Grumble, grumble laser printer...

[Southtexas]

:beatup:
Well... I gave up on inkjet so I got a Brother laser printer. I'd seen the brother mentioned several places on the forums as good for transfers.
When I attempt a parchment paper transfer the toner goes onto the parchment, then back onto one of the rollers/drums whatever and transfers again to the paper below where the parchment is taped. (further down the page).
Perfect transfer to the paper... but the toner is mostly gone from the parchment.
Model HL-2270DW
Works for the acetone transfer method at least, but that isn't as sharp as I'd like.
Just a heads up since that model seems to be the low dollar Brother available at the moment.

 

[Joe Jacob]

Did you feed from the paper tray or use the manual feed slot and use the straight through paper path? Straight through may prevent the problem that your having.
Take a look here:
http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/BSC/public/us/us_ot/en/faq/faq/000000/000000/000063/faq000063_034.html?reg=us&prod=hl2270dw_all&c=us_ot&lang=en

 

[Southtexas]

Tried both Joe. Also tried the 'reduce ghosting' but this is more than ghosting it's a nearly complete transfer from the parchment.
this is Brother brand toner, I've heard that the refilled generic toners sometimes work better but I have a new full toner at the moment so I won't know about that for quite a while.

 

[Southtexas]

Tried a different tack... Sprayed the parchment with Blair matte spray fix and dried with a hair dryer before feeding through the printer. Now the parchment takes the toner perfectly.
There is a hitch in the transfer though. What I could get to transfer is perfect but the entire 1"x2" plate would not transfer. The damar solution has to be the perfect tack or it won't go. Too wet or too dry and nothing. Trying to get that on such a small plate should be easy but...
The interesting part is that the spray fix forms a skin similar to a decal. I'm going to keep experimenting.

 

[bildio]

FWIW I'm using the same printer & the transfer with parchment paper & Dammar varnish works very well.

 

[dlilazteca]

Just a thought, have you checked the area where your paper feeds out of the printer sometimes there are bristles that guide the paper as it comes out making contact with your paper.

Carlos De La O III

 

[Southtexas]

FWIW I'm using the same printer & the transfer with parchment paper & Dammar varnish works very well.

That does give me hope. For what ever reason the parchment toner is lost before exiting the machine. I found a control to turn off the double pass through the printer (part of the duplex printing feature, uncheck Advanced printing option) But it did not affect the problem.
Perhaps simply using the printer more will 'work it in'?

 

[bildio]

Possibly using the printer more will help. I initially had a problem, but later found out the copper I was transferring to had a plastic covering. When I removed the plastic, the transfer worked, but this was after doing a lot of printing. Also, I had to tape the top & bottom of the parchment paper, otherwise it sometime got flipped.

 

[Southtexas]

Ok, cool. I had read your post about the plastic coating and made sure I removed it (copper sheet from ottofrei has the plastic... ) Turning off the double feed eliminated the flipping end for end when feeding from the tray for me at least. I will run as much as possible through the printer for the next few days. I'm ill anyhow so it will be something simple I can still do until the meds do their job. Fingers crossed.
Thanks a bunch Bill.

Cliff

 

[bildio]

I don't see an option to turn off the double feed.

The settings I'm using to print are: Rendering - Vector; Image Quality - Graphics; & Resolution - 600 dpi.

 

[Southtexas]

Control panel/printers/properties/Advanced/... towards the bottom of that tab is a checked box for "Enable advance printing features"
UNcheck that box and hit ok.
That turns off the double feed for duplex printing.
I found the info on the Brother site initially.

 

[bildio]

Thanks - not at all obvious

 

[silverchip]

Tried a different tack... Sprayed the parchment with Blair matte spray fix and dried with a hair dryer before feeding through the printer. Now the parchment takes the toner perfectly.
There is a hitch in the transfer though. What I could get to transfer is perfect but the entire 1"x2" plate would not transfer. The damar solution has to be the perfect tack or it won't go. Too wet or too dry and nothing. Trying to get that on such a small plate should be easy but...
The interesting part is that the spray fix forms a skin similar to a decal. I'm going to keep experimenting.

Have you tried letting it dry, running it through, warming up the piece of metal and rubbing it down? The laser uses heat to apply the toner, why not reverse the process??
worth a shot!!!!!

 

[Southtexas]

have not tried that but it's a heck of an idea. Might not be up to it yet this evening but I'll give it a shot tomorrow.
Thanks silverchip.

 

[Southern Custom]

Every time this subject pops up, I'm amazed that an engraver who's a heck of a lot smarter than me hasn't come up with a foolproof, extremely sharp, purpose designed system for transfers.
I know that when it works, the acetate and laser method is excellent. I gave up on it as a regular thing about a year and a half ago when I stumbled upon acetone transfer accidentally.
I know there's not a bundle to be made in it but you just gotta imagine it could be done.
Just not by me.
Layne

 

[Southtexas]

Well, heat transfer doesn't seem to work at all. I think there is more going on in the printer than just heat. I seem to recall Fuser oil or something like that. I just don't know enough about how it actually works. I did try several levels of heat up to enough to melt most plastics (brother printers caution that transparencies are likely to melt going though the machine... only one brand and model number recommended for transparencies) so I figured it might take quite a lot of heat.

Layne, I think there just isn't enough of a market for the ones that might actually know how to make such a system to bother with. That, and the price... Still, it might happen, we can hope.

I'm not giving up on the laser. I have a feeling that after a while the printer will 'break in' and the parchment system will start working for me.

 

[bildio]

I don't know if there are different parchment papers, but I'm using Reynolds. This is the same brand that Carlos used in his video.

 

[Southtexas]

There are some other brands, I think, but I have the Reynolds as well. I got it specifically after seeing the video.
The printer has had less than 20 prints though it so far, and most of those just had a small section printed rather than a full page. So it's seen very little use yet. I have a gut feeling that has something to do with the problem.

 

[bildio]

Did you shake the cartridge side to side before installing it?

 

[Southtexas]

I did a couple of shakes, but wasn't very aggressive with them. When the test print looked ok I thought it was enough. You think a bit more vigorous shaking might help? I know that it's supposed to distribute the toner than might have settled in storage and/or shipping. I've not used a laser printer since I retired so it's been a few years and I've forgotten probably more than I remember about them.