Online Labels Forum

Jim -

Label sheets consisting of a plastic facestock, such as our weatherproof polyester laser material, are more prone to static buildup than standard paper-based materials. The environment (temperature changes specifically) can also have a major impact on the presence of static in sheeted label materials. Because of this, we do tend to see more static in our weatherproof materials around this time of year.

Completely eliminating the static electricity from the label sheets likely isn't possible. The best thing that you can do to alleviate the issue would be to lay the stack of sheets down on a hard, flat surface and then fan through the sheets at all four edges. This should separate the sheets and allow some of the static electricity to dissipate.

If possible, manually feeding the label sheets through your printer would definitely be helpful as well.

We will continue to look into additional ways to combat the static electricity that can occur in sheeted label materials, and will certainly report back to this thread with details if we're able to find additional, workable solutions.

I hope this information helps. If you should require any additional details please just let me know.

Laser printers use static electricity to create the initial image before it is permanently fused to the printable material with heat. All printable materials are insulative to some degree, but to what degree varies by type and finish. Uncoated paper materials are far less prone to static buildup when compared to coated or glossy surfaces, and film-based materials are much more insulative than both.

Unfortunately, eliminating static buildup altogether isn't possible when using a laser printer. There are some steps you can take that may help improve the situation though. After searching around this morning, I was able to locate an article with some helpful suggestions on managing static cling for copy and print applications:

https://www.eojohnson.com/blog/copy-and-print-tips-reducing-static-cling

We're not affiliated with the company that posted it, but some of the tips provided in that guide seem like they could be especially pertinent to your application. Checking the humidity in the print environment and potentially using a humidifier could help, especially with larger printing presses like the one you're using. If the air is too dry it could definitely exacerbate issues related to static cling on printed sheets.

If you aren't already, fanning the stacks of sheets at all four corners before loading them could potentially help as well, especially if you're using a film-based or glossy coated label material. Thoroughly fanning the stacks before printing will help reduce any pre-existing static buildup that can occur during production and shipping. Any pre-existing static in the unprinted sheets will only make the static cling found in the printed sheets more severe.

Using an inkjet printer rather than a laser printer would result in less static cling, but you'd take a major hit in print efficiency and speed compared to the press you're currently using. If the jobs are low volume though, that may be a workable solution as well. If you'd like to sample any of our inkjet-printable materials you can enter a request at the link below:

https://www.onlinelabels.com/samples

I hope this helps. If you need any additional information please just let us know.