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Makes me wonder why thermal US Letter sized printers are not more popular? There are some portable ones I can find at quick glance but not many desktop versions

by 65 2y ago

Makes me wonder why thermal US Letter sized printers are not more popular? There are some portable ones I can find at quick glance but not many desktop versions. Thermal printers do not require ink and most things you print are in black and white anyway. Are there downsides to thermal printers I don't know about?

xythobuz 2y ago
Sure. The prints fade quickly, especially in the sun. And they are susceptible to heat, rubbing your fingernail along is enough friction heating to cause a black line. So they are not all that usable for something more permanent than a burger receipt.
jonhohle 2y ago
It depends on whether what you are printing is intended to last, and for how long. A thermally printed receipt in a car in Phoenix during the summer might last a few days before becoming unreadable. I have Ticketmaster receipts from around 2000, that are unfortunately fading and will eventually be blank tickets again.
mikestew 2y ago
Ignoring the crap print/paper quality, and the one-sided printing, there’s also exposure to BPA. https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/blog/2016/12/23/is-bpa-on-thermal-paper-a-health-hazard https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/blog/2016/12/23/is...
pbhjpbhj 2y ago
They fade very quickly, perhaps that can be fixed, if you only need the prints transiently then it wouldn't matter. I stopped printing anything 5 years ago. If I need to print then the local supermarkets do printing - you just take in a usb stick with the files on.
ndsipa_pomu 2y ago
"US Letter" is a horrible paper size - what is it with the U.S. and ridiculous measurements? ISO 216 is the international standard (e.g. A4 size) and because they use an aspect ratio of the square root of 2, you can fold in half one size to get the next smaller size. Thermal printers tend to be expensive as you use either special paper or special printing ribbons. They quite often create fumes which isn't pleasant and the prints tend to fade after a while, so not much good for archiving.

by 65 2y ago

xythobuz 2y ago

Sure. The prints fade quickly, especially in the sun. And they are susceptible to heat, rubbing your fingernail along is enough friction heating to cause a black line. So they are not all that usable for something more permanent than a burger receipt.

jonhohle 2y ago

It depends on whether what you are printing is intended to last, and for how long. A thermally printed receipt in a car in Phoenix during the summer might last a few days before becoming unreadable. I have Ticketmaster receipts from around 2000, that are unfortunately fading and will eventually be blank tickets again.

mikestew 2y ago

Ignoring the crap print/paper quality, and the one-sided printing, there’s also exposure to BPA. https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/blog/2016/12/23/is-bpa-on-thermal-paper-a-health-hazard https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/blog/2016/12/23/is...

pbhjpbhj 2y ago

They fade very quickly, perhaps that can be fixed, if you only need the prints transiently then it wouldn't matter. I stopped printing anything 5 years ago. If I need to print then the local supermarkets do printing - you just take in a usb stick with the files on.

ndsipa_pomu 2y ago

"US Letter" is a horrible paper size - what is it with the U.S. and ridiculous measurements? ISO 216 is the international standard (e.g. A4 size) and because they use an aspect ratio of the square root of 2, you can fold in half one size to get the next smaller size. Thermal printers tend to be expensive as you use either special paper or special printing ribbons. They quite often create fumes which isn't pleasant and the prints tend to fade after a while, so not much good for archiving.