"Printers?" Topic

Well, my venerable and much-loved Okidata C612 seems to have died on me. The 612 is out of production and Okidata isn't doing business in the US anymore. Anyone have any suggestions for a good color laserjet that can take heavy cardstock in sizes up to 8 1/2" x 14" (legal size)?

Looks like they may still be available, at a premium price link

Wow, that's over twice what I paid for mine. I think I'd prefer some other brand with similar capabilites and a reasonable price.

Been looking for a cardstock capable printer myself— my Canon Pixma MP 160 has given out, too.

You need a printer with a "pass through" path; card stock can't be bent around rollers. The good thing about a "pass through" is that paper length shouldn't be an issue— as long as it's wide enough to handle 8.5" paper, the printer doesn't care how long it is, as it's not coming from a stacked tray.

You might check "crafting" sites for advice, as cardstock is something they look for in printers.

Also, look at the specs. You're wanting something that can handle 110lb paper (US term) or over 200gm^2 (preferably closer to 300gm^2, if not over), which is the UK/Europe definition for heavy card stock paper.

If you don't expect too many other functions, you can probably find something fairly cheap (Walmart & Target both carry printers that can handle cardstock).

I've been looking for an all-in-one with a duplexing Auto Document Feeder, and that's a complication the printer companies don't much try to pair with cardstock capability. Plus I want borderless printing on plain paper (cardstock counts), and maybe even wide format capabilities (11"x17" or even 13"x19"). Not an easy search!

Parzival : you need to look at professional printers for that kind of capability and they come very expensive.

I have just bought a Xerox Workcentre 6515 and it seems to a reasonably decent job with my flags. A bit of a steep learning curve to get to know how it works – you need the downloaded manual and then have to sift through the overcomplicated techie language to what they really mean but I did that in a couple of frustrating days.

Cost was about £340.00 GBP but what that translates to in the US market I don't know as I got mine with a deal on toner.

Tony of TTT

I abandoned 110# cardstock many years ago due to the printer limitations: few printers can handle it; it is too lightweight, too flimsy, and it is too fragile. I print on full sheet label paper. I apply it to 2mm-3mm thick cardboard. The construction techniques are slightly different, but the results are amazing. Here is a sample, a battering ram model, on the left, made with the label paper, and on the right, a 110# cardstock battering ram. Note the difference in the thickness of the two models.

I used the same technique to build castle wall sections and square towers. For these, I used square wooden dowels in the corners, gluing the wall sections to the wooden dowels. I also glued dowels to the middle of the wall sections, the long way, to prevent warping. You can use either PVA Glue, or Hot Glue, to assemble the parts. Paper is made of wood fibers, and Wood Glue (a type of PVA Glue) is extremely strong for bonding wood fibers. Here is a sample of the construction techniques: inside of a square tower; siege tower and castle wall sections; another shot showing square towers, wall setions, and the same siege tower. Here is a view of the back of the siege tower, demonstrating how solid it truly is. Cheers!

Found a possibility: Brother MFC-J497DW Multifunction Inkjet Printer

It's discontinued this year, but still in stock at Best Buy and Staples (and possibly others).

The features from Brother specifically mention card stock, and it can handle Legal size paper, too. ADF scanner/copier (but not duplex, not that I care that much). Can print double-sided automatically (though I suspect not with card stock, as that would require going through rollers). Good reviews.

Price: $89.99 USD-- almost throwaway money when it comes to a printer!

Not sure what model is considered the replacement. The search feature on Brother's site is lousy… plus they're down this week for migration to a new system.

I don't have the actual weight it can take, but a reviewer I found had it listed as handling 300gm^2, which is pretty much as thick as you can find in any paper supply store, and what I use to making game playing cards and pieces, as well as my own custom paper dice tower. So I'm gonna do a bit more research, but that price is hard to pass up…

Sounds interesting Parzival. If you do get it, let us know how you like it. Thanks!

Well, not getting that one. It's been discontinued, and my attempts to find one came up negative.

However, I'm currently looking at a Canon PIXMA TR8620a wireless All-in-One, which is well reviewed.
— It can handle cardstock (paper weight is not specified, but it should do 110lb, which research tells me is equal to 199gm/2– the research being "picking up a pack of cardstock at Staples and reading the label.")
— It has separate CMYK cartridges (which is cheaper and more economical than replacing a unified-"color" cartridge).
— It can handle Legal size paper
— It can do automatic double-sided printing (though probably not on cardstock, I suspect)
— It has an automatic document feature for scanning (which I need for other purposes— YNMV).
— It can do borderless printing.

It retails for considerably more ($229), but good news is that right now it's on sale everywhere for $199 USD (retailers are matching Amazon Prime), and I've got some additional discounts at Target to bring it down further.
As far as I've been able to research, it's the cheapest thing out there for what I need to do, and with my limited printing efforts, the "consumables" cost of an inkjet is fine. And Canon has a reputation for image quality that's better than Brother.