1. Materials preparation
- One color printer
- Several standard A4 sheets of paper
- Used for calibrating and testing duplex printing.
- Of course, if you don't mind this consumable material, you can directly use copper plate paper.
- Several sheets of 200g copper-plated paper
- For the final printed product
- Other thicknesses are also possible, depending on how thick the printer can print and what thickness you want.
- QSL card printing template
- If your card design is 140mm x 90mm, then a single sheet of A4 paper (297mm x 210mm) can print four copies, and there will still be…Sufficient safety margin
- Paper cutter
- Used for cutting out each finished version.
- Please make sure to choose a paper cutter that uses A4-sized sheets. Don't choose one like mine that uses A5-sized sheets, unless you are okay with cutting pieces that won't fit properly.
Figure 1: The pain that cannot be cut off
- Time
- Designing and testing print layouts for QSL cards may take a significant amount of time.
2. To do a good job, one must first ensure that their tools are properly calibrated – printer calibration.
This stepVery, veryImportant: If you are unsure whether the printer has been calibrated, first print a test page using regular A4 paper with a sample of the card design. Observe whether it meets your expectations (e.g., whether there are lines, misalignment, or missing elements).
Otherwise, the printed output would look like this:
Figure 2: A test card with a clear striped pattern.
For the Epson L3250 series, once you have installed the drivers, locate the printer style icon in your system tray. Then, right-click on it to find the print head calibration option.
Example of a printer driver function menu (Figure 3)
Start calibration
Simply follow the instructions provided by your printer driver at this stage. However, if the test sample printed is as shown, do not proceed to the next step; instead, click "Recalibrate."
Figure 4: Example requiring calibration
If multiple calibrations still result in streaks, how should you proceed? First, perform a cleaning cycle for the print head (making sure the ink level is sufficient). This should be enough, and then continue with the calibration process.
The final result is shown below. Although there are still some imperfections, they do not have any visible impact when printed.
Figure 5: Example of acceptable output
Even if the requirements are high, calibration can still be continued.
3. Test double-sided printing using standard A4 paper.
This step involves determining how your manuscript needs to be processed in order to produce your final product.Horizontal flipBoth sides are equally correct.
Figure 6: A sample printout.
Regarding my own print jobIn the printer settings, select "Portrait" and "Long edge binding".
Figure 7: Print Settings Page
Figure 8: Manual double-sided printing instructions
This stepNot according toInstead of using the provided instructions, I flipped through the pages along the short edge and re-inserted them into the feeder. This finally achieved the desired result.
4. Use a sheet of copper-plated paper to test the effect of the paper.
This step involves testing color differences, as displays, paper, ink, and settings all vary, resulting in completely different effects.
For the Epson L3250 series, these types of paper were built-in. I only tested the following here.Regular paperAndPhoto paperThe differences.
Figure 9: Types of printing paper
Figure 10: Print quality
Figure 11: Comparison of display performance
Of course, we are not a professional printing shop, and we can't make a living solely from this. It is difficult to completely eliminate color differences, so the goal is simply to achieve the desired result.
Once you've confirmed that the print quality meets your expectations, you can proceed to the next step.
5. Printing & Cutting paper
Once you have confirmed the double-sided printing settings, paper type, and color mode, load the copper plate paper into the paper tray, specify the desired quantity, and start the print job.
Please remember that when you need to print the second side of a page, it is essential to refer back to the correct procedure outlined in the previous steps.
Once you've cut out the desired shapes using a craft knife, you'll have your finished product.
Figure 12: Finished product and sacrificial sample
Concluding Remarks
This is just a summary of my experience. If you have any better suggestions, please let me know!
Here's BG5BEE, looking forward to making contact in the air, and I look forward to receiving your QSL card! 73 From PM00
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