Choose a Printer: Forms Handling

While the dot-making technology may be dominant in terms of aesthetics - that is, how printed images look to you - there are other things you need to know when choosing a printer. We'll now review some of the more important ones.

Forms Handling

Forms handling is one of the biggest factors in choosing a printer. Take a look at the forms you'll need to print. Make sure that the printer you're considering can handle them all.

Different printers have different forms handling capabilities

The reality is that each of the printer technologies has different abilities to handle forms. The downside is that a particular technology may not be able to handle certain forms at all. For example, impact printers can physically handle some forms that lasers cannot and vice versa. Laser printers,in fact, differ markedly in their forms handling capabilities, depending on their fusing technology and print engine design.

Here's some inside stuff about forms that you should know

1. Paper Thickness Impact printers can handle forms more than twice as thick as laser printers. Typically, impact forms can go up to .025" compared to the typical maximum of .010" for a laser. On the other hand, laser printers are able to adjust to forms whose cross-section varies and can maximize the printable area of forms. Impact printers tighten down to the thickest part of the form and limit the printable area.

2. Paper Weight Make sure that the weight of the papers you intend to use are within the specifications of the printers. Some printers are able to print on weights over 100lbs, while others are more limited.

3. Multi-part Forms The choice is easy on this one. Impact printers are the only ones that will print on multi-part forms.

4. Forms Quality You get what you pay for. Generally, the higher the quality of your media, the higher the quality of your printed images - and the reliability of your print jobs. With high quality label stock, you are less likely to jam up your printer. Your technology choice helps on this one, too. You can expect flash fusing printers to be more forgiving of forms quality than heat-pressure lasers.

5. Tenting Not to be confused with a camping trip, this tenting refers to what happens at the perforations of continuous forms as they run through the printer. When tenting occurs, the perforations will stand higher or lower than the rest of the page, rather than flat. In either case, you're likely to get reduced image quality. And if the tent is "pitched" high enough, the tent may actually strike the drum of a laser printer causing excessive drum wear. Tenting can be caused by the way perforations are cut in the form. Impact printers straighten out the tent and tend to minimize printing problems associated with tenting.

6. Cut-To-Tie Ratios These ratios will tell you how much of the form is cut at the perforations and how much is not. Higher cut-to-tie ratios make the perforations more flexible so that the forms stack easier. However, too high a cut-to-tie ratio will result in weak perforations and may cause jams, if the form should separate during printing. One caution: heat-pressure fusing laser printers tend to "iron" the form's perforation and cause paper memory loss, which weakens its stacking capability. Using a power stacker will, in most cases, solve the paper memory loss problem.

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