Creating Decals
Modified on 2011/04/19 12:06 by BobHolcombe — Categorized as: Restoration Topics
by
Phillip Duke
I am new to the site and have restored a Delta model 1200 scroll saw.
I am posting this because of the response of people on this site who have inquired about where I got the decals for the resto.
A few months ago, I was walking through Hobby Lobby looking for Pinewood Derby stuff for my cubscout sons and happened to walk down their model car aisle and noticed "Testors" water slide decal paper that can printed on an ink jet home printer. I bought the paper and decided to give it a try.
I found some old photos on this site of what the decals should have looked like and copied them to my computer. Problem was, images from the internet are low resolution to save time of loading web pages, I needed high resolution photos to actually print a decal. I copied the 72 dot per inch photos into photoshop and converted them to 300 dot per inch files. This meant re-type setting the entire photo, using the original only as a base to find the location of each typed line. This was a very time consuming task and would be even more time consuming to explain.
If you are familiar with photo editing software, then you understand the process, If you are not familiar with it, then you will need to find some kind soul to type set your decals for you. Given enough time, I can type set decals and post them to this site.
If you happen to be restoring a Delta 1200, you can find the files that I used here
http://rich.homeunix.com:443/decals/
All you need to do is download them and print them out on decal paper. also you may want to check this previous thread.
http://owwm.org/viewtopic.php?t=33380&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Back to how to create decals
1. you will need to buy some printable decal paper
2. Also buy the spray-on ink sealer. (without it; your ink will dissolve in the bowl of water you use to soften the decal)
3. Download and print out the photo on the decal paper
4. Give the decal about a day to dry and then spray a light coat of the ink sealer. Let the sealer dry for another day, then cut out your decal. (do not rush the drying times unless you want the ink to run when you apply the sealer. Also do not cut out the decal before applying the sealer, it will seal the edges and will not release from the backing paper.
5. Once you have your decal cut to size, drop it into a bowl of warm water. Leave it in the water for 5 seconds then remove.
6. After about 5 more seconds the decal will start to release from the backing paper.
7. Slide the decal off to the side of the backing and position for placement on your machine. Make sure you have cleaned the placement area with denatured alcohol to remove all traces of oils before applying the decal.
8. "Lightly" smooth the decal from the center outwards to seal it to the machine and remove any excess water.
9. Pat yourself on the back, you have created a decal for your restoration.
Below are some other decals that I made for the model 1200.