Richard Steinfeld said:
The only problem I
Hi, Tony.
I'm curious about the essence of this issue, too. My "laser" printer is
an Okidata 12i. The instructions say not to feed a previously-printed
sheet through the machine. I've assumed that the reason for this is that
the already-fused toner will melt and smear on the second pass through
the fuser, and in addition, may be deposited on the pressure rollers
opposite the fuser, to then be transfered to the next sheet of paper.
Is this the case? Can you tell me about the different fuser systems that
may cause trouble like this or allow more flexible printing?
Thanks.
Richard
PS: your reply was not carried onto my machine. I don't have you
killfiled, but I do have our newsgroup spoiler killed under his various
pseudonyms -- which makes considerably-calmer participation. But I don't
understand why your post didn't make it.
Richard
I'm not a chemist so cannot be absolutely sure of this but I believe that toner
that has been fused once will not melt when passed through a laser printer a
second time.
There are two scenarios that occur to me.
1. Paper that has a curl (due to heating in a laser printer) will sometimes
jam. This is worse in some printers than it is in others and is not uncommon.
2. Paper that has been previously printed on an inkjet printer can sometimes
leave ink impressions on fuser rollers. I have seen this on one occasion and am
advised that it is not uncommon. I suspect this is affected by a number of
factors such as the type of ink used during the original print, the temperature
and pressure of the fuser and whether the paper has absorbed moisture which may
assist in lifting the ink. Just about all plain paper will absorb moisture from
the atmosphere and generally the cheaper the paper the more it will tend to
absorb moisture (higher clay content). Having said that, my understanding and
my experience is that no damage is done. The marks I saw on the fuser of the
printer disappeared after a few pages and they did not affect the print quality
(the marks were noticed during inspection of the printer). There is no reason
to believe that previously printed pages will affect any other part of the
printer since the pressure and temperature that the paper experiences is not
unusual except of course in the fuser.
Overall I recommend against reusing paper in laser printers because of the
curl, this is worse in printers that contain automatic duplexers. I have seen
hundreds of fusers with toner deposit on them (which by the way does not always
cause any problems) but have never seen one with any recognisable marks such as
a printed character other than the one mentioned above which certainly
attracted my attention.
I am pleased that you have not found the need to killfile me, I would be
disappointed if I ever tempted anyone to do that. Feel free to reply so that I
know that you got this, otherwise I will e-mail you with the above information
after a reasonable period of time.
Tony