the proper print settings in the printer driver software ?
On my printer (Canon Pixma IP4600) there are many settings, depending on which kind of "paper" is used, it can also print directly on printable CD/DVDs.

Didier

[ecca]

Hi Didier, I haven't tried on acetate yet.
It won't print on clear paper without 'tricking' it by fastening another piece of normal paper to the acetate.
In reading on the net this printer of mine doesn't have a very good name with clear paper.

[noelford]

If you are looking for a good laser printer I can thoroughly recommend the HP Color Laser Jet CP2025 which I now use in my work. The quality is excellent, even on plain paper and, when using the correct paper, produces prints good enough for exhibition use and sales. It has been extremely reliable, too - much better than my Epson inkjet which I haven't switched on for a long while now.

[RogerCook]

Can you get it printed by a third party (eg a print shop) if you can save the design in a format like PDF that they can use?

Roger

[ecca]

That's a possibility Roger, I may well investigate doing that.
Thanks Noel, I'll be looking at that printer.

[neil2726]

Do you have a name for the echo yet Ecca? How about Eccamatic!

[Didier]

In reading on the net this printer of mine doesn't have a very good name with clear paper.

I have also checked, and found out that your Epson DX 8450 printer doesn' have settings for acetate printing, so obviously, it's not suited for the job...

Didier