OT: White Laser Toner

Of course, just use a color laser printer. They use CMYK AFAIK, so you should be able to print just yellow.

Is all toner pretty much the same?

I'm wondering if you can just go buy a color cartridge and steal the toner out of it. Would probably be messy as hell though. But you could try patience and steady hands. Would probably need to blow out the black cartridge with high pressure air or something.

Also, I think toner might be bad for your health (so don't breathe it), and I wouldn't be suprised if it were flammable?

-mpm

Another idea I just had: Those little label makers work really well. Not all of them of course, but some of the Brother models do quite a nice job. And not too expensive.

If you don't want to go that route, you could use the same tapes that they do, affix the tape to the connector shell, and then your decal to the tape. So connector-tape-decal. Comes in white. And of course, this won't work if you need a width greater than about an inch or so. I think that could look rather professional in low prototype quantities?

I would think that if you contacted one of the numerous toner refillers who are now able to do this unencumbered,

Un bel giorno snipped-for-privacy@netzero.com digitò:

Yes, but they use subtractive syntesis, not additive.

black

to a

No - I had a few toner refill kits with large bottles for specified printers, and a full spare toner cartage for another printer that I didn't have. Mixing and matching toners works in some cases others it doesn't not come off the drum properly, and leaves shadows, etc (makes it look like the drum is bad), or even almost no print at all with some printers. Other times it works great.

Not too bad - do it outside the first time. It's fairly dense. Have a small funnel, maybe a larger one too (when I used to do this, I made a larger one with a sheet of paper when needed)

I can't see it being good for your health. Another reson to do it outside.

Most likely, but I never had a problem with it.

I know, just print yellow, which is what the OP stated as an alternative.

THis is production, and I don't think my customers would go for it.

Jim

-- "If you think you can, or think you can't, you're right." --Henry Ford

What about a pad printer? Depending on your volumes, you might even be able to do them by hand, without all the fancy jigs typically involved - but I've never tried it without the fixtures.

Are the connector shells smooth or pebble-finish, or ?? What kind of shells? (I'm thinking "DB25" here.) Or more to the point, what will be the dimensions of your finished text?

-mpm

Un bel giorno snipped-for-privacy@netzero.com digitò:

I don't think that the toner ink is so thick and opaque to reflect the light from above the paper.

You could do the opposite: print the black background on a white sheet, and keep the text unprinted... a little expensive though :)

My wife has a Dymo Thermal Printer, which prints on white or _transparent_ stick-on labels of a variety of sizes.

Perhaps print "negative" so that letters are clear, apply white paint on the back-side before sticking down ?:-)

Or, as it just struck me, apply the dab of white paint to the connector shell.

Or print "negative" on yellow labels?

...Jim Thompson

This label printer uses TZ tape which comes in 5 different widths and many colour combinations including white on clear.

True. The yellow pigment absorbs magenta and cyan light, and reflects the yellow. It's going onto a black panel, so I presume it's supposed to be reflective.

Cheers! Rich

It absorbs magenta and cyan light, and *transmits* the yellow. The paper does the reflecting.

mpm snipped-for-privacy@aol.com posted to sci.electronics.design:

At least very similar, all current versions are low melting temp plastics with colorings in (sub) micron powders.

Very definitely. All PM10 and smaller powders are inhalation health hazards.

And potentially an explosive, think flour-air explosions, it is usually a flammable plastic.

mpm snipped-for-privacy@aol.com posted to sci.electronics.design:

Actually, you can get white on black for P-touch and similar. One adhesive label and presto. Or with a stamp like apparatus and epoxy ink.

Nobody snipped-for-privacy@nowhere.com posted to sci.electronics.design:

Magenta light? You may be betting too much on the ink not being opaque.

Really? What color is a "yellow" pigment, when viewed in a transparent container?

To be sure, the characteristics of the paper contributes to the final color, but to say that a "yellow" pigment transmits yellow light while blocking other wavelengths is a misleading.

Bob M.

If it's translucent, the colour of the background (whatever's behind the container) minus (most) blue. If it's opaque, the colour of the illumination minus blue. If it's between, then some combination of the two.

In order to function as the "Y" in "CMYK", it needs to transmit yellow light while substantially attenuating blue light[1]. It may also happen to reflect some light, but that isn't necessary for it to function as ink or toner. Too much reflection would make it unsuitable for making transparencies.

For printing on white paper, reflection is equivalent to transmission; for transparency, reflection is equivalent to absorbtion. If there's no reflection, you get the same results for both paper and transparency, which is a desirable property for general-purpose process-colour (CMYK) inks.