So I’ve been looking at office supplies and other things, thoroughly thinking about doing a startup design or some odd type of self-employed work.
Labels. Thermal labels. Lasers are hot so it seems super logical(though that phrase is a bit asinine and possibly oxymoron) that one could skip thermal printers/ label maker-printers altogether and just use the cutter to “engrave” the whatever onto the thermal paper and then cut it to size for …whatever else. Package/envelope send to. Return to. File cabinets. Closet shelves. Supply material bins. The materials themselves. The cat. The dog. The wife…okay, maybe that’s a bit carried away but you get the idea. Just have to not burn up the paper to start with.
It seems to me that the laser is plenty hot to burn your “print” into any paper. Thermal paper shouldn’t be necessary.
Plus, as @marmak3261 says, thermal paper degrades rather quickly. Laser engraving regular paper would be truly permanent. (Assuming, of course, that you can run the laser at sufficiently low power to merely mark the paper rather than ignite it.)
You can, but the contrast will vary with the paper and may be quite low. Vaporizing a thin layer of white paper leaves you with… more white paper.
You can layer two sheets of paper though, for example with spray glue, and engrave through one to the other. I posted some pictures of that earlier, if I recall.
If all you want is a label it would probably be best to just buy a label printer and save your tube life for other things. You can pick up a nice one for well under $100 these days.
Now if you are looking for something beyond just a label, I saw some nice laser reactive material on one of the laser supply sights that would make great permanent signs.
I was kinda thinking that @wesleyjames was talking more about this kind of thermal printer, not the kind that prints a recipt which you are supposed to keep for a 90-day return policy (but which fades after a week).
No…I wasn’t…but now I am!! More like say the Zebra printers used with UPS software or other shipping places that make packaging labels. Those tend to last a rather long time. And I’d probably just use my CLP-610N to do most paper type printing anyway. It was just one of those “moments” when "That would be so cool!!"TM just kinda popped into my head.
