[Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers?

Thu Apr 9 02:38:27 EDT 2026

Dear Joachim,

Your information on your own tests, plus whatever the ink manufacturers
said, is the kind I urge you to publish - it would be good to see how this
info fits in with the rest of the views and whichever tests were performed
(including my own).

Other than that, I think that maybe we could use this forum to up the level
of testing a bit - after all we have a pool of collection professionals
here, all with the same problem to solve re:labels for wet collections
(mainly alcohol but also other). Why shouldn't we gather ourselves into a
group of say 5 to 10 people in different collections and agree on some sort
of protocol for different labels in each collection (or maybe sets of
different labels to be tested in all collections, we could consider the
details)  - and have this followed both in the short and long terms? That
would be more interesting than any individual test. Dear readers in this
forum, how does this sound to you?

Gali

On Thu, Apr 9, 2026 at 8:47 AM Hans-Joachim Händel <
Joachim.Haendel at zns.uni-halle.de> wrote:

> Dear Kendrick,
> Thank you very much for the information.
> Nevertheless, I’m a bit sceptical about using inkjet printers.
> To find out for certain, I wrote to all printer ink manufacturers in
> Europe a few years ago and asked about the longevity of their inks.
> None of them could guarantee legibility for longer than 20 years.
> Things may be different now – my research dates back to 2005.
> Furthermore, my tests showed that many inks become less legible in alcohol
> after a while. The letters become blurred at the edges.
> I actually intended to publish this, but the tests were practically never
> completed and then I lost track of it.
>
> In the meantime, I’m trying out laser printers on synthetic ‘paper’
> (Neobond, Artisyn, Pretex … – I’m still testing). These papers are supposed
> to be age-resistant, and the toner is supposed to bond permanently and
> irrevocably with the paper.
>
> We’ll see – I’m optimistic.
>
> All the best
> Joachim
>
> --
> Joachim Haendel
>
> Center of Natural Science Collections
> of the Martin Luther University (ZNS)
> - Zoological Collection -
>
> Domplatz 4
> D-06099 Halle (Saale)
> Germany
>
> Phone:  +49 345 - 55 26 447
> Email: joachim.haendel at zns.uni-halle.de
>
>
>
> >>> Kendrick Fowler <kendrickorion at gmail.com> schrieb am 08.04.2026 um
> 20:31:
> One thing I feel should be pointed out (as discussed in Gali’s paper) is
> that laser and inkjet printers are different technologies: unfortunately,
> HP's brand name for their laser printers, "LaserJet," has became a
> genericization for all laser printers (like Kleenex, Band-Aid, or Ziploc
> are for tissues, adhesive bandages, and zipper bags), and presumably
> because both "LaserJet" and "inkjet" have the word "jet" in their name,
> folks sometimes conflate these types of printers. Katrina, I'm not saying
> you've done this, but it is a common mistake and I see at least one person
> in the email thread that split off from this one who seems to have made it,
> so I thought it seemed worth mentioning.
>
> Laser printers use heat to melt toner (colored plastic powder) onto
> paper/the printing substrate, and if the toner does not adhere well enough
> the letters can fall off the labels and make “alphabet soup,” as Gali
> noted. There are also reports that laser printed labels may be degraded by
> lipids from fatty/oily specimens or by contact with plastic storage
> bags/containers. As discussed in the other email thread, some folks who use
> laser printers go over their labels with a hot iron, bake them in an oven,
> or treat them with an acrylic spray to improve adhesion of the toner after
> printing.
>
> Inkjet printers spray ink onto paper, and if a good permanent,
> pigment-based ink is used, the labels should last a very long time, just as
> handwritten labels made using pens with archival pigment-based inks do (but
> it is important to get the ink right: some inks are water-soluble and
> therefore are not suitable for wet labels, and inks that use dye rather
> than carbon black pigment for coloring will fade over time). Although I
> haven’t done a comprehensive review, my sense is that researchers who have
> studied the durability of wet labels (such as Gali) usually recommend
> inkjet over laser printing and have done so pretty consistently for the
> past ~25–30 years (see, as examples, the attached papers from 1999 and
> 2002).
>
> With either technology, the paper used should not only be free of acid and
> OBAs, but also lignin, i.e. the paper should be 100% cellulose. 100% cotton
> rag papers, like linen ledger paper or herbarium paper, are the best
> choices.
>
> Hope this helps,
> Kendrick
>
>
> *Kendrick Fowler*, *Entomology Lab Manager*
> Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program  |  hvfarmscape.org
> +1 (518) 672-7994 (office)  |  +1 (267) 377-7567 (cell)
>
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> on **Columbia County's natural **wonders**.*
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 24, 2026 at 3:19 PM Gali Beiner <gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il>
> wrote:
>
>> Dear Katrina,
>>
>> I agree with Andy, laser printers are usually best avoided as far as
>> fluid collections are involved. In our collections, there are examples of
>> "alphabet soup" created by laser-printed labels where letters detached from
>> the substrate.
>>
>> There actually is precious little published info out there in terms of
>> labels for use in fluids. I authored a publication on this subject. Here is
>> a link for your convenience:
>>
>>
>> https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355103566_Labels_for_Eternity_Testing_Printed_Labels_for_use_in_Wet_Collections
>>
>> In our case, we opted for a high quality inkjet printer on acid free, OBA
>> free paper.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Gali
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Gali Beiner (ACR)
>> Conservator, Palaeontology Lab
>> National Natural History Collections
>> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
>> Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram
>> Jerusalem 91904, Israel
>> Fax. 972-2-6585785
>> *gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il <gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il>*
>>
>> *https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en <https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en>*
>>
>> בתאריך יום ג׳, 24 במרץ 2026, 18:09, מאת Derieg, Katrina ‏<
>> katrina.derieg at mso.umt.edu>:
>>
>>> Hi NHC community,
>>> I am hoping to step up my game with fluid labeling. We have a very small
>>> fluid collection in just a few flammable cabinets, so we have a low volume
>>> of fluid specimens being prepared, but I'm hoping to slowly expand. For
>>> reference, we are using only ethanol and not formalin going forward.
>>>
>>> A few years ago, I bought and used a GoDEX ZX430i thermal printer when I
>>> was at UMNH and that thing was the bane of my existence. I found it
>>> difficult to dial in the settings, and the media (Tyvek) was too slick for
>>> the rollers to grab consistently. I'm sure the Tyvek was mostly the problem
>>> there, but in any case I would prefer to avoid an industrial thermal
>>> printer, mostly because of cost.
>>>
>>> Has anyone used desktop thermal printers? Example: Brother TD-4520TN
>>> <https://brothermobilesolutions.com/products/printers/td/td-4/td4520tn/> If
>>> so, can you use them with continuous rolls of printing media? Most of the
>>> desktop ones seem to be direct thermal for sticker labels. I mainly want to
>>> print small tags (1" x 0.25") for individual specimens, as well as internal
>>> jar labels (~ 3" x 4" or 4" x 6"). Has anyone achieved this with desktop
>>> thermal printers? With what kind of media?
>>>
>>> I'd like to spend less than $1000 USD on a printer.
>>>
>>> Alternatively, does anyone have any thoughts on laser jet printing with
>>> special media for fluid tags/labels? This would honestly be my preference,
>>> as I already have a laser jet printer. Currently I am just printing fluid
>>> tags on acid-free card stock with the laser jet, but I know that is far
>>> from ideal.
>>>
>>> I know there is a TON of info out there on labeling for fluid
>>> collections, but I find it hard to sift through for my needs and would just
>>> like to hear from the community on what works for you folks.
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance!!
>>> -Katrina
>>>
>>> *KATRINA DERIEG **(she/her)*
>>> *Curator | Museum Collections and Outreach Coordinator*
>>> *Phillip L. Wright Zoological Museum (UMZM)*
>>> https://www.umt.edu/zoological-museum/
>>> *Shipping: Health Science 104 | 32 Campus Drive | 406
>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/32+Campus+Drive+%7C+406?entry=gmail&source=g>-243-4743*
>>> *Office: Health Science 211*
>>> *katrina.derieg at umontana.edu <katrina.derieg at umontana.edu> |
>>> umzm at mso.umt.edu <umzm at mso.umt.edu>*
>>> *University of Montana*
>>>
>>> *Search the UMZM collections on Arctos: Birds
>>> <https://arctos.database.museum/search.cfm?guid_prefix=UMZM:Bird> | Mammals
>>> <https://arctos.database.museum/search.cfm?guid_prefix=UMZM:Mamm> | Eggs &
>>> Nests <https://arctos.database.museum/search.cfm?guid_prefix=UMZM:Egg> |
>>> Parasites <https://arctos.database.museum/search.cfm?guid_prefix=UMZM:Para>*
>>>
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>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
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> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information.
> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate.
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-- 
Gali Beiner (ACR)
Conservator, Palaeontology Lab
National Natural History Collections
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram
Jerusalem 91904, Israel
Fax. 972-2-6585785
*gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il <gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il>*

*https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en <https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en>*
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