We got Xerox Phasers network printers installed in the office with the default setting as "Ink saving". We've only been using these for about 18 months. Previous printers were Lexmarks which always used to print "Full-fat".

Bearing in mind that we print a lot of documents which need retaining for legal and archiving purposes for at least 6 years, one of my colleagues wondered whether there would be any problems with fade/detrioration of the ink-saving mode affecting legibility/readibility after elapse of six years - most of the important stuff gets printed out in standard impression mode.

Appreciate that it may be a bit early to ask for user views on this as printers with this facility haven't been around for too long. Is there any general manufacturer advice ?

Nick

Laser toner is carbon mixed with a polymer that melts into the page under the heat of the fuser unit.

Because carbon as a chemical is black it won't fade over time. A laser print will comfortably last longer than 6 years even if it has been done on eco-mode.

Colour toner might be very different. I don't know what chemicals are involved.

Edited 2 March, 201115 yr by Aspman

As above: laser toner is typically made from recycled plastic, so the paper will go long before the toner does. Laser 'economy' modes usually just alter the tone curve so black becomes dark grey but lighter print doesn't wash out too much. I really wouldn't worry about archival - I've got stuff printed on cheap scrap paper by a dot-matrix printer with a worn-out ribbon that's still perfectly legible after 20-odd years. Dye inks will fade within a few years if exposed to lots of light but the only thing I know of that will deteriorate significantly even when stored away is thermal printer paper.

Hmm, thermal paper. Does anyone even make that for ancient fax machines any more? Maybe it's time to stop hanging onto my Apple Silentype...

p.s.

...printers with this facility haven't been around for too long...

HP LaserJets have had 'EconoMode' since at least the early '90s

Hmm, thermal paper. Does anyone even make that for ancient fax machines any more? Maybe it's time to stop hanging onto my Apple Silentype...

Where I work, we still sell thermal paper for the older fax machines. Although I can't remember who produces the stuff

Xerox Phasers are Wax aren't they, not toner? Either way they should last way longer than the 6 years in eco mode or not.

I think the original Phaser colour models were wax, but the monochrome ones are laser.

Wax does deteriorate badly, especially if it's kept in hot or sunny conditions.

Just like thermal paper, come to think of it..........

Phil

Hmm, thermal paper. Does anyone even make that for ancient fax machines any more? Maybe it's time to stop hanging onto my Apple Silentype...

Printers for maternity ultrasound machines all use thermal paper so someone must make it.

These are colour phasers.

As long as copies last 6 years, its OK.

Now, thermal copies would have been a nightmare. The copy produced from a 1980s brother word processor I had used to begin to fade within a year.

Nick