Laser or Inkjet

SoapAlchemist

SoapAlchemist

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I am thinking of buying a colour laser printer, mainly because my current inkjet is not good at printing on the high gloss labels I want to use on small tins of lip gloss. You can smear the ink with your finger, wheras this doesn't seem to happen when printed with a laser.
I am also under the impression that with laser you get generally better printing both for text and pictures.
Any advice welcome, as these printers are costly, as is, of course, the ink.
 
It may be the case that your inkjet inks are just not suitable for printing on that particular gloss paper. Inkjet inks are either pigment or dye based, and certain papers are designed to work with one and not the other. Just changing the labels may solve the issue.

Ian
 
If only it were that simple....I had to surf for hours to find round 30mm labels, and then had to buy a whole box for over £90 :eek: They are supposed to be suitable for both inkjet and laser. So are you saying that another inkjet might work o.k., if I could find out whether mine uses dye or pigment, and get a printer that uses the other one?
But don't lasers give better quality print anyway?
 
A laser would cartainly cure the problem. I was just wondering if there was a cheaper way around it by using different labels.

Regarding other inkjets, that really depends on the paper that the labels are made from, and whether they are designed for dye or pigment printers. Given the ability to be able to smudge the printing on the labels tends to suggest that the ink is sitting on the surface of the paper instead of sinking in and drying.

A laser printer may be better for text, but inkjets are better for photographic printing.

Ian
 
I'm all undecided now about whether it is worth investing in a laser.
Having just spent hours trying to do labels using word, I am just about ready to fling my computer and printer out the window. Is there a label software package, which is user friendly, and which, if you don't have labels it already knows about, you can just give it a few obvious dimensions (in mm) and get it to print the text on the actual label instead of everywhere but?? Something that you don''t have to be a total nerd to find your way around.
I'm talking about ordinary sheets of A4 sticky labels.
 
Don't you remember when computers came in, everyone said they were going to be great labour saving devices? If only I could have back the days and weeks I've spent fiddle-faffing around with them, trying to get them to work. My old printer is still lying smashed up in the garden, with a brick on top of it.

I know this doesn't help in the laser/inkjet debate, but I thought I'd just empathise a little. My wife says she likes it when I empathise instead of problem solve. Except when her laptop wasn't working, then she wanted problem solving. Women!
 
I noticed whilst in PCWorld today attempting (and ultimately succeeding) to get them to simultaneously comply with the Sale of Goods Act (1979), Supply of Goods and Services Act (1982), Sale and Supply of Goods Act (1994) and The Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations (2002) - that for a mere £229 they claim that they will fix your laptop including all labour and parts.... I'm almost tempted to take in one I have here with a cracked motherboard and faulty LCD. The replacement LCD on it's own is about £500 :lol:

It was such a pain in the arse, I now remember why I only enter the rococo portals of PCW (or indeed any DSGi group store) if there is no other option open to me.

Back to the original question - B&W laser every time, Colour - inkjet, but see if you can try different inks first.

On the label software question - poke about on the website belonging to the manufacturer of your labels - most if not all have some free templates that you can use in Word/Excel/Powerpoint - they will probably also be able to advise on the best printing method too.
 
Good advice Hunny, and I thought I was being clever when I did just that; but click on GML 51, <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.jmcpaper.com/p3_1_1.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.jmcpaper.com/p3_1_1.htm</a><!-- m --> which are my labels, and you can't type into it. Nor did I find their advice on how to use it with word any help at all.

CD, thanks for the sympathy...I guess we've all been there.
 
Well, I finally bought a colour laser, as my injet was dying anyway and leaving faded patches all over the page.
It's a Samsung CLP 310. How happy was I as I printed out the first page of my high gloss labels (having spent what seemed like hours getting them properly laid out). I've printed these labels on the work laser printer, and the problems of smudging that I had with the inkjet didn't happen.
The labels done on new printer looked good, and I happily stuck them onto my little travel bottles of new formula shaving cream/ soft soap. They looked so smart and cute, I was just about to contact Boots to see if they would like to stock them.
However, I now find that as soon as you squeeze the bottle a couple of times, thereby bending the label, the ink literally lifts off the page. On checking the one's done on the work laser, they too have the same problem on the slightest bending!! You even have to be careful how you peel them off the sheet. It is as if the ink is just stuck (not very well) onto the surface of the page, and falls off!!!
So now I'm looking for waterproof labels in both white and clear, and glossy, that I can print on this laser, and that will withstand a little bending. Can anyone advise whether there is such a label and what it is? Vinyl? Polyester? What?
I'm fed up having rubbish labels, and feel I now need to really move up a gear on the presentation front.
Help!!!!!
 
Perhaps a 2-part label is in order? a paper/film substrate that you print on, followed by a clear cover film to protect the ink/toner from detaching?

The longevity of laser print depends on how well the "ink" (really toner) is bonded to whatever you print on - and probably on not flexing it.

The other thing that has just crossed my mind is - you could try a light coat of hair lacquer as a protective layer.... no idea what other effect it might have though - could dissolve the toner (or indeed the label itself if it's some sort of plastic), which would be a bad thing.
 
hunnymonster said:
Perhaps a 2-part label is in order? a paper/film substrate that you print on, followed by a clear cover film to protect the ink/toner from detaching?
Click to expand...

Does anyone know what they are called, and where I could get them. I don't find that the websites selling labels give much information, they seem to expect that you already know what you need.

hunnymonster said:
you could try a light coat of hair lacquer as a protective layer.
Click to expand...

Will buy a tin tomorrow and see what happens. Thanks.
 
soapalchemist said:
Does anyone know what they are called, and where I could get them. I don't find that the websites selling labels give much information, they seem to expect that you already know what you need.
Click to expand...

I'd guess that in that situation most people would try and buy clear adhesive film of the same size as the labels... I could have just invented a new product line otherwise :D

I think the hair lacquer is probably the best idea, used to use it for chalkboarding outside the pub when I was doing the trainee manager thing as a sallow youth - stopped people rubbing out parts of letters to leave rude words and stopped the rain washing it off :D
 
Hunny, you're a genious. I sprayed 'em once, and i sprayed 'em again.......and it seems to have done the trick. It is a bit of a palaver, but very useful for the 150 or so sheets of these very expensive labels that I have to find a use for.
Many many thanks.
 
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