best printer for post cards

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insaprsr

I need to print a bunch of standard 3.5" x 5.5" US Post Office pre-stamped
post cards (yes, I am aware that I could print 8.5 x 11's and cut em and
stamp em, but that's not what I need).
Not all printers can handle that size. I want a printer that will do the job
quickly and inexpensively, without paper jams.
Any recommendations?
 
Can't tell you what the best printer would be, but I just cut a 4x6 sheet of
photo paper down to 3.5x5.5 and it printed just fine in my canon i960
printer. You have to fool the printer a bit by setting the paper size to
4x6 as the choices are limited. Borderless prints can only be done in 4x6,
5x7, and 8.5x11, but if you are using a program such as photoshop you can
extend the palate on which the picture sits with the background set to white
and place the picture or graphic you wish to print inside uneven white
borders to fit the 3.5x5.5 card stock. As you probably know, printing
borderless prints actually has the print head laying down ink just past the
edge of the paper to avoid any error in feed which would leave any white at
the edges. The overspray past the edge of the paper is absorbed into a
sponge material under the paper feed area and the sponge is wider where the
three borderless size paper edges would be. Trying to print borderless in a
different size format could be done but would leave ink under the paper feed
area which can transfer to the paper. Bottom line - This printer did feed
the 3.5x5.5 paper (at least once for a test!) to produce a print.
 
Sorry for the second post, but I wanted to add that the Canon i960 is
available either new or refurbished from Tigerdirect. If they still have
the same deal I saw yesterday there was a sizable rebate that brought the
cost of the new printer to about $80. I would insist on a new one only as a
refurb may be a problem and the price on this deal was only a $10
difference. These are discontinued units that have been replaced by the
Pixma series. I don't know if a printer in the Pixma series has the same
paper feed. They have two paper feeds, one of which is a cassette. The
other one is where you would use card stock or photo paper. I don't know if
you would have use for duplex printing, which this series also has, but the
key issue for you, from what you asked, is if postcards would feed. Have to
ask a pixma user to try it for you.
 
Any of the Canon printers I've used can handle small pieces such as post
cards. My Lexmark E312 laser will also handle that size without a problem. I
do things a little differently than most users and to me it seems easier.
For nearly all my printing I use Microsoft Publisher, but any other page
layout application would be just as effective. Since the printer default is
8.5 x 11 that's how I set up my document, which is the default setting. On
the Canon inkjets I've used, the paper guides are a fixed left margin with
an adjustable guide that pushes the paper to that margin. A 3.5 x 5.5 card,
envelope, label or any item of a size other than letter size, is only an
area on what the printer thinks is a full sheet and as such it would start
printing in the upper left hand corner. That's where I position the text or
graphics. On the Lexmark laser, the paper guides center the item so I have
to set up the document to print in the center of the paper. The point I'm
making is that the printer doesn't know the difference between a post card
and a full sheet. Just set up the documents to conform to where the paper is
fed into the printer. I know this will also provoke some controversy, but I
have Canon s820, i950 and iP4000 models. If text printing is the predominate
use for this printer I'd actually recommend either the s820 or i950 over the
iP4000. Those two models are out of date, but the i960 is the successor to
the i950. Both of these printers and the i960 which Burt mentioned are
classified as photo printers with 6 ink tanks, but I get better text
printing on them than with the iP4000 which has 4 tanks plus a pigmented
black. The iP4000 is a general purpose printer, but to me it prints better
photos, but not text. At this time from a cost and effectiveness standpoint
I'd go with Burt's suggestion and get the i960. If you are only printing
black, then an inexpensive laser would also be a printer to look at. The
only drawback is that due to inadequate fusing temperatures on some lasers,
the toner on thicker stock sometimes doesn't fuse into the paper and can be
rubbed or scrapped off.
 
Ron said:
Any of the Canon printers I've used can handle small pieces such as post
cards. My Lexmark E312 laser will also handle that size without a problem. I
do things a little differently than most users and to me it seems easier.
For nearly all my printing I use Microsoft Publisher, but any other page
layout application would be just as effective. Since the printer default is
8.5 x 11 that's how I set up my document, which is the default setting. On
the Canon inkjets I've used, the paper guides are a fixed left margin with
an adjustable guide that pushes the paper to that margin. A 3.5 x 5.5 card,
envelope, label or any item of a size other than letter size, is only an
area on what the printer thinks is a full sheet and as such it would start
printing in the upper left hand corner. That's where I position the text or
graphics. On the Lexmark laser, the paper guides center the item so I have
to set up the document to print in the center of the paper. The point I'm
making is that the printer doesn't know the difference between a post card
and a full sheet. Just set up the documents to conform to where the paper is
fed into the printer. I know this will also provoke some controversy, but I
have Canon s820, i950 and iP4000 models. If text printing is the predominate
use for this printer I'd actually recommend either the s820 or i950 over the
iP4000. Those two models are out of date, but the i960 is the successor to
the i950. Both of these printers and the i960 which Burt mentioned are
classified as photo printers with 6 ink tanks, but I get better text
printing on them than with the iP4000 which has 4 tanks plus a pigmented
black. The iP4000 is a general purpose printer, but to me it prints better
photos, but not text.
Click to expand...

I do not agree with that. One nice thing about the Canon pigmented
black is you can use a highlighter on the ink after about 10 minutes and
it does not smear.
 
Thanks, all, for the information. I will further check out the printers
mentioned. What I'm trying to do is print mostly black text, on two sides of
about 800 USPS standard 3.5 x 5.5 postcards. My present printers will do the
job, but my old Lexmark Z52 inkjet (which used to do this better than it
does now for some reason--I tried cleaning the rollers with alcohol and it
didn't help) can print a large number of these cards really quickly, but
every once in a while it can't grab a card, and "prints" on thin air, and I
have to reset the whole thing, finding the missed name and address, a real
nuisance. My regular printer, an hp 9100 series all in one, takes about 8
seconds to print each card (it takes that time just to sit and 'think' about
what to do in between printing each card--that delay makes me nuts!!), tech
support not able to suggest a workaround.
So I'm looking for an inexpensive little printer to replace the Z52,
dedicated to just one task, churning out post cards quickly and without
jams!
 
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