Waterproof labels

[Justso1]

Hi

I'm looking for some advice on printing labels that have to be waterproof.  They need to withstand being used outdoors and be subject to some condensation.

I've looked at the HP M252DW and M452.  The only difference between these would seem to be the capacity.  I don't require a large capacity, I don't need double sided printing and would prefer wireless capability.  So am thinking of the M252 model

Is this suitable for printing food labels that are water resistant?  I see this has a priority feed tray.  Is this the same as what some refer to as the media bypass tray which has a shorter path through the printer?

Any coments would be apprecated

Thanks, Stephen.

[tonerspills]

I have several customers that run heavy duty waterproof vinyl labels in their HP laserjet printers. Some use smaller P3015's and some use M712's. Really, no printer manufactuer would recommend running a heavy duty/ vinyl/ adhesive backed labels through their machines. It is possible. The 2 biggest problems you will encounter are adhesive  contamination inside the printer on the feed rollers, and premature fuser failure due to the hi temp requirement as well contamination from adhesive. Vinly labels will shrink over time, leaving a minute adhesive border around the edge of the page. Also, you need to imagine a vinly label as 3 sheets of paper thickness- you have the wax or chemical coated backing paper/ the layer of adhesive/ and the label itself. This means you will need to run the printer on a "heavier" paper setting and possibly at a higher temperature to assure proper toner adhesion.

You will get the best results running the labels from tray 1 (aka the bypass tray / manual feed tray) not only is the paper path shorter through the machine- but there are also fewer "bends", so there is less of a chance of the label peeling inside the printer.

You mentioned the 452- this is a color printer- There is a great chance of both ruining the transfer belt (ITB) and the fusing unit due to contamination- neither the fuser or ITB is a field replaceable unit- meaning you will most likely need a service tech to replace these parts- a color printer that has both a field replaceable fuser and transfer belt may be better- depending on what type of volume we are talking about- but a black and white printer would probably be much more cost effective, because there is no ITB to have to replace. You can do alot with a grayscale image to make it look almost as good as color.

You may also look into a small wide format printer/plotter that prints on vinyl rolled film, similar to what a sign company would use.

[Justso1]

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

The volume of labels will not be very large and they don't have to survive in shape too long so not overly worried about shrinkage as they will be on food products that will be sold the day after the label is attached most probably. 

I'm quite confortable having to replace any parts having been a printer service engineer in a previous life with Digital and laterally HP itself.  Fusing unit replacements were a common job for me.  I know it will have changed since I did this but I'm confortable with that if I can get spares.

Considering the price of laser, and for that matter colour laser printers, has hugely decreased since my day then I'm happy to take the chance on the M252 and see how it performs.

Thanks again for your input.

Stephen.