Complaint about letterheads

[Darlek]

Printed some letterheads for a company,. However they are complaining that the image is coming off when they put them through a laser printer. Is this a common problem with digital printing and if so is there a answer.

[NexpressMonkey]

I think that's the nature of the beast with digital. We do not digtially print anything that runs through a laser afterwards.

[arossetti]

Very common problem, the only answer is to have your fuser be hotter then the end users. We have success running digital letterhead on our Xante color printer. In general I try to stay away from letterhead, low margin and big headaches.

[Stiv]

If it is possible to set the paper tray of their printer to a light-weight paper setting.
This would turn the heat on their fuser down a little and help reduce/eliminate the image melting off.

[wildcatt]

We don't print letterhead on a digital press.

EVER

just for that reason

[graficworx]

Is this a common problem with digital printing and if so is there a answer.

Short answer Yes. Long answer, still yes, but with an explanation.

As was pointed out, it has to do with fuser temperature. Fuser temperature is related to the melting point of the toner, which is designed by the manufacturer. The lower the melting point of the toner, the less energy and less electricity needed to melt that toner, and more cost savings to the printer. Newer copiers and digital presses use toner that melts at a much lower temperature. This temperature will vary by manufacturer.

HP states that "The enhanced toner was designed to melt at lower temperatures and to deliver print quality consistency at faster print speeds. As a result, the toner requires 15 percent less energy to reach fusing temperature".

Xerox says "The 2° C lower setpoint also drives down the fuser costs and the need to replace the fuser as often. This also contributes to lower energy consumption in the office leading to lower energy costs."

The flipside of this is that cheap, disposable desktop printers (anything over a few years old, new Brothers, etc...) don't use this newer toner design, so they still have to get nice and hot to fuse, and in doing so, will "un-fuse" the toner you already placed on there.

Solution? Not really. Its the nature of how toner works that creates this problem. Toner only sticks to the surface of paper, it doesn't penetrate like ink does. Its essentially "glued" to the surface of the paper through the application of heat and pressure. Ink on the other hand, either ink-jet or offset ink, penetrates the paper fibers and goes below the surface.

Ink is chemically cured, either through oxidation or an external force. Toner never cures, its always in the same form, so heat can remove it again.

My rule of thumb is this: when a customer comes in wanting short run letterhead, I ask them will they be printing on an inkjet or laser printer. If they say inkjet, then laser printed letterhead is fine, however if folded it can crack and peel. If they say laser, then it has to be offset printed. Since large scale inkjets aren't really popular yet, it comes back to offset printing.

[dabob]

Short answer Yes. Long answer, still yes, but with an explanation.

As was pointed out, it has to do with fuser temperature. Fuser temperature is related to the melting point of the toner, which is designed by the manufacturer. The lower the melting point of the toner, the less energy and less electricity needed to melt that toner, and more cost savings to the printer. Newer copiers and digital presses use toner that melts at a much lower temperature. This temperature will vary by manufacturer.

HP states that "The enhanced toner was designed to melt at lower temperatures and to deliver print quality consistency at faster print speeds. As a result, the toner requires 15 percent less energy to reach fusing temperature".

Xerox says "The 2° C lower setpoint also drives down the fuser costs and the need to replace the fuser as often. This also contributes to lower energy consumption in the office leading to lower energy costs."

The flipside of this is that cheap, disposable desktop printers (anything over a few years old, new Brothers, etc...) don't use this newer toner design, so they still have to get nice and hot to fuse, and in doing so, will "un-fuse" the toner you already placed on there.

Solution? Not really. Its the nature of how toner works that creates this problem. Toner only sticks to the surface of paper, it doesn't penetrate like ink does. Its essentially "glued" to the surface of the paper through the application of heat and pressure. Ink on the other hand, either ink-jet or offset ink, penetrates the paper fibers and goes below the surface.

Ink is chemically cured, either through oxidation or an external force. Toner never cures, its always in the same form, so heat can remove it again.

My rule of thumb is this: when a customer comes in wanting short run letterhead, I ask them will they be printing on an inkjet or laser printer. If they say inkjet, then laser printed letterhead is fine, however if folded it can crack and peel. If they say laser, then it has to be offset printed. Since large scale inkjets aren't really popular yet, it comes back to offset printing.

One more caveat, when printing offset be sure and use a wax free ink . .. because in an ink with wax (for rub resistance) will melt on toner rollers also . . .

[msaeger]

Letter head causes issues no matter what you print it on but running something on a laser then running it through another laser just doesn't work.

[Craig]

Letter head causes issues no matter what you print it on but running something on a laser then running it through another laser just doesn't work.

Rephrase to read "Letterhead causes issues no matter what toner device you print it on."

We have NEVER had an issue with offset letterhead, and we have been running it since 1966.

[msaeger]

Offset letter head leaves ink on feed rollers and causes jamming. I have had fuser rollers get contaminated too when places run a ton of letter head. You guys aren't going to hear about that kind of issue because that can be fixed by cleaning or replacing rollers. The toner based stuff just doesn't work so we tell customers we can't do anything to make it work then you get it returned.