Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2022 March 30

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March 30

thermal label printer

Anyone use those? Are they what drugstores use for prescription bottles? I'm used to thermal receipt printers, where the print fades when exposed to heat or light, but that doesn't seem to happen with pill bottle labels. Special media, different printer, or what? I'm looking for a small receipt printer and have noticed that a few of them also claim to be able to do labels. Thanks. 2602:24A:DE47:B8E0:1B43:29FD:A863:33CA (talk) 03:39, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

Here are some label printers advertized by Brother as suitable for prescription labelling. The specifications of several state that the technology is direct thermal printing; some others are unclear. I could not readily find a comparison of the stability of thermal prints as produced by various technologies.  --Lambiam 09:20, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

We use Dymo LabelWriter 450 and Brother QL-820NWB where I work. Both are thermal and I haven't noticed any fading. Of course, YMMV. --TrogWoolley (talk) 12:16, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

It's been a few years, so this is possibly out of date, but I have had related experience. There's two main types of thermal printers: direct thermal printers and what are called indirect or "thermal transfer" printers. My experience was the transfer type, where we used single-use ribbon to print barcode labels - the results are very clear (and very permanent), as was needed for our application. I've got to assume the direct ones are better now since it would be almost impossible for them to be worse than those early jobs. Matt Deres (talk) 13:48, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Most thermally printed cash-register receipts I get are (also now, in 2022) highly subject to fading and heat-sensitive. Contact with fat also erases the print. The specs of the Brother products that do not mention "direct thermal printing" have a section "Tapes for this model", which I then guess means they use thermal-transfer printing, a technology I was not aware of. It can print on plain, untreated paper and is recommended when durability of the prints is desired.  --Lambiam 15:07, 1 April 2022 (UTC)

Related, but off-topic, I have (or had) a printed receipt (Dot-matrix impact & ink ribbon I believe) from 1983 till early this year, 2022. So nearly 40 years (!) and it looked like it was printed yesterday. Thermally printed receipts suck as far as lifespan & preservation goes. 220 of ^ßorg 04:27, 3 April 2022 (UTC)