Ask Lemmy

Make sure you know the price of sticker paper and whether you’re really saving any money.

I think canons been enshittified, but mines been solid for over a decade. I buy cheap third party ink, and the difference is big enough to save money even if it’s another cartridge per session. Realistically I haven’t printed anything in like two years

Simple brother laser. While useful, the mfc range has more to break on it. E: And they're physically big.

I'm not sure how well Laser printers work with Sticker Paper, so you may have to look more into that. Brother makes great laser printers, so they have a lot of options there.

I own a Epson Ecotank printer and, while I haven't actually gotten around to trying out sticker paper on it. I do like it. I have the ET-8550, which is the big one, but there are smaller, cheaper ones that need just Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black ink, as well as black only. If you're using it often, it should be pretty reliable. The worst thing you can do with an inkjet printer is not use it, because the ink will dry up on the nozzles (and in the lines, in the case of an ink tank printer). I try to run a test print that uses all the inks at least once ever 2 weeks.

Only other thing to look out for, is that for some of the Ecotanks, the Black will be a pigment based ink, and the color will be a dye based ink, so make sure the sticker paper you choose matches the inks in the printer you choose.

Laser.

I'm quite partial to the ink tank kind of printer myself. The ink is cheap and doesn't have any sort of third-party lockout.

Always get a printer that doesn't require cartridges. They're a locked-down, economically exploitative nightmare. Ink tank ones are best, always avoid HP, they're just a horrible company. In my experience, Canon is good, but I haven't tried every brand. Most ink tank printers support colors alongside black without being much more expensive, and I think it's a good idea to have that option even if you don't currently print with black.

For stickers, a few bits of advice as someone who's made their own stickers for a while:

• If the stickers you're making will ever have ANY contact whatsoever with water, use vinyl sticker paper. Regular sticker paper will let the water soak in and cause it to bleed, and even if it's laminated with an adhesive laminate sheet on top, the water will just seep under. (you may still want to laminate vinyl sticker sheets though, as they can have that very slightly sticky texture of traditional glossy photo paper, which I personally find horrible to the touch)
• Printers will use either pigment, dye, or a combination of both pigment and dye-based inks (e.g. dye-based for color, pigment-based for black. Pigment-based ink produces deeper blacks, so even if the rest of a printer's ink is dye-based, the black will often be pigment-based). Not all vinyl sticker paper supports pigment or dye-based inks, so if you can, get a printer that uses all one kind. (pigment is usually more expensive, dye is usually cheaper. Dye produces more vibrant colors, pigment lasts longer, and is more water and UV resistant)
• Most vinyl sticker paper supports pigment-based inks, some support both dye and pigment, and some only support dye. If the product listing or packaging doesn't say which type it supports, avoid it. The last thing you want is a sheet of sticker paper that at least 1 entire color will always smudge off on. (I had the misfortune of getting sticker paper that supports all the color inks in my printer, but not the color black.)
• If you plan on cutting the stickers yourself rather than with something like a Cricut machine, get both an Exacto knife and a good pair of scissors. Scissors for larger cuts (e.g. splitting a sheet into a grid), Exacto knife for rounded/custom shaped cuts, or if you just find it easier than scissors for some shapes. Fiskars' scissors are great and last an incredibly long time in my experience, at least the titanium-coated ones. (the same pair has been in my house for probably at least 2 decades at this point)
• Always let your sticker paper sit for at least 2-5 minutes after printing before doing anything to it. Even if you're using the right kind of paper for the ink your printer has, there's always a chance it can smudge a bit. You might need to tweak some printer settings if your paper always smudges to reduce the amount of ink being used when you print stickers.

You're welcome

https://inkchip.net/

Instead of buying a new printer, can you print at a local print shop/library/university? That might end up being the cheapest option

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/brother-denies-using-firmware-updates-to-brick-printers-with-third-party-ink/

Brother, you need a brother

I own the HP LaserJet M15w. I hate it less than any printer I have ever owned and it has lasted almost 5 years. It is still a HP so I hate it but it works most of the time. I used to have to restart it to print when I was on Windows but since I switched to Linux it prints almost always.

How many stickers are we talking?

I was just thinking about something similar myself, and as I've recently got into 3d printing, I'm going to try printing out some custom stamps out of TPU for each color layer. Maybe it's a flop, but it might also be sick as hell.