Playing with a new paper this morning-HP 40 lb Project Paper
Dec 12, 2021 18:47:03 GMT
angore, renden, and 2 more like this
Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 12, 2021 18:47:03 GMT
I have both a laser and an inkjet printer in my house. I bought the inkjet when I thought the laser printer had broken and I just didn't have it in my budget to buy a new laser printer. Then I found a black toner catridge in a drawer and swapped it out before I gave up on the printer. And, it fixed the issue.
Laser Printers and Inkjet printers each have their own pros and cons:
Laser Printer Pros:
1. You can get some really good detail on small point sizes of fonts.
2. No nozzles to clog and no ink to dry out.
3. It can sit around unused for years and it will just work.
4. Very high page count per toner cartridge
5. Significantly faster than inkjet printers at high quality settings.
Laser Printer Cons:
1. Photo printing not as good as inkjet printers
2. Toner is basically melted plastic that is fused to the paper
3. Slight curl to pages as the come out of the printer.
4. Toner will stick to the inside of a vinyl binder over time.
5. To print on thicker paper, you need to increase the heat of the fuser to get the toner to stick to the paper, which will significantly curl the paper.
InkJet Printer Pros:
1. No heat involved, so pages stay flat
2. Less expensive than laser printers
3. Photo printing is much higher quality (with the right paper)
4. Far less likely to jam, since the paper path is usually straight shoot out the back of the printer through the front.
5. Large format printing available.
6. Ink actually soaks into the paper and adheres to it.
Inkjet cons:
1. Ink nozzles clog with disuse and need to be cleaned.
2. Special papers are required for optimal output. Otherwise you will get feathering
3. Ink cartridges are expensive (though the new Ink Tank printers have eliminated this issue)
I've been trying to find paper I can use with the inkjet printer and get decent results. A while ago I bought Neenah 65 lb. paper, which I really liked. But when I printed on it in the inkjet printer, there was ever so slight feathering, which made all the text look funny.
And when I used it in the laser printer, I needed to set it for "thickest paper" or the toner would flake off the page. Of course, when I did this, the paper would curl a LOT, and I was not able to get it completely flat.
Doing some homework last night, I discovered that HP has a new technology called ColorLok, which is designed to keep inkjet output looking vibrant and crisp. I watched a few YouTube comparison videos, and the difference was pretty dramatic. But I'm sure they were comparing it against cheap 20 lb photocopy paper.
So, I went on an online quest to find cardstock that had ColorLok certification. And, I didn't have a lot of lock.
But I found HP 40 lb. Project Paper.
I ran over to Staples this morning and picked up a 250 sheet ream of it for $20.00, the same price I paid for my 250 sheet ream of Neenah paper. I've printed out a few supplements with it and the text is nice and crisp. Almost as crisp as my laser printer.
It's not as thick as the 65 lb. Neenah paper, but it's plenty thick for me. I plan to keep using this for my inkjet needs, so I can get through all the ink in the printer, rather than having it keep drying out and wasting ink on nozzle cleaning.
Laser Printers and Inkjet printers each have their own pros and cons:
Laser Printer Pros:
1. You can get some really good detail on small point sizes of fonts.
2. No nozzles to clog and no ink to dry out.
3. It can sit around unused for years and it will just work.
4. Very high page count per toner cartridge
5. Significantly faster than inkjet printers at high quality settings.
Laser Printer Cons:
1. Photo printing not as good as inkjet printers
2. Toner is basically melted plastic that is fused to the paper
3. Slight curl to pages as the come out of the printer.
4. Toner will stick to the inside of a vinyl binder over time.
5. To print on thicker paper, you need to increase the heat of the fuser to get the toner to stick to the paper, which will significantly curl the paper.
InkJet Printer Pros:
1. No heat involved, so pages stay flat
2. Less expensive than laser printers
3. Photo printing is much higher quality (with the right paper)
4. Far less likely to jam, since the paper path is usually straight shoot out the back of the printer through the front.
5. Large format printing available.
6. Ink actually soaks into the paper and adheres to it.
Inkjet cons:
1. Ink nozzles clog with disuse and need to be cleaned.
2. Special papers are required for optimal output. Otherwise you will get feathering
3. Ink cartridges are expensive (though the new Ink Tank printers have eliminated this issue)
I've been trying to find paper I can use with the inkjet printer and get decent results. A while ago I bought Neenah 65 lb. paper, which I really liked. But when I printed on it in the inkjet printer, there was ever so slight feathering, which made all the text look funny.
And when I used it in the laser printer, I needed to set it for "thickest paper" or the toner would flake off the page. Of course, when I did this, the paper would curl a LOT, and I was not able to get it completely flat.
Doing some homework last night, I discovered that HP has a new technology called ColorLok, which is designed to keep inkjet output looking vibrant and crisp. I watched a few YouTube comparison videos, and the difference was pretty dramatic. But I'm sure they were comparing it against cheap 20 lb photocopy paper.
So, I went on an online quest to find cardstock that had ColorLok certification. And, I didn't have a lot of lock.
But I found HP 40 lb. Project Paper.
I ran over to Staples this morning and picked up a 250 sheet ream of it for $20.00, the same price I paid for my 250 sheet ream of Neenah paper. I've printed out a few supplements with it and the text is nice and crisp. Almost as crisp as my laser printer.
It's not as thick as the 65 lb. Neenah paper, but it's plenty thick for me. I plan to keep using this for my inkjet needs, so I can get through all the ink in the printer, rather than having it keep drying out and wasting ink on nozzle cleaning.
