Rolling Your Own Prints - How Perfect Do I Need to Be?

Armory » General NFA Questions

Site Notices

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Rolling Your Own Prints - How Perfect Do I Need to Be?

Posted: 5/29/2019 8:52:27 PM EDT

Messy or clean, fingerprinting isn't as trivial as it looks. How picky do I need to be about the prints I do?

Posted: 5/29/2019 9:17:24 PM EDT

[#1]

I can tell you the ones I do look waaaaay better than yesterday one the local dealer prints from his Livescan system, and he’s never had any issues.

Posted: 5/29/2019 9:33:38 PM EDT

[#2]

I use the SS kiosk and they turn out terrible on screen but are still acceptable.

Posted: 5/30/2019 7:46:00 AM EDT

[#3]

I've sent some in that looked like kindergarten finger-paint smudges. Never a kickback.

Posted: 5/30/2019 10:38:25 AM EDT

[#4]

Ive had mine kicked back before and I didnt think they looked that bad

Local PD did them

Posted: 5/30/2019 11:28:51 AM EDT

[#5]

I also had mine done by the local PD. Never again! Even I ought to be able to do better than that.

Posted: 5/30/2019 5:41:50 PM EDT

[#6]

It's good to hear that "good enough" isn't too precise or perfect.

Inkless pads make prints that aren't as dark as regular ink, but they ain't bad. My wife and I are getting the hang of how much pressure to use to get lines to show up, but I was concerned about how, even with good moisturizing beforehand, both of us have a lot of crevasses and lines in our prints.

I'm using plain paper and scanning the prints, and we did a bunch of each finger to give me plenty of options to choose from. I'm going to start messing with placing the prints in the correct spots shortly. I've already messed around with finding a way to type in the data at the top of the page, so it's just a matter of lining up the spaces and the prints....I hope.

Posted: 5/30/2019 6:32:55 PM EDT

[#7]

The blank cards are free. So, if your printer is capable, you could print onto the actual card.

Posted: 5/30/2019 10:51:36 PM EDT

[#8]

Quote History

Quoted:
It's good to hear that "good enough" isn't too precise or perfect.

Inkless pads make prints that aren't as dark as regular ink, but they ain't bad. My wife and I are getting the hang of how much pressure to use to get lines to show up, but I was concerned about how, even with good moisturizing beforehand, both of us have a lot of crevasses and lines in our prints.

I'm using plain paper and scanning the prints, and we did a bunch of each finger to give me plenty of options to choose from. I'm going to start messing with placing the prints in the correct spots shortly. I've already messed around with finding a way to type in the data at the top of the page, so it's just a matter of lining up the spaces and the prints....I hope.

View Quote

It is actually pretty simple to put together a template and set your program and printer to do your prints, as long as you have a good optical scan of your prints.

Although, I can do them, I actually find it easier to just roll them, I did 4 sets of prints today for a couple of my friends, which now is over a couple of hundred sets of prints I have done and I have never had a set rejected.

At this point in time, I don't know exactly what you would have to do to get a set rejected, last I heard through the gravy train, they are not really even looking at the prints these days unless something is really out of whack on your applications.

Posted: 5/31/2019 7:46:46 AM EDT

[#9]

Quote History

Quoted: last I heard through the gravy train, they are not really even looking at the prints these days

View Quote

I want to believe part of this.
Remember when the process was backed-up forever and the excuse was FBI checks?
How were efiles going through in 7 days, at the same time?

Posted: 5/31/2019 8:50:14 PM EDT

[#10]

Quote History

Quoted:

It is actually pretty simple to put together a template and set your program and printer to do your prints, as long as you have a good optical scan of your prints.

Although, I can do them, I actually find it easier to just roll them, I did 4 sets of prints today for a couple of my friends, which now is over a couple of hundred sets of prints I have done and I have never had a set rejected.

At this point in time, I don't know exactly what you would have to do to get a set rejected, last I heard through the gravy train, they are not really even looking at the prints these days unless something is really out of whack on your applications.

View Quote

For some reason, my otherwise great laser printer pixelates the high resolution-scanned prints. So I'm going to pretty much have to roll them on the cards. I did get a template set up for the "type or print" data, so that's something.

Slightly different issue: can you use gel stamp pads (not the fabric pads) to do fingerprints? I'm not 100% sure the inkless pad I got will produce dark enough prints...

Posted: 5/31/2019 10:50:16 PM EDT

[#11]

Quote History

Quoted:

For some reason, my otherwise great laser printer pixelates the high resolution-scanned prints. So I'm going to pretty much have to roll them on the cards. I did get a template set up for the "type or print" data, so that's something.

Slightly different issue: can you use gel stamp pads (not the fabric pads) to do fingerprints? I'm not 100% sure the inkless pad I got will produce dark enough prints...

View Quote

I can't imagine them not being okay, as long as you can roll a good quality print on them. I use these which are what Law enforcement where I live uses.

Printmatic Print Pads

I have also used their Ceramic pads in the past. But any print pad that allows you to roll a decent crisp print should be fine, just practice with the one you get and then commit to roll on the actual print card and you will be fine.

Posted: 6/1/2019 2:22:39 AM EDT

[#12]

Try to do your best and I bet they won't get kicked back. I recently submitted an efile form 1 (which got approved) and had to send in prints for myself and my co-trustee. Well, mine were perfect. His? Not so much. There were smudges and imperfections, partly because the PD that took the prints didn't do them terribly well and partly because I let them sit around for months in a stack of papers that rubbed against them over and over as I moved them around.

So they weren't perfect, and they still weren't kicked back or delayed. Application was approved in around 3 weeks.

Based on that experience, i wouldn't worry too much about it in the future myself. It's kinda ridiculous that you have to submit the damn things over and over again. Once they have a set of your prints on file, they should be able to just run them again and get a quick approval rather than going through the shenanigans again. Oh well...

Posted: 6/1/2019 5:27:30 PM EDT

[#13]

Quote History

Quoted:

I can't imagine them not being okay, as long as you can roll a good quality print on them. I use these which are what Law enforcement where I live uses.

Printmatic Print Pads

I have also used their Ceramic pads in the past. But any print pad that allows you to roll a decent crisp print should be fine, just practice with the one you get and then commit to roll on the actual print card and you will be fine.

View Quote

The reason I mentioned gel pads is that old fashioned stamp pads were fabric covered, and sometimes rubber stamps inked from them would show the fabric texture. I have enough issues with my desert-dry fingers not to have to worry about artifacts in the prints from the ink pad.

I’m going to get a reasonable stamp pad, and try two or three suggestions for dealing with dry skin and “flat” prints. I actually work with my patients on this, since the real purpose of fingerprints is to act as the “tread” on your fingers to improve grip. My patients are often elderly, and dry skin is an every day problem for them, plus when you’re ill or injured your skin usually dries out pretty badly anyway. I’m starting with Cornhuskers Lotion, then moving on to other suggestions if necessary.

Posted: 6/1/2019 6:06:59 PM EDT

[#14]

Quote History

Quoted:

The reason I mentioned gel pads is that old fashioned stamp pads were fabric covered, and sometimes rubber stamps inked from them would show the fabric texture. I have enough issues with my desert-dry fingers not to have to worry about artifacts in the prints from the ink pad.

I’m going to get a reasonable stamp pad, and try two or three suggestions for dealing with dry skin and “flat” prints. I actually work with my patients on this, since the real purpose of fingerprints is to act as the “tread” on your fingers to improve grip. My patients are often elderly, and dry skin is an every day problem for them, plus when you’re ill or injured your skin usually dries out pretty badly anyway. I’m starting with Cornhuskers Lotion, then moving on to other suggestions if necessary.

View Quote

When I am having difficulty with dry skin on the hands, I use a good non perfumed hand lotion about 20 minutes before I roll prints, makes a big difference in the fullness of the finger tips to roll that print. You also need to make sure to drink a couple of glasses of water or something like gatoraid before you roll you prints if they are dry on you, then the pad of the fingers will be fuller and give you a better roll or collapse of the print.

Posted: 6/1/2019 8:37:51 PM EDT

[#15]

Those are a couple of the suggestions I have heard. Good lotions need a lot of time to work for me, that's how dry my hands are.

I'm going to be working with a few different moisturizers overnight, and I plan to get some of the recommended lotions, like Cornhuskers tomorrow morning.

I'm also going to follow one of my own recommendations and give my hands a nice hot soak. Soaking hands in hot (not scalding but not "just warm" either) for 5-7 minutes relieves joint soreness, and it tends to make skin moister and improve grip. Patting dry instead of rubbing helps with this. It's one of those things I just wind up "not having time for," despite how well it works, and how good it feels.

I'm kinda dense sometimes.

Posted: 6/1/2019 8:38:37 PM EDT

[#16]

Quote History

Quoted:
For some reason, my otherwise great laser printer pixelates the high resolution-scanned prints. So I'm going to pretty much have to roll them on the cards. I did get a template set up for the "type or print" data, so that's something.

Slightly different issue: can you use gel stamp pads (not the fabric pads) to do fingerprints? I'm not 100% sure the inkless pad I got will produce dark enough prints...

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:

It is actually pretty simple to put together a template and set your program and printer to do your prints, as long as you have a good optical scan of your prints.

Although, I can do them, I actually find it easier to just roll them, I did 4 sets of prints today for a couple of my friends, which now is over a couple of hundred sets of prints I have done and I have never had a set rejected.

At this point in time, I don't know exactly what you would have to do to get a set rejected, last I heard through the gravy train, they are not really even looking at the prints these days unless something is really out of whack on your applications.

For some reason, my otherwise great laser printer pixelates the high resolution-scanned prints. So I'm going to pretty much have to roll them on the cards. I did get a template set up for the "type or print" data, so that's something.

Slightly different issue: can you use gel stamp pads (not the fabric pads) to do fingerprints? I'm not 100% sure the inkless pad I got will produce dark enough prints...

In my experience, prints do best around 600ppi. Printing them at 1200ppi or similar high resolution can actually have a negative impact on clarity. If you've been using a very high-resolution setting, I would try printing at 500-600ppi and see how they how come out.

If you're concerned about darkness, just adjust the "levels" in Photoshop (or contrast in any basic photo editing software). That's assuming you can get your printer to cooperate.

Posted: 6/2/2019 8:38:42 PM EDT

[#17]

Quote History

Quoted:
In my experience, prints do best around 600ppi. Printing them at 1200ppi or similar high resolution can actually have a negative impact on clarity. If you've been using a very high-resolution setting, I would try printing at 500-600ppi and see how they how come out.

If you're concerned about darkness, just adjust the "levels" in Photoshop (or contrast in any basic photo editing software). That's assuming you can get your printer to cooperate.

View Quote

I had specifically scanned our prints at 1200 for extra detail. It seems to have worked out backward from that.

On the other hand, I’ve done some tests with both my “inkless” pad and a new gel stamp pad. The inkless pad seems to do a fair job, but seems more brownish than black. Still, the detail is there. The gel pad makes DARK prints...so dark that it helps to “blot” the finger tip with a “practice” roll before trying for a final print. And it’s a PITA to get off your fingers. I think my wife and I may use the inkless pad and after a few practice rolls just go for it and do two cards each.

Posted: 6/3/2019 2:13:19 PM EDT

[#18]

Quote History

Quoted:
I had specifically scanned our prints at 1200 for extra detail. It seems to have worked out backward from that.

View Quote

If your printer cannot print 1200 dpi, then it is downsampling your print job, and that's why they look bad.

Determine the max dpi your printer will output, or just use 500-600 for both scan & print, as suggested above.

Posted: 6/3/2019 3:03:20 PM EDT

[#19]

Quote History

Quoted:
If your printer cannot print 1200 dpi, then it is downsampling your print job, and that's why they look bad.

Determine the max dpi your printer will output, or just use 500-600 for both scan & print, as suggested above.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
I had specifically scanned our prints at 1200 for extra detail. It seems to have worked out backward from that.

If your printer cannot print 1200 dpi, then it is downsampling your print job, and that's why they look bad.

Determine the max dpi your printer will output, or just use 500-600 for both scan & print, as suggested above.

My printer will actually do 1200, but I found when comparing prints done at 1200 and 600, that the 1200 prints were overly dark, almost bleeding ink and making details less crisp. I could've possibly fixed it by adjusting the levels/contrast, but the other way worked, so I went with that. I print 1200ppi scans at 600 and they turn out very crisp. YMMV.

Posted: 6/3/2019 9:16:20 PM EDT

[#20]

My scanner is apparently a "native" 600 dpi device. Investigation indicates that when you tell it to scan at a higher resolution, it's doing it all in software; it can go up to 9600 dpi (interpolated, which is probably my problem). The printer's native resolution is 600 dpi, too. I'll rescan at 600 dpi and see if some of these prints look better that way.

We're still going to see if we can get the hang of just rolling prints on cards, but it feels better to have options.

Posted: 6/5/2019 9:08:36 PM EDT

[#21]

We both worked on ensuring our hands were well moisturized, did a little practice, then rolled two cards each with the "inkless" pad. Wow, but having really well moisturized skin makes a HUGE difference in the clarity and crispness of the prints.

I'm still going to mess around with scan resolution and see how it works for me, but at least I have the cards ready for my current stamp application. I just submitted and will send the prints out as soon as I get an appropriate sized envelope.

Thanks for everyone's help on this!

Posted: 6/6/2019 5:13:03 PM EDT

[#22]

Yup, making sure your hands are not dried out make a big difference so you finger tips don't collapse when you are rolling the print, hence you get better crisper prints.

Posted: 6/6/2019 8:22:59 PM EDT

[#23]

A little windex rubbed on the fingers works fairly well.

Posted: 6/6/2019 8:53:04 PM EDT

[#24]

Quote History

Quoted:
A little windex rubbed on the fingers works fairly well.

View Quote

I hadn’t heard about that trick. I’ll try it soon.

Update: my application has been submitted, and I just got back from dropping off my prints at the Post Office (Priority Mail). With any luck, I’ll have a stamp in a couple of weeks.

Posted: 6/8/2019 6:41:49 PM EDT

[#25]

I'll try that moisturizer tip as well, my hands are always notoriously dry.

I do have a question though, when sending off prints....what are guys doing to keep the ink from smearing inside the envelope? UPSP Priority work best also?

Posted: 6/8/2019 10:52:40 PM EDT

[#26]

Quote History

Quoted:
I'll try that moisturizer tip as well, my hands are always notoriously dry.

I do have a question though, when sending off prints....what are guys doing to keep the ink from smearing inside the envelope? UPSP Priority work best also?

View Quote

Let it air dry overnight if you're worried about the ink smearing. When I print out a card it's dry within a few minutes and I shove it in a USPS Priority flat rate envelope paperclipped to the cover sheet or F4.

Posted: 6/9/2019 8:45:18 PM EDT

[#27]

Quote History

Quoted:

Let it air dry overnight if you're worried about the ink smearing. When I print out a card it's dry within a few minutes and I shove it in a USPS Priority flat rate envelope paperclipped to the cover sheet or F4.

View Quote

@krdt thank you brotha, always helping me out!

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Rolling Your Own Prints - How Perfect Do I Need to Be?

Armory » General NFA Questions

Warning

Confirm Action

About AR15.COM

Stay Connected

Newsletter

Contact Us