Envelopes in Brother Printers
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Is it common that you have to open the back cover on a Brother printer in order to send envelopes through? Is this common on most laser printers? The below video shows and example of what I am talking about. A client called asking me why the envelopes come out all crinkled when they print. I sent them this video. I kind of feel like that is a pain but if that is common in all or most laser printers what can you do right?
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@syko24 said in Envelopes in Brother Printers:
Is it common that you have to open the back cover on a Brother printer in order to send envelopes through? Is this common on most laser printers? The below video shows and example of what I am talking about. A client called asking me why the envelopes come out all crinkled when they print. I sent them this video. I kind of feel like that is a pain but if that is common in all or most laser printers what can you do right?
Maybe common for brother printers, but I haven't seen that. Usually, Tray 1 is for one-offs and envelopes, and is located on the front side (usually vertical when closed), above the horizontal tray 2.
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@wrx7m - Yeah it looks like most of the Brother printers advertise this as how to print envelopes. I also suggested to the client to see if they can change the paper type or size via the settings menu on the printer for the manual tray.
Seems like such a dumb design. I can’t imagine anyone thinking it is normal to have to open up the back and then unlatch the fuser tabs to print an envelope.
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It's very common. I'd say it's a standard feature.
You want thick materials to pass as straight through as possible. Laws of physics are at play, not anything else. Same thing printing on other types of heavy stock or things that you do not want to bend.
Larger printers can have larger diameter rolls inside and can handle a little thicker stock without sending it straight through.
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@Pete-S said in Envelopes in Brother Printers:
It's very common. I'd say it's a standard feature.
You want thick materials to pass as straight through as possible. Laws of physics are at play, not anything else. Same thing printing on other types of heavy stock or things that you do not want to bend.
Larger printers can have larger diameter rolls inside and can handle a little thicker stock without sending it straight through.
I guess I get that with bending and going through the rollers it's going to be too thick for a smooth transition. I just know the conversation is going to start off with "Well my last printer didn't need to do that".
As long as I can back up that most modern printers need to do this there's not much more to argue about it.
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A compact printer has to do sharp turns. The older printer may have been a much larger model or had a completely different paper path, like some old inkjets.
A printer that has the ability to feed the paper in a straight path is the best thing. When you open the "backdoor" that is what you have.
HP printer:
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I definitely agree that it has a lot to do with the thickness of the envelope, the amount of humidity in the air, and the paper path.
I definitely haven't seen this 'recommendation' much, but then again, I rarely see the need for envelope printing.
what's even more - I can't recall ever working on a printer that would print when the back door was open - clearly though Brother has this expectation because you're locking/unlocking something on the back so the door can be open, probably part of what sets the path to simply exit, instead of curving back upward to the exit tray.
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@Dashrender said in Envelopes in Brother Printers:
I definitely agree that it has a lot to do with the thickness of the envelope, the amount of humidity in the air, and the paper path.
I definitely haven't seen this 'recommendation' much, but then again, I rarely see the need for envelope printing.
what's even more - I can't recall ever working on a printer that would print when the back door was open - clearly though Brother has this expectation because you're locking/unlocking something on the back so the door can be open, probably part of what sets the path to simply exit, instead of curving back upward to the exit tray.
The locking/unlocking could be for thicker things.
BTW, I had a look in our office and out of 4 different printers, 3 have a backdoor you can open. Different brands, none of them Brother.
Even the HP Laserjet II from the 80's, one of the first mass market laser printers (only $3000 or so), had the backdoor.
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@Pete-S said in Envelopes in Brother Printers:
@Dashrender said in Envelopes in Brother Printers:
I definitely agree that it has a lot to do with the thickness of the envelope, the amount of humidity in the air, and the paper path.
I definitely haven't seen this 'recommendation' much, but then again, I rarely see the need for envelope printing.
what's even more - I can't recall ever working on a printer that would print when the back door was open - clearly though Brother has this expectation because you're locking/unlocking something on the back so the door can be open, probably part of what sets the path to simply exit, instead of curving back upward to the exit tray.
The locking/unlocking could be for thicker things.
BTW, I had a look in our office and out of 4 different printers, 3 have a backdoor you can open. Different brands, none of them Brother.
Even the HP Laserjet II from the 80's, one of the first mass market laser printers (only $3000 or so), had the backdoor.
Sure, they almost all have back doors - to clear paper jams. I've personally never seen one that would print while that door is open - the fact that brother specifically spells this out as a solution to the thick paper problem is totally new to me.
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@Dashrender said in Envelopes in Brother Printers:
@Pete-S said in Envelopes in Brother Printers:
@Dashrender said in Envelopes in Brother Printers:
I definitely agree that it has a lot to do with the thickness of the envelope, the amount of humidity in the air, and the paper path.
I definitely haven't seen this 'recommendation' much, but then again, I rarely see the need for envelope printing.
what's even more - I can't recall ever working on a printer that would print when the back door was open - clearly though Brother has this expectation because you're locking/unlocking something on the back so the door can be open, probably part of what sets the path to simply exit, instead of curving back upward to the exit tray.
The locking/unlocking could be for thicker things.
BTW, I had a look in our office and out of 4 different printers, 3 have a backdoor you can open. Different brands, none of them Brother.
Even the HP Laserjet II from the 80's, one of the first mass market laser printers (only $3000 or so), had the backdoor.
Sure, they almost all have back doors - to clear paper jams. I've personally never seen one that would print while that door is open - the fact that brother specifically spells this out as a solution to the thick paper problem is totally new to me.
Never even though that there would be a printer that could not use the back door actually. Why would they not allow printing with it open when that is a great feature? The only way to print on heavy card stock for instance.
HP
This is from the user manual of HP LaserJet 1160, 1320, 1320n, 1320tn, 1320nw.
Canon
From Canon imageCLASS LBP6780dn:
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However when it comes to envelopes, the obvious question should be to ask - why print on envelopes?
Why not use envelopes with windows instead?
It much faster.Or a small label printer and use labels instead?
Also faster, especially when doing many envelopes. -
I have a lot of different models of Brother printers in the office, and all have a cover in front for envelopes and/or thicker paper. Just like this one:
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@marcinozga said in Envelopes in Brother Printers:
I have a lot of different models of Brother printers in the office, and all have a cover in front for envelopes and/or thicker paper. Just like this one:
that's an input tray, we're talking the exit, out the back, instead of to the top tray...
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This is interesting - definitely learned something today!...
Thanks
