Laser printer for small cards?

March 9, 2011 6:12 PM

Are there (preferably laser) printers designed to print on smaller paper than normal laser printers? Like onto 3x5 cards?
posted by raf to Technology (10 answers total)

Would it be possible to use blank cards that are perforated and can be used in any regular tray like the one from Avery #5388?
posted by jadepearl at 6:16 PM on March 9, 2011

Many business class HP laser printers (like this P4510) will handle stock as small as 3X5.
posted by Mitheral at 6:30 PM on March 9, 2011

I used to work with a 4200-series HP LaserJet that printed onto standard 3x5 cards just fine.
posted by drlith at 6:31 PM on March 9, 2011

I've printed on 3x5 cards with my el-cheapo (sub-$200) HP laser printer from 7 or 8 years ago. It works ok as long as the card stock isn't too thick, but feeding it is kind of a pain and the alignment isn't always perfect (the more carefully you feed the cards, the better the alignment). If you only have to do a few, or don't care about them looking perfect, it's totally fine. Otherwise, it's probably not the best option.
posted by sharding at 6:32 PM on March 9, 2011

Response by poster: I have printed onto 3x5 cards with a large laser, but yea, it's a pain. And even smaller would be better, say, business cards. (Perforated letter-sized paper is not an option.)
posted by raf at 7:27 PM on March 9, 2011

There are lots of specialized small-format printers— label printers, receipt printers, badge printers, photo printers. I can't remember seeing laser printers that small, but there are high quality inkjet and dyesub printers for those sizes. (Plus the ubiquitous thermal printers and the old-fashioned dot matrix impact printers).
posted by hattifattener at 9:11 PM on March 9, 2011

My bottom-of-the-line cheap HP laser (model P1102w) prints 3x5 just fine.

Would a label printer be helpful?
posted by Ookseer at 10:14 PM on March 9, 2011

Use post-it glue to place the card in the center of 8.5 x 11 paper. Draw pencil line around card to facilitate future placement; use this paper repeatedly. Make template for this in your word processor. You can print right to the edge of the card this way.
posted by yesster at 8:26 AM on March 10, 2011

clarify: the post-it glue goes on the 8.5 x 11 sheet. No residue on the card. May need reapplication.
posted by yesster at 8:43 AM on March 10, 2011

Response by poster: hattifattener: Yea, I've seen label, badge, and photo printers; I'm just not sure I've ever seen one designed to print on normal paper. Though maybe photo printers are worth looking into. (I don't think label printers work, since they're mostly fed with rolls of labels.)
posted by raf at 6:00 AM on March 11, 2011