Daniel Macina
Well-Known Member
Mmmmmm. Bourbon.
Stencil Printer?
- Thread starter diverdale
- Start date
Gliden07
Well-Known Member
Another Hobby/Addiction!!
chrisstaniar
Well-Known Member
It's "medicine"
Drew Riley
Well-Known Member
Well, I got my printer and stencil tape today, and after playing with just a couple "test" stencils, I'm pretty impressed.
Now, you can obviously see a little bit of pixelation up close, but that may be something I can sharpen up. I believe that's just a result of using Windows fonts, as opposed to a cleaner vector file. The etch itself came out very clean otherwise.
A couple of notes: The "print" on the stencil media is very hard to see without looking at it in the right light or a good angle. There's no print on the backing paper or anything, so you have to take some care while positioning. HOWEVER, once you start applying your etch pad, the etch shows up quite clearly on your stencil.
Another thing: These are mostly gonna be a "one and done" stencil, and you pretty much only get one shot at it. You might be able to get an addition etch or two if you're careful with the stencil, but it's pretty fragile after it gets wet.
That said, for the price of a stencil cartridge (it's like $11 for 3 or 4 feet of tape) you'll get a pretty decent number of stencils, and the ability to customize on the fly and not have to wait a week (or more) to have them printed by a vendor is well worth it in my opinion.
Now, are these as good as a stencil from IMG or TUS? Until I can play around with it some more, I won't say yes or no. You'd probably save some money in the long run if you used professional stencils that can make dozens if not hundreds of etches, but I always ended up ruining my professionally printed stencils one way or another anyhow, and again, the convenience of this goes a long way in my mind, and I do believe I can PROBABLY get as clean of a result with these if I play with the files and settings a bit.
By the way, you're also limited to just under a 1" tall stencil, but for knives, that's usually well more than enough.
Now, you can obviously see a little bit of pixelation up close, but that may be something I can sharpen up. I believe that's just a result of using Windows fonts, as opposed to a cleaner vector file. The etch itself came out very clean otherwise.
A couple of notes: The "print" on the stencil media is very hard to see without looking at it in the right light or a good angle. There's no print on the backing paper or anything, so you have to take some care while positioning. HOWEVER, once you start applying your etch pad, the etch shows up quite clearly on your stencil.
Another thing: These are mostly gonna be a "one and done" stencil, and you pretty much only get one shot at it. You might be able to get an addition etch or two if you're careful with the stencil, but it's pretty fragile after it gets wet.
That said, for the price of a stencil cartridge (it's like $11 for 3 or 4 feet of tape) you'll get a pretty decent number of stencils, and the ability to customize on the fly and not have to wait a week (or more) to have them printed by a vendor is well worth it in my opinion.
Now, are these as good as a stencil from IMG or TUS? Until I can play around with it some more, I won't say yes or no. You'd probably save some money in the long run if you used professional stencils that can make dozens if not hundreds of etches, but I always ended up ruining my professionally printed stencils one way or another anyhow, and again, the convenience of this goes a long way in my mind, and I do believe I can PROBABLY get as clean of a result with these if I play with the files and settings a bit.
By the way, you're also limited to just under a 1" tall stencil, but for knives, that's usually well more than enough.
Drew Riley
Well-Known Member
So upon further research, this printer is limited to about 180 DPI resolution. Looks like that is why I'm seeing some pixelation on the smaller text I'm trying to etch, and changing to a vector based image likely won't change anything. (BTW, that's 8pt Arial font in the images above)
However, I still think it's a good option when trying to avoid lengthy lead times and set up costs, and it still yields a pretty clean etch for what it is. Overall, I think it was a good purchase, and the fact that I can use it to print regular adhesive labels and shrink wrap labels is a bonus. Would recommend.
However, I still think it's a good option when trying to avoid lengthy lead times and set up costs, and it still yields a pretty clean etch for what it is. Overall, I think it was a good purchase, and the fact that I can use it to print regular adhesive labels and shrink wrap labels is a bonus. Would recommend.
Greg Rice
Well-Known Member
in the Tech Biz - our work IS a side project...I work in the tech biz ... theres always side projects
Drew Riley
Well-Known Member
I got the Brother PT-P700. Font was 8pt Arial. I also tried 6pt with success.
Gliden07
Well-Known Member
Same one I bought. Waiting for the Tape still.
Greg Rice
Well-Known Member
Anyone use this? Little bit more money but it will scan and then cut it out...
Brother ScanNCut Scanns and cuts..
Brother ScanNCut Scanns and cuts..
That’s a lot like a silhouette and criket..cuts vinyl stickers. I have a silhouette and it’s a great little gadget but that label printer seems pretty neat for small stencils.
Gliden07
Well-Known Member
Finally got my Tape. Been playing with it a little. Im not a big computer guy so it took me a little bit to get it set up. Downloaded the software so I could print the stencil, restart computer.... ok let's play, Print, Driver not found!! Back to Brothers site to download drivers, 40 min or so later, restart computer. FINALLY was able to print! LOL!! I think this thing is gonna be fun to play with!
Gliden07
Well-Known Member
Here's an etch done with a stencil made with the Brother printer in question. Did the stencils for a friend of mine. Very pleased with result. Found that heavier fonts and larger help with the pixilization problems. At least with my limited experience with this machine.
