To all you screenprinters out there...I have been recently printing oversized prints and currently have an HP printer so I have been taping multiple transparencies together to get my large transparency. My problem is...I am splicing the image in photoshop down to sizes that will fit on 8.5x11 transparencies and then printing them out and making sure that when I print them it is not scaled to fit (either enlarging or shrinking the image) and making sure it is actual size when I print it. When I go to line up all the transparencies, some of them are just slightly off maybe a 16th to an eighth of an inch, but thus making it almost impossible to line up and print or do any multicolor jobs. Just curious if there is another way to print out transparencies or a different program where you have had success. Cannot really afford a large format printer at the moment so this is what I have to do. Any way I can tweak settings in photoshop to get it to print out at the exact actual size. HELP!
17 Comments
Cole said 4 months ago
you can outsource your films.
swonkee said 4 months ago
yeah, dont really want to do that unless you can give me a really good price, Cole. Plus I would need them fairly quickly and cannot afford to do expedited shipping. Just seeing if there was a solution that I could do to fix my problem.
Truman325i said 4 months ago
Doesn’t kinkos do something like this?
jimiyo said 4 months ago
i dont print film, but do you use multiple files?
if so,
use one image, but in print with preview in photoshop you could move the image aligned to the top left, then figure out the next sheet you print, move it aligned top right, etc etc.
i used to do this for nontransparency ghettofied printing needs. dont know if it will help, but they used to line up.
Cole said 4 months ago
kinkos wouldnt do it for me. i switched to legal sized films and it made it a bit easier. less films to tape and lick together.
swonkee said 4 months ago
jimiyo, that might work, but what is happening is it either stretching or shrinking the image slightly, so I dont know if aligning it to the top left or whatever is going to do much, maybe it will, i will have to try it.
Derisory Designs said 4 months ago
When you say an HP printer do you mean a laser printer? if so that’s your problem, laser printers work by heating up the substrate and the transparency will shrink slightly when that happens.
swonkee said 4 months ago
no ink jet, already knew about the laser problem, so that is not the case
Derisory Designs said 4 months ago
are you printing them out so that when you align the transparencies they will overlap each other? i usually print mine to overlap up to an inch and i’ve never really had a problem.
mattschoch said 4 months ago
have you tried printing on regular paper?
take a image that didn’t line up on your transparencies, and print it the exact same way on paper, and see if that lines up, if so then its something with your transparencies.
swonkee said 4 months ago
hey guys, got it fixed...i was overlapping the images and just lining up with that and also using the target points in the corners, but i went ahead and added several other target points on other spots and lined it up with those as well...so when it seemed like they were lining up they were just slightly off. Extra target points did the trick. Thanks for the help everyone
edword said 4 months ago
yeah overlapping should work better then trying to but one edge up to the other, but I think you’ll still run into this problem every once in a while.
instead of just randomly chopping it up maybe pick and choose spots in the art work with limited points that will have to match up.
Chris Martin said 4 months ago
The next problem you will find with this method (we used to do this when we first started printing) is that when you have designs with high detail and small halftones, if you do not cut the edges close enough you may get lines in your screens where the halftones wash out too much.
Once this happens you may have to start looking at printers such as the epson 4800 (used) or 4880. They are expensive, but they get the job done better than anything, and they work on roll transparencies so you can do gang seps and print a lot out at one time!
Derisory Designs said 4 months ago
One day that printer will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine.
RockyRoark said 4 months ago
The girl that we send our stuff out to charges $18.25 per 13 by 13 sheet.
SentimentalNate said 4 months ago
Also, Kinko’s will print 11X17 transparencies. They aren’t cheap, but a few of them will do the trick. Good to hear you figured it out.
sentimentaladam said 3 months ago
Where do you get roll transparencies?