suggestions for printing tool catalog
 

I really need a printer to print my dozen tool catalog in PDF format. I really want a printed version of it one that i can browse through. Would want one that has a reasonable printer cost for home use, and would do decent printing even if it only has low cost or cheap printer ink.

Any cheap printer should do the trick. Where they get you is on the ink, but you already knew that.

I would check with the tool places, they often will send a print catalog if you request it.

Kirk

FWIW -- regarding printers & their inks:

• HP and Kodak "inks" will smear & streak if you mark over them with just about any yellow highlighter (any color!).

• EPSON "inks" do NOT smear & streak and are water-permanent.

...so, if you plan on "highlighting" ANYTHING in those printed catalogs, I'd recommend staying away from HP and Kodak printers.

...EPSON is known GOOD, but they're not the only game in town. Maybe some of the "re-fill" ink places can pour good-ink back into used HP and Kodak cartridges for a better "deal"?

when you hit 'print' a screen open for the specific printer.
You can the decide what level you want the cartridge to shoot the ink
fast draft
fast normal
normal
best or picture.

I use several different printers. Laser jet, inkjet. I ALWAYS adjust down to fast draft or 'econ' mod.
Also, I will print on both sides.
SOMEtiMES I will print 2 pages on one side and then fold the paper in half.

as a final thought, I will also NOT print pages that are just boiler plate.

You'll probably want a low cost laser printer. I have a remanufactured brother HL2140 ($30 after rebate) that's managed to print about 1000 pages on the starter cartridge, and a good price for a normal sized cartridge (~2400+ prints) is around $12+, so that's about half a cent per print on ink. Paper is around 2/3rds of a cent, so copies run around 1&1/3rd cent each. You can also print double sided to reduce the costs to about 5/6th of a cent. On top of that you can also refill your own cartridges for about a quarter of a cent per page, which puts the cost at a bit more than half a cent per page.

Ink cartridges tend to be much more expensive, however refills are almost as cheap at about a third of a cent per page, so only marginally more expensive than toner refills. That said, the biggest problem I've found with ink is that the cartridges tend to dry out sooner or later, which isn't a problem with laser printers and why I decided to go with one. I may print 700 pages, let the thing sit for a year, and I can come back and printer another thousand pages, unlike an inkjet printer that would have likely dried out.

So far I've used it to print out FSMs, and over the course of a thousand pages or so it's been pretty good.

I've an Epson NX100 that will print some of the best looking pages... at the cost of high ink usage. I really think there is about 10 drops of ink in every new cartridge (black, and three individual colours).

When I make a catalogue, I'll print it in B/W first to get the layout. Then I'll print a couple in full colour. But for the final quantity printing, I just email the .pdf file to a local print shop (Kinko's) and have them make prints - a lot cheaper than me constantly buying/installing ink.