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timph New user 62 Posts |
Hi
What's the best method for scanning and re-printing a card box? I have a high-quality laser printer but am keen to know what the best card stock and the best sticker stock (glossy/matt etc.) for reproducing convincing Bike facsimiles. What is the best glue or is double sided tape better? I was either going to use a glue stick or tape but is it worth buying Elmer's Rubber Cement (quite expensive here in the UK and not easy to find). Also, if I want to make expanded shells etc., is it best to increase the size when scanning (say to 103%) or increase the size when I print off, or doesn't it matter much? TIA Tim |
DelMagic Special user 719 Posts |
I have done a little in this area but I never had good success.
I attempted to use full sheet label paper to do the printing and then attempted to put them on blank card boxes. Now it may have been possible to figure a way to get it all to work, but I gave up early since the colors produced by my printer (HP ink jet) never looked anything like the colors used by USPCC. Maybe your laser printer will work better but I suspect printers geared towards photos may offer the best color palette. Attaching the printing to the box is not simple. I tried printing one big image which would wrap around everything but the tongue of the flap. As it was very sticky, it was difficult to get it right. I would suggest printing on plaine paper. (glossy might be preferred) Then wrap it around the box with no adhesive to get the folds/corners set. Repositionable adhesives may help but I don't know how they will work in the long run. I also considered using the full sheet label paper and printing each face of the box separately rather than in one big piece. It wsould be a lot easier to attach them to the box and maybe the gaps at the edges wouldn't be too bad. I never did it because of the color problem. Those are just a few ideas I have on this. |
timph New user 62 Posts |
Thanks Del.
Did you scan the box or manage to find a high quality printable file? I haven't had any luck with that. |
DelMagic Special user 719 Posts |
I think I cut one open and scanned it.
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timph New user 62 Posts |
***Update***
I got some empty boxes from eBay. Not sure of the origin but they look very authentic and come flat packed so it's only a matter of a single cut and a bit of careful trimming to open them up completely and make the edges neat. I scanned them on my behemoth multi-function laser at 600 dpi in jpg format, and the quality of the images is very good. I then experimented with printing them out on regular copier paper and thicker card (250 gsm) both of which looked really good. You can tell a slight difference, which I think is mainly the paper stock, if you put them side by side with the original, but I'm confident a spec would never notice in a live situation. I'm going to get some glossy and matt labels (A4 sheets) to try too. By increasing the size of the image by 1-5% using simple software (e.g. Paint 3D) it will be easy to make various slightly larger sizes that are close to the original. I thought this was going to be much more tricky and am pleased with the results achieved so far. |
DelMagic Special user 719 Posts |
Thanks for the update. Having good matching printouts puts you in good shape. Let us know how it goes.
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