On the t-shirt forums screen printing[printing?:printing cutting finishing solution] section, there is often the question of which is better, laser or inkjet printers for printing out films. The general consensus, which I agree with, is that a high-end inkjet printer is better. I don’t use it for anything else now that I got a color laser printer for printing paper[paper?:paper sample maker cutting machine] and proofs. The 3000 was expensive but it works well. It’s an old model, not produced for several years now, but considered a great printer for producing films. It cost about $900 but there are cheaper alternatives for laser printers for printing films. Check that t-shirt forums link and poke around and you can find some.
Anyway, the big difference between laser and inkjet printers is shrinkage of films. I used to use an HP laser printer. They don’t seem to have it on their site anymore, so perhaps it’s no longer on the market. That HP laser printer worked well for printing films for the most part, but the issue with laser printers is that the heat from the printer can shrink the film[film?:film cutting machine]. This isn’t a big deal if you’re doing a one-color print[print?:printing image graphic cutting solution], but if you’re doing a multiple-color print it can be a nightmare, as the films may not match up because one or more may have shrunk while the others haven’t. If you burn your screens with the films, some shrunk some not, then registeration may be impossible. Sometimes the two films wouldn’t match up in the middle. The Epson 3000 was worth it, just to avoid problems like those.
