"Color Laser Printers" Topic

There was a thread on recommended printer a couple of years ago, but I thought I'd ask again to see if there were any new recommendations.

I need a color laser printer that has a by-pass tray and can handle legal size 110lb cardstock. What are your recommendations?

No model recommendations, but some features to look for.

If you plan to print on 110# cardstock, I recommend a pass-through printer. The paper/cardstock need to be fed through the manual feed tray ==> goes straight through, past the imaging toner cartridge's transfer roller; goes straight through the Fusing Unit (melts the toner into the paper); straight through the back of the printer, the entire way, without being flexed.

If you feed it from the paper tray, it will be picked up, rolled such that it flips over before passing the transfer roller, enters the Fuser, curls over again, as it is fed out of the printer, at the top. Heating the paper in the Fuser causes curling; flexing the paper through the tray, Fuser, and Output Feeder, causes more flexing.

Check with the seller about the paper path options.

Now, if you are building cardstock terrain… I suggest full sheet label paper, 8.5" x 11" labels. Print, cut out, peel and stick, to 2mm thick cardboard. This will create really strong, heavy, cardboard buildings which are far more substantial. Here is a photo of a square tower and a castle wall section constructed this way. Here are two battering ram models. The one on the left, is made with label paper applied to 2mm thick cardboard; the model on the right, with the Skeleton Crew, is made of 110# cardstock. Here are two Siege Towers, made with label paper applied to 2mm cardboard, with Castle Wall sections built in the same way. Here is a 110# cardstock Siege Tower…

Using square wooden dowels, in the corners of walls will give substantial strength, while making it much easier to assemble square joints. It also adds weight to the model. I did this in my castle towers, and wall sections. I also glued square dowels along the large flat spans of the tower walls, and the castle wall sections: it prevents warping. Wood Glue is the best glue for the job. Cheers!

Laser toner can crack at the creases when paper is folded, exposing the underlying paper, which will leave you with an unsightly model. This is one of the reasons I opted to go with an inkjet printer.

I'm using a Canon TR8620a all-in-one scanner/printer, which has a passthrough "special" paper port and can handle fairly heavy cardstock. (It also has a load of other features I wanted, so it may be more than you require.) I got it at Target— off the shelf, no less— for less than $150 USD (don't recall the actual price, but it was definitely less and cheaper than the alternatives). Yes, it's an inkjet, but it uses individual cartridges which saves money in the long run as I'm not wasting ink I use less of. It's also a highly recommended model by the various online tech mags and crafting sites (I did a TON of research before selecting it). So if you're willing to consider an inkjet instead, I highly recommend it, or any of its less-featured cousins in the Canon line. (I need the duplex, multi-page scanning and duplex printing capability for other purposes; you may not.)

Laser toner can crack at the creases when paper is folded, exposing the underlying paper, which will leave you with an unsightly model. This is one of the reasons I opted to go with an inkjet printer.

Absolutely true! This is one of the reasons I went with full sheet label printing: no folding.

Inkjet printers work, but if your models get wet, the ink will run. There are methods of sealing it: spray-on varnishes/clear coats, or lamination.

As far as costs go, for ink/toner, they're both very expensive. The average number of printed pages for ink and toner cartridges is based upon 5% coverage (text only) for an 8.5" x 11" page. When you print graphics, you will devour ink/toner at a prodigious rate! Both ink and toner will drain your wallet, fast.

The great thing about both is that once printed, the models can be used for some time, before they wear out (longer if you use my heavy cardboard construction techniques).

No matter whether you use ink or toner, you will want to color the cut edges, as the untouched white cut edges, are very prominent on the tabletop.

Denny Unger, of WorldWorks, came up with edging the white cuts on cardstock models, as far as I know. He used a black Sharpie marker. You can use any color marker which is appropriate to your model. I've used black, brown, gray, and green markers. I've used acrylic paint on the thicker 2mm cardboard edges, as well. On thicker materials, color matching the rest of the printed faces, is better. On thin cardstock, the black tends to disappear, like an optical illusion; on thicker edges, it becomes more noticeable.

Lots of things to consider… Cheers!

Yep, line the edges with markers, but be careful of bleed-through.

As for ink running, it doesn't happen that much. I have paper dice towers I printed with an earlier inkjet some 8 years ago. No coating at all, and they get constant handling, but still look good. Terrain items which aren't handled during play will hold up a long time.

CNET is a good source for "best of" and reviews of many tech products. This is their most recent one on laser printers.

link

I probably should have been clearer about my needs :) I am looking for a production printer for my PaperTerrain business. The inkjets I've worked with are generally too slow when I might want to print 1000 sheets in one day. The toner cracking with laser printers isn't an issue as I always recommend lightly scoring the fold lines with a craft knife to get a good fold. This exposes the cardstock anyway and must be colored in later. For obvious reasons the very clever idea of printing on label sheets is not an option either.

I have an old Okidata C612 which has served me very faithfully for years, but I'm afraid it's on its last legs. Sadly Okidata no longer does business in North America (WHY?!?!?) so I can't get a replacement (well, I can, but finding a source for expendables like drum cartridges is becoming very difficult). So I need to find something comparable.

Thank you for your suggestions. I will keep looking.

If you're printing that much cardstock at a business level, you should probably look at a free-standing MFD. I am currently working on Sharp CR5 series systems, such as the most basic, the BP50C26. There are also sometimes the Kyocera TaskAlfa 2554/3554ci series, which are somewhat harder and come in more sustainable packaging.

In both cases, however, they can cost as much as cars.

In which case I would suggest going to the office equipment store and seeing what they have used, such as the CR4 from Sharp, the last of the MX series; or an earlier Taskalfa.

Do not buy an HP.