Solvent vs Laser Ink - What's the diff?

[TheSnowman]

I am working with a local photography lab, and we have been printing window decals on 3621 for short term school athletic layouts for them. They have been trying to figure out how to do this one their own, and are now trying printing on that material with a Laser Printer. Anyone do printing with both of these printers and/or inks, and able to tell me how the two are going to compare? I can't imagine that the Laser ink will hold up near as well as a solvent, but I am uneducated in this dept.

 

[Firefox]

Laser printers use a colored plastic powder for the ink and it is fused to the paper with heat and pressure. the ink itself is pretty durable but it is not usually put on very durable substrates (papers) to print it on plastics they must be able to endure the temperature of the fuser assembly... something like transparency sheets for laser printers.

For added durability you can laminate the prints. We usually use a super tack hot laminate. I'm not sure how well cold laminate will work but that probably depends on the laser printer and how much fuser oil it leaves on the sheet during the process. Most small low speed laser printers use very little fuser lube and would most likely be fine with cold lam, I'm just not certain.

 

[CheapVehicleWrap]

Laser ink? or toner? I can't see that being the correct direction.

 

[bob]

I am working with a local photography lab, and we have been printing window decals on 3621 for short term school athletic layouts for them. They have been trying to figure out how to do this one their own, and are now trying printing on that material with a Laser Printer. Anyone do printing with both of these printers and/or inks, and able to tell me how the two are going to compare? I can't imagine that the Laser ink will hold up near as well as a solvent, but I am uneducated in this dept.

Laser printers use toner, not ink. Ink is a liquid pigment of one sort or another and toner is some sort of fusible plastic-like particles. A laser printer prints by exciting areas on a silicone drum, transferring the charge on the drum to a sheet of media, sprinkling toner on the media where it only clings to the media in those areas that were excited on the drum, then heating the media to melt and fuse the toner to the media.

Depending on the media and the strength of the bond between the toner and the media it's probably every bit as durable as solvent ink. It's melted plastic. UV considerations may well be another story.

 

[AUTO-FX]

i think the pigments in the laser toner are basically the same ingredients as an aqueous ink jet ink minus the water. they arent going to last any longer than a desktop inkjet print.

 

[Mosh]

Tell them it will fade in the sun!

 

[Firefox]

Laser printers use toner, not ink. Ink is a liquid pigment of one sort or another and toner is some sort of fusible plastic-like particles. A laser printer prints by exciting areas on a silicone drum, transferring the charge on the drum to a sheet of media, sprinkling toner on the media where it only clings to the media in those areas that were excited on the drum, then heating the media to melt and fuse the toner to the media.

Depending on the media and the strength of the bond between the toner and the media it's probably every bit as durable as solvent ink. It's melted plastic. UV considerations may well be another story.

i think the pigments in the laser toner are basically the same ingredients as an aqueous ink jet ink minus the water. they arent going to last any longer than a desktop inkjet print.

Tell them it will fade in the sun!

Some copier manufacturers do call the toner "INK" but I agree toner is a more widely used and correct term.

The pigment in toner may be similar to those used in aqueous ink, I don't know, but the plastic that melts and encapsulates/seals/bonds the color to the substrate is quite durable and fade resistant, much more so than the paper it is usually on, for short term use it is usually more than adequate.

Get used to it, customers are using desktop copiers/printers to bring as much in house as they can. It is really bringing down the printing industry. The only area we can still compete is in the longer run higher quality color and specialty areas that customers still can't or won't do. It is much like the Cricuit is to vinyl.

 

[heyskull]

I would just explain that this is not the way to go.
The prints will not last and it is questionable how well it will adhere.
To be honest it will make them look unprofessional and like they have been cost cutting!

SC

 

[TheSnowman]

I don't know anything about them other than it's a photo lab, and they are using a laser printer. The print that they brought to me that they printed on their own vinyl they bought from somewhere didn't look as good as my print on the 3621. They are testing them right now. I guess they've printed a few and have them on vehicles to see how they last. I suppose the next few weeks will tell.

 

[Firefox]

I don't know anything about them other than it's a photo lab, and they are using a laser printer. The print that they brought to me that they printed on their own vinyl they bought from somewhere didn't look as good as my print on the 3621. They are testing them right now. I guess they've printed a few and have them on vehicles to see how they last. I suppose the next few weeks will tell.

You might get lucky and their samples won't last. One problem With small copiers/printers is the Fuser is fixed at a certain temp. and the speed of the media going through the printer is also fixed. So when you print on a media that is heavier than the machine was designed to print on the toner and media don't get hot enough to fuse properly and the toner flakes off.

Our larger machines either slow down the heavier media/card stocks or in the case of an older Xerox I had it actually increased the temp of the fuser, both made the toner and media get to the proper temp to fuse.

Maybe they will decide the quality they do in house isn't worth the cheapening of their image, if you get a chance you might point out the less desirable appearance of their laser prints reflecting on the overall quality of their product.

Good luck!

 

[mark galoob]

i dont believe a laser printer work either...it will prob ruin the printer to put oracal in it. an ink jet printer might work, im not sure if that vinyl is designed for a solevent based ink or not.

ps, you could not pay me to even try it on my copiers/printers

mark galoob

 

[rfulford]

Toner is definitely not light fast. Even with lamination, you will be lucky to get 3 months out of it. Additionally, on some laser printers lamination can be an issue. The combination of fuser oil and toner can make lamination problematic if the print is full coverage. Typically, you will need to encapsulate or have enough non printed area for the lam to hold.