Printing waterslide decals

[cowboyboots]

Printing waterslide decals top 3 inches print perfect anything bigger I start to get smudges

[Dragon-Fur]

@cowboyboots

First, make sure you have Laser Waterslide decal paper (as opposed to the paper for Inkjet printers).

This is the first I've seen of this Media type.

I did find a site that includes the paper and printing instructions that might be useful in context.

DecalPaper.com - Waterslide Decal Paper for Laser and Inkjet

Next to the name of the paper, click tiny "more info"

For example:

Laser Waterslide Decal Paper 8.5 x 11 inches

If you can find the paper weight on the package of paper, check to be sure it is compatible with the Printer Specifications:

Printer Specifications for HP Color LaserJet Pro M252, M274, and M277 Printers

Know that regardless of gsm (weight), this Media type (kind of paper) may not be (fully) compatible with the printer -- that being the case, the results might not be as expected.

Reference

Printer Homepage – “Things that are your printer”

Drivers and Software, Videos, How-to, Troubleshooting, Manuals, Product Information, and more

HP Color LaserJet Pro M252dw

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[Paulloseby]

I bought a Laserjet Pro M452nw purely for printing decals yesterday.  I had exactly the same problem and went on the HP Virtual helper. 

I was getting exactly the same problem with smudges. 

I use a Mac and that had set the printer up automatically - that was the problem.   

Go to the support - drivers page and download HP Easy Start and follow the sequence right through.  Then when you go to use your imaging software (in my case Photoshop Elements), the list of printer media is far more comprehensive.  

Go for Card Glossy 176-220g and mine came out absolutely perfect - best ever - and I have been printing decals for about 3 years.

[nielsentr04]

I recently purchased an HP Laserjet Pro M452nw from US Cutter.  I will be using it to print decals also.  I'm glad I checked here before attempting to print my first on decal paper.  I am very pleased with the printer so far.  I am anxious to see how the ghost white toner cartridges work. Thanks for sharing your tips.

[Paulloseby]

My wife and I have made about 1800 pens using decals.  I went through a few printers initially and then bought the M452NW.  The results have been superb.  After 11 months however, despite showing there was plenty of original toner in the machine, the colours seemed to indicate that the yellow toner had run out.  I AM SURE this was only a blip on my machine and HP did everything to make sure it was sorted.

I couldn't wait for it to be repaired as we had a large order to fulfil and so we bought another printer.  It had to be another HP and this time we upgraded to the M281fdw and again, it is a superb printer and does the job a treat.

Not to do with the printer but the decals, there are lots of laser waterslide decals out there and we did a results comparison.  The best by far, although they had no make on them, had the words Laser waterslide decal paper or similar, in a deep red colour running diagonally across the back.   I initially bought these from Dr Decal and Mr Hyde in Australia but then found Homecrafts.co.uk sold it.  The price is about the same but it is considerably better.  I wish I could tell you the make so that you could get it in the US.  In the meantime, I'm sure you will be more than happy with the printer which, by the way, I used a setting of 130-175gsm or heavy gloss.

Hope it helps

Paul