Originally Posted by: NKD 
I am experiencing the same problem as everyone else with the Polyester Weatherproof Laser Labels. I, too, bought these labels thinking that they would solve my label problems, but they don't. I used to buy the standard white matte label and spray them, but that was such an inconvenience. I then switched to the Polyester Weatherproof thinking it would solve everyting and alleviate the extra, burdensome step of spraying them. Yes. The are weatherproof and hold very well in water, but the ink cracks. They don't even have to handled too much for this to happen and they don't have to be wet. My logo has a black background and this area us much worse than other areas. It's like the polyester is keeping the ink from properly adhering and becoming a permanent part of the label. I'm printing with a new HP Laserjet Pro 400 color printer that I bought last year. Settings are all as they should be for a label. I ONLY use HP Laserjet ink and I've never used any other type of ink. I don't want to go back to spraying with Krylon...the smell lingers on the label. In addition, I didn't think the polyester weatherproof label could be effectively sprayed with Krylon. Based on your posts in this thread, I see they can. Thank you in advance.
I'm sorry to hear the issue that you are experiencing. Toner cracking generally occurs when excess toner is being placed onto the surface of the sheet and the fusing temperature isn't high enough to bond the toner properly - it tends to be more prevalent on designs where a dark background color is being printed on to the label. You mentioned in your post that you have your printer settings set correctly for label printing, but there are a few things worth checking to ensure you're receiving the most durable prints possible.
- The printer's material or paper type setting usually plays a pretty significant role in fusing temperature. If you don't already have it set to Labels, I would try that first. If your material setting is already set to Labels then setting it to something even heavier (heavy paper, cardstock, etc.) could potentially improve durability.
- As mentioned above, toner cracking can sometimes occur due to too much toner being output by the printer onto the label sheet. If you've already adjusted your material type setting and are still experiencing the issue, you may want to try reducing the print quality - especially if you have the quality set to the highest option. Changing the quality setting from best to normal should reduce the toner output to some degree, which in turn could potentially result in a better bond between the toner and the facesheet.
- Some laser printers also have an setting for DPI (dots per inch). Reducing the DPI should have a similar effect to lowering the quality setting when it comes to toner output. Adjusting this setting could potentially improve your print durability as well.
Depending on the printer model, finding the proper combination of printer settings can sometimes require a little trial and error. If you'd like to request some free sample sheets to test your printer settings with, you can do so by visiting the link below:
http://www.onlinelabels..../SamplesSelectItems.aspxI hope you find this information helpful. If you should require any additional details please just let me know.
