So frustrated! *UPDATE*

[daniedb]

I bought a Konica Minolta Laser printer about 2 months ago. I print about 90% of my labels on Online Label's crystal clear label sheets, and in the last 2-3 weeks, I've been getting really odd marks on my prints. I finally called Tech Support today, and long story short...it turns out the printer isn't compatible with clear label paper. They don't have any printers that support printing on a clear label sheet, and so now I don't really know what to do.

A belt on the printer actually got torn b/c of these sheets, and so while I can still print labels at this moment, only about half the sheet is useable, and soon, the printer will be unuseable. I told the guy that if I can't print clear labels, I don't have any use for the printer, so someone from Customer Service is going to call me later and talk about a refund.

I just have to believe that we're going to be reimbursed for the printer, and be able to return it, so it's not even that part I'm concerned about, but what is troubling me is, what now? I can't go back to the old way I was doing it, it was way too expensive and the quality was NOT great. And I can't invest in a zillion dollar printer - I'm going to have to look into pro printing, it's just that I print the scent on every label, and I carry like 12 fragrances, so that's a lot of labels.

Just wanted to vent, thanks for listening.

*UPDATE*

The guy from CS called me, and it turned out that the techie guy probably didn't have a clue what he was talking about. Yay. He rushed me out a new transfer belt, which is what was damaged, and it was here in 2 days. I haven't installed it yet, been sick, but I'm hoping this will fix the problem and that the tech support guy really was wrong. Ironic, isn't it? That the techies gave me the wrong info, and the CS guys had to set it right (if they are correct, that is). So, worry not, you people who are running clear labels. I'll give you some feedback after I use the new belt.

[RobinInOR]

Printers sure are the pits, aren't they. I've got a Minolta too, but have never tried clear - guess I won't.

There are some really nice inkjets that do clear supposedly - have you ever had success with one? Hope you get your $$ refunded, those babies aren't cheap.

Maybe someone's telling you it's time to take your labels pro

[bravo5]

Ooh ooh- I actually can contribute on something for once!

I just did a bunch of research into color laser printers, including the Konica Minolta ones. When you're looking at laser printers, you have to check out now only the large initial cost of the printer and the quality of prints, but a big factor is the toner life/cost. I ended up ruling out the Konica ones pretty quickly as they are really pricey for toner in the long run, especially since the toner life is only 1500 pages.

After all my research, the printer I really liked was a Okidata 5200, but the initial cost was a bit out of my price range ($600-$700). So I was going to go with a HP model instead on sale for $500- and then when I went to buy it last week- the Oki one was on sale after rebates at OfficeMax for $400! So if you have an OfficeMax near you, I saw in the paper yesterday that it's still on sale, and also on sale at Office Depot for the same price.

http://www.officemax.com/max/solutions/product/prodBlock.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&expansionOID=-536907412&prodBlockOID=1611242762

http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=714792&&An=browse

This got me thinking about the clear labels though- I haven't tried them yet, but may want to in the future. So, I'm on hold right now to find out! I'll post more when I get the answer.

I really can't rave enough about the quality of the output from this printer- it's definitely in the "professional" range.

Feel free to PM me if you'd like more info- I'd be happy to share what I researched.

[bravo5]

Ok, had to contact both Avery and Okidata, but finally got an answer.

The Avery clear laser labels have a max fuser heat temp of 350 degrees F. Okidata said that they fuser can get up to 400-450 degrees F, so they wouldn't recommend it, as they may eventually melt.

I guess I won't be trying the clear labels after all, unless I use them with my Epson inkjet.

I'd still be willing to give you info on the other color lasers I looked into, so PM me if you're interested!

[lindsaycb]

This is really depressing...

so what's the point of clear laser labels then? Sounds to me like most printers won't use them.

I would look into just taking the sheets to Office Depot & have them run copies onto them. They'd charge you per sheet & hey, let them deal with the breakdowns on the machines.

[gerrie]

Wow, this is interesting to know. I do clear labels for my lotions and body sprays on my Konica Minolta Laser printer. I print a lot more lables using white label paper, so I am guessing I'm still okay. I have no idea how many clear sheets I've run through this printer in the past year, but it's good to know it's not a good idea. I could have screwed up my machine and not even known why.

I just wonder if any certain brand of labels is better than others. I've been using MACO and Office Depot brand. I also wonder if you print 1 clear sheets to 10 plain white sheets if it helps....can you tell I'm just grasping at straws here and looking for the answer I want to hear

[Michi]

Greaaaat, now I'm wondering if those clear laser labels I just bought off Kimberly are going to screw up my HP laser printer??????

I hadn't even thought about them being that much different than white labels???

I guess I'd better find out before I get them and run them through and possibly hurt my brand new laser printer.

I hope you get a refund for yours.

[bravo5]

I would contact HP and see what their fuser heat temp can get up to- if it's not over 350 degrees F, you're okay.

[StacysScentsations(DH)]

this is interesting http://cgi.ebay.com/Color-Laser-Clear-Glossy-Adhesive-Poly-Printer-Media_W0QQitemZ6829123977QQcategoryZ86728QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[bravo5]

I contacted HP today- they said that their fuser temp gets to 350-400, so they wouldn't recommed using the Avery ones. But they did say that other label manufacturers would most likely have clear labels that could withstand higher temps.

That clear film from ebay is interesting- I did come across Papilio when I was searching online yesterday. I may contact them to see what different media they would have for my printer.

[sockmonkey]

Do your labels have to be clear? Professional labels can cost a fortune. One thing you could do (whether you continue to print them yourself, or have a printshop make them for you) is leave a blank area to be filled in with another smaller label that lists the scent of the product.

I offer around 27 different scents for my products. At first I was creating labels pre-printed with the scent on them. Then I discovered that there some scents that were way more popular than others and I would run out of those labels. That's when I removed the scent from the "standard" label and just printed out the same artwork, but with the name of the scent removed. Then I printed full 8.5 x 11 sheets with only the scents listed on them. I took my paper cutter and chopped them into the appropriate sized dimensions that fit the area left blank on my bottle labels. It worked perfectly. I didn't use a die-cut sheet of labels because I couldn't find any small enough for my purpose, and didn't want to pay rippedsheets.com a ton of money to have them made.

It may sound like it looked hokey, but it absolutely didn't. You can't even tell that the scent is on a separate label.

I wanted to use clear labels, and got a sample sheet from online labels or rippedsheets (I forgot which), and used it in my Minolta 2350EN and it came out perfectly. Of course, all I had was one sheet, so I don't know if I used more if I would have been in trouble or not.

[goosebay_1999]

I have a Konica color laser as well. I have run 1000's of clear laser labels through my printer in the past 2 years. I have never had one problem. Is is possible Konica knows this is a problem and has done nothing to rectify it? My hubby also has a HP laser and we run both clear and white through that one as well with no problems.