I have two copiers - the HP 1020 and the HP Photosmart C6380 All in One. It is my understanding that you should only use an inkjet printer for printing on fabric. But I don't know if these printers are inkjet or laser. And isn't there something called laserjet? HELP please.

i get confused too

The HP 1020 is a Laserjet, and the other one is an Inkjet.

It's not that you can't print on fabric with a Laser printer, but the methods and preparation are different because of the way the ink (or toner) is transferred to the paper/fabric/whatever it is you're printing on.

If you Google "fabric printing laser printer" (or inkjet), you'll see the different recommendations and procedures. Also look for memory quilts as those sites will also have tips.

Here's one:
http://www.brighthub.com/computing/h...les/58811.aspx
There are many sources - try to pick more recent ones as the articles written in 1998 ;-) might not be current enough. There are better solutions and techniques currently available. If you do a little legwork, you'll see all the possibilities.

I don't know which printer to use for printing on fabric, but I do know how to tell inkjet from a laser, print out something, use your iron and "iron" the paper, if it smears it's an laser. I believe (not positive) that most "home" printers are inkjet.

Do you buy small ink refills or large toner(laser) refills for your printers? Laser or LaserJet printer have a roller in them that gets hot. That is another way to tell.

I've been confused about this in the past too. I just bit the bullet and used my printer hoping it was an inkjet and my fabric came out perfect, so I guess it is.

But are you saying that you can tell the difference between the two (inkjet vs. laser) by the ink cartridges? In other words, the small individual refills go in inkjet and one large roller type refill goes in laser?

I've also wondered about the ink cartridge size as a means of telling whether inkjet or laser. The 1020 uses the larger ones and the 6380 uses smaller ones for the individual colors.

yes a toner cartridge is considerably larger than an ink cartridge. Also unless you have spent several hundred dollars, if your printer only does black it most likely is a laser printer. If it takes small refills it is most likely an ink printer.

Laser printers take tubes of dry powdery toner & use a fuser to literally iron the toner into the paper so they get hot.

An inkjet printer uses ink and hence little ink cartridges.

Thank you so much ladies for the info. Very helpful! :-D :D