I'd like to revive a thread from a few months back.
With increasing interest in ways to use index cards has come a focus on templated cards, grids, miniature copies of lists and calendars, etc. But unless you want to buy costly perforated sheets or the like, this can be a bitch on many printers. My Epson 880, for example, is not very good at this at all.
I'd love to do a post on, say, the top three cheap printers that handle index cards particularly well. If you've had a particularly good and repeatable experience over time printing directly onto standard cheapie index cards, please post about your printer here. Please also share your impressions on ink/toner usage/value, and any other info you think might be useful to people in making a buying decision. If there's enough response I'll do a post on the mothership and credit the best comments.
-----Original Message-----
From: 43Folders@googlegroups.com [mailto:43Folders@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Merlin Mann
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 4:50 PM
To: 43Folders@googlegroups.com
Subject: [43F Group] Research for a Post: Printers that handle index cards
well
I'd like to revive a thread from a few months back.
With increasing interest in ways to use index cards has come a focus on
templated cards, grids, miniature copies of lists and calendars, etc.
But unless you want to buy costly perforated sheets or the like, this can be
a bitch on many printers. My Epson 880, for example, is not very good at
this at all.
I'd love to do a post on, say, the top three cheap printers that handle
index cards particularly well. If you've had a particularly good and
repeatable experience over time printing directly onto standard cheapie
index cards, please post about your printer here. Please also share your
impressions on ink/toner usage/value, and any other info you think might be
useful to people in making a buying decision. If there's enough response
I'll do a post on the mothership and credit the best comments.
I would love to see a post on this. I currently have an HP LaserJet 4L and it will NOT work for 3x5 index cards. Cards aren't long enough to make it through. Would love to replace it with some of your advice.
I just got a Samsung ML-1740 B&W laser printer. Prints 3x5 cards pretty well.
Havent tried to go full size (no margins) yet with it. I just tell it
the card size of 3x5, 1/4" margins, and manual feed and it happily prints it
out. Samsung's software allows you to setup "Favorites" for printer
configs too so you dont have to manually change it all every time.
You can usually find them for around $100-$120. The starter toner is
supposed to print about 1000 pages (8x11), refills will do 3000.
-Chris
On 5/31/05, Chris Hasenpflug <chris.hasenpf...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I would love to see a post on this. I currently have an HP LaserJet 4L
> and it will NOT work for 3x5 index cards. Cards aren't long enough to
> make it through. Would love to replace it with some of your advice.
I have been thrilled to be able to run my TiddlyWiki 3 X 5 print jobs through my HP 2100 laser printer. Now I can keep my HPDA looking smart!
After years of paying ever increasing prices for ink jet cartridges for my "throw-away" ink jet printers, I bit the big one and splurged for a LaserJet Printer.
There is a reason(s) why the InkJet/BubbleJet printers are so low priced - they are cheaply made of cheap materials and the companies make their money selling replacement cartridges.
Anyone remember that the 'original' Gillette razors were given away to sell you blades for a lifetime? The problem here being the Ink/BubbleJet printers wont last more than a year. Printer manufacturers have missed the point of good old King Gillette's marketing genius.
My LaserJet is 3 years old and still acts like a young pup. When I first purchased it I also picked up a spare toner cartridge. The printer is still printing with the original cartridge.
Chris H. .... have you tried the envelope feed with running the 3x5 in portrait mode? Also, try the drop down feed trough tray - more of a straight through path.
If you envelope feed is like mine, centers the card in the feed tray, use a 2.75 inch left hand margin for you set-up.
I have a hp laserjet 1300 and it prints 3x5 cards very well and pretty much anything else I throw at it. In my opinion a laser printer is the way to go. I also have an epson R320 which I cannot get it to print 3x5.
I can put the cards in the manual feed there, but the cards are not long enough to be pushed through the printer. They get printed on, but don't make it to the finisher so it causes a "jam" and the toner literally dusts right off the card.
Its not a huge ordeal right now, I got the printer for free. But I'd like to get a new one sometime soon that will print on cards and preferably color laser ;)
My dad got a new Dell color laser, I'll try a 3x5 on it next time I am home. Its a beastly printer though.
lyndonk wrote: > Chris H. .... have you tried the envelope feed with running the 3x5 in > portrait mode? Also, try the drop down feed trough tray - more of a > straight through path.
> If you envelope feed is like mine, centers the card in the feed tray, > use a 2.75 inch left hand margin for you set-up.
My old Lexmark Z32 inkjet prints 3 x 5s easily. I have to send them through portrait but I can print in either direction, and I can put a stack of them in the printer - no need to feed one at a time. (An old Z22 would probably work just as well; it's the same model but the 22 can print with only a black cartridge installed while the 32 needs to have a color cartridge as well.)
The printer is the ultimate cheapie: it was free years and years ago with a computer I'd purchased. Works with both Win and OS X (Panther, at least; I haven't had the courage to use that Tiger DVD sitting next to my powerbook). Since I use Word on both machines, that's primarily the program I've used to print. I set it up so the page is 3 x 5 (landscape), even use headers and footers (yeah, excessive, I know).
The (now remaindered) Canon i560 prints them well from WordPerfect and OpenOffice; (I've had problems though trying to print from pdf for some reason). I've printed off the various checklists and things I use for class as well as my kids' speeches when they were rehearsing. Just put a stack of cards in as if you were printing off photos and you can print away (landscape or portrait as you prefer). Perfectly readable in draft mode.
One that definitely doesn't work is the hp 4000 series ps (with duplex unit) ... jam city.
I have a HP LJ 1200 and I'm using OSX and I'm having problems with the 3x5 printing. What settings are you using? I want to try them out and see if they work for me. Thanks in advance.
gangl...@gmail.com wrote: > I have a hp laserjet 1300 and it prints 3x5 cards very well and pretty > much anything else I throw at it. In my opinion a laser printer is the > way to go. I also have an epson R320 which I cannot get it to print 3x5.
