[Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers?

Sun Apr 12 02:06:02 EDT 2026

Hi Rob and all,

I'm not familiar with task groups in SPNHC, so somebody who already works
with one will have to explain to me how that works, but generally speaking
- the main problem here is formulating the right kind of question to answer
in a scientific research. In fact, it crosses my mind that if anybody here
has a contact within the Image Permanence Institute, I'd be happy to get in
touch (IPI, according to its own vision, is "dedicated to supporting the
preservation of cultural heritage collections in libraries, archives, and
museums around the world").

Possibly the study question should be about finding the most permanent
printer-ink-substrate combo (for ethanol?) in each category (laser, inkjet,
thermal transfer), and then comparing categories. This would involve
thinking about *the best ways to test permanence for labels in fluids* -
for example, in my own published paper I presented a form of accelerated
aging as a testing method. What would be the best way for testing, other
than waiting 50-100 years? Maybe discussing this with people at the Image
Permanence Institute could help.

Gali

On Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 5:18 PM Robert Waller <rw at protectheritage.com>
wrote:

> Hi Gali,
> Your suggestion "to understand the "recipe" as much as possible" seems a
> very good idea.
> If you or someone else decides to initiate a task group within SPNHC to
> take that on, I suggest you reach out to archives and paper conservators
> through their discussion groups as they may already have useful information
> available. Perhaps the subject could be suggested as a good research
> project for a conservation student. That is, a compilation of information
> combined with some experimentation for validation.
> Rob
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Gali
> Beiner <gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il>
> *Sent:* Thursday, April 09, 2026 4:17 PM
> *To:* Ian Engelbrecht <ianicus.za at gmail.com>
> *Cc:* NHCOLL-new <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Desktop thermal printers?
>
> Redesigning is already happening: new tech pops in, for example the
> thermal transfer printers are new compared to inkjets, and new substrates
> are also being developed.
>
> One way to deal with inevitable change is to understand the "recipe" as
> much as possible and seek out the "cleaner" products - as in the case of
> "OBA free, acid free, lignin free" etc paper or understanding which types
> of toners are likely to be more permanent. Understanding the technology as
> much as possible and testing what we can may help narrow down choices and
> set clearer standards. The other way is to remain out of it and use
> handwritten labels, but it seems that all of us regard this option mostly
> as a ship that has sailed: too hard to get the workforce to do it.
>
> 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 ה׳, 9 באפר׳ 2026, 21:49, מאת Ian Engelbrecht ‏<
> ianicus.za at gmail.com>:
>
> Plus the fact that things change over time. HP printer - toner - paper
> combination might work now, but will it still 30 years from now when
> they’ve redesigned one or three of those components?
>
> Ian
>
> On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 at 18:20, Gali Beiner <gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il>
> wrote:
>
> Doug is pointing out the heart of the problem - the variety of printing
> combinations which makes comparisons difficult.
>
> In fact, the variations in the way printer-ink-subsrate (paper or other)
> combinations work is the main reason why manufacturers recommend using
> their own brand for all three parts of the combo. In other words, the
> manufacturers say HP printers are supposed to yield better, more permanent
> results with original HP toners and HP specialized paper. The same goes for
> Canon, Epson or any other brand. Testing according to conservation
> parameters can work with that - or at least look very carefully into what,
> exactly is chosen for use (eg paper - OBA free, lignin free etc etc).
>
> The way things stand now - with endless possible variations and
> combinations - basically means it is up to us to try and set the criteria
> of choice and monitor whether that works. Not easy, but possibly we can
> try.
>
> 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 ה׳, 9 באפר׳ 2026, 18:46, מאת Douglas Yanega ‏<dyanega at gmail.com
> >:
>
> On 4/8/26 11:38 PM, Gali Beiner wrote:
>
> 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?
>
> Compilation of different people's experiences have been done here and
> elsewhere with some regularity, and one thing that is a universal
> impediment to generating a coherent picture is the variability of the
> medium that is being printed on. Comparisons of different printers are
> nearly meaningless if the "tests" are on different paper stock.
>
> The most dramatic example I can offer is one from personal experience:
> back in 1990, we obtained a Laserjet, a fairly new technology at that time,
> and printed thousands of labels for both dry and ethanol specimens. The
> first several months everything worked flawlessly, and to this day, almost
> 40 years on, those original labels are perfectly fine, even the ones stored
> in ethanol. Then one day we ran out of the existing stock of paper, bought
> a new ream, and loaded it into the printer without changing anything else.
> The lettering on those labels chipped, flaked, and rubbed off the dry
> labels, and when we tried to put them into ethanol, the letters floated
> off. No alteration of settings was involved, and nothing we did made the
> labels viable. That is, until we checked the packaging on the original
> ream; we found it was not the exact same thing that we had switched to, so
> we bought something IDENTICAL, and the resulting labels were just fine
> again. The problem had literally nothing to do with the printer, and
> everything to do with the paper.
>
> Again, any "test" that does not control for the medium will not be a fair
> and objective test of the merits of a printer.
>
> We presently use an HP Laser printer, and yes, we have had to try
> different types of paper to find paper stocks that work well with this
> printer. Not all do. Even worse, when we use "replacement" toner cartridges
> (not the official HP brand), sometimes *but not always*, the printing is
> slightly flaky and easily abraded. That means there are at least THREE
> parameters that need to be controlled: the printer, the medium, and the
> toner. Variation in any one of those three can lead to variation in the
> quality of the results. This makes objective assessment and testing *very* difficult,
> and ultimately it's just a litany of anecdotes.
>
> Peace,
>
> --
> Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
> Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314    phone: 951-827-4315
> FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
>              https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
>   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
>         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82
>
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> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
> 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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