New Life Games Tech Forums

can anyone advise me on what the reel strips are made of material wise
 and is there a cost  effective way of reproducing them

Here is a thread about some IGT S+ ones I made. On a side note, after I did those, I found it better to not laminate them. It's easy enough to print a new one if it gets damaged once you have made the artwork, and a lot less work. And they won't get damaged just sitting in the machine.  The hardest part is coming up with the artwork. I made most of my symbols from scratch, but had to use scans of my originals of some of the special symbols and then clean them up with photo-shop. Once you have a symbol library, it's easy to cut/paste what you want (need to have a template for spacing them properly).

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=12667 (http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=12667)

This is the type of paper I used (can be found cheaper if you are patient)
http://cgi.ebay.com/Epson-Premium-Glossy-Photo-Paper-ROLL-S041302-NIB-/260721634586 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Epson-Premium-Glossy-Photo-Paper-ROLL-S041302-NIB-/260721634586)

So cost wise (not including the many hours of work getting the artwork right), I could make 3 sets of strips per roll of paper  or <$2 per strip.

Keep in mind that the ink for the Epsons (R1800 & R1900) is very expensive unless you buy a bulk ink system like Bunker did, and they are only a good idea if you use the printer on a regular basis.

I used a HP C6200 printer (that I use for day to day stuff). Just have to set it up for custom paper size for the Epson rolls. Not that HP ink is that cheap either, but I made a ton of strips (lots of trial and error before getting it down right) and didn't use that much ink.

My experience with standard dye based HP printers is that their ink costs less per given area of coverage.

Epson original ink for those printers is pigment based, not dye based, so they don't fade and are fairly water resistant, which is partly what makes them expensive. The other part is Epson's greed – they sell carts with very little ink for way too much money and the printer seems to eat ink for breakfast when cleaning the nozzles.

The continuous ink supply systems offer both types of ink for those who don't care about using pigment based color and want to save money. Either solution is much less costly than the originals, but I've never tried them. I'd stick with the pigment base if I ever did buy a system, but I bought the printer solely for printing pictures and use another for everyday printing.

I suspect fading may eventually be an issue. I've had some of my strips in there for over 4 months and they look as good as new. I figure even if I had to replace then once a year (not likely), it still not that expensive. Given how there are not many other options (i.e. those impossible to find strips), it's better than nothing.

I made strips for my Bally by printing them mirror image with a color laser on overhead projector film, then laminating toner side down onto bright white photo paper. They still look good after years. I have a set of scanned symbol images, if you drop me a PM I'll send them to you.