# Does anyone have advise on transparency film/film shrinking issues?



## The Shirt Lady (Jan 24, 2011)

Hello Everyone, this is my first question. Does anyone have any ideas? I have issues when doing seps. The transparency warps and it is frustrating when doing 2+ colors. We are using regular transparencies and also the milky film from Rutland. We use a Canon laser printer. Sometimes, cutting apart text, then taping it back together works. That is not realistic for everyday. Please help...thank you so much.


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## fullthrottle (Mar 21, 2010)

I had this same problem when I first started. I found out it's because the laser puts off a lot of heat in the process. This heat shrinks the film. The heat isn't constant from print to print, so it's not the same shrinkage from sheet to sheet, hence the issues you are having. They make special paper for laser prints. I recommend trying to use that. I've heard that the cheaper velum??? paper made for lasers is cheap and works great. Never tried though. I went out about bought an Epson 1400 and the correct waterproof film for that. Been much better since.


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## PositiveDave (Dec 1, 2008)

Laser printers have problems with registration, it's just a feature. The toner is cured by heat, the more heat, the better the cure and denser the black but the polyester base will warp.


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## The Shirt Lady (Jan 24, 2011)

Thank you for the feedback!  Are there any tricks to make this work?


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## PositiveDave (Dec 1, 2008)

You might try a different brand, when I worked in R&D we went to great lengths to use pre-stabilised base to minimise shrinkage.


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## fullthrottle (Mar 21, 2010)

As I mentioned, they do make special paper for that, but it's NOT cheap. I did a little math and found it a better deal to buy the Epson 1400 and the special film for an inkjet vs. a laser. I have a buddy who swears by the laser and the velum....


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## The Shirt Lady (Jan 24, 2011)

Thank you, looks like I'd better get to saving for an Epson 1400!


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## fishface (Feb 3, 2008)

We had the same issues and switched to velum. We use the cheap velum and it works great...


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## The Shirt Lady (Jan 24, 2011)

Great! Where can I purchase the velum? Thanks so much, can't wait to try it.


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## jsf (Aug 4, 2009)

This is normal that paper and transparencies will shrink because of the heat applied to dry the toner to the media. 

Warping is also an effect because of the heat and to avoid warping is to use paper/vellum with an appropriate weight that is thicker the paper the better. 

Here I use 80/85 gsm vellums. If you can find 100 gsm it will be better.


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## fishface (Feb 3, 2008)

We buy the "Office Depot" brand. Not sure what the weight or cotton content is but i'm sure its light cause it's the least expense. We do simple two and three color designs maybe thats why it's o.k. for us.


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## Spotwalker (Apr 10, 2016)

Hello everyone! I am one of those people that will stand by my laser printer till the end. But that does not come with out the cost of some hair pulling from time to time. I used to have this very same problem when it came to large prints (14x18 for instance). I use a small samsung xpress m26250D. The way I got around the shrinking problem is to first pre-shrink the vellum by printing a blank artboard (using illustrator cs6) about 5 times in a row. You want to do this as fast as possible being careful not to kink your vellum in the process. After the 5th pass let the vellum cool for about 5 or so seconds, then print your design. you would do this for every sheet of vellum in your design. especially if you are piecing together to create a larger design then your transparency size can handle. good luck and hope this helps.


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