How to Print on Plastic Sheeting
Overhead slides are a great teaching material as well as useful for presentations. Many companies sell special laminates that will work in laser printers as well as ink-jet printers. You can bypass these companies and use regular plastic sheets that are the proper size for your printer as long as you prepare them correctly. This technique will not work correctly with laser printers as the heat generated will not allow the toner particles to magnetize correctly and stick to the sheet.
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Instructions
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Attach your plastic sheeting to your paper backing using the two-sided tape. You need to make sure they are flat against each other with no bumps. Also make sure that each sheet is the proper size for your printer, typically 8 1/2-by-11 inches.
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Feed a single sheet of the combined plastic sheeting and paper backing into the manual feed tray for your printer. Use only one sheet at a time to prevent sticking between sheets. Use your manual load to roll the single sheet until the printer catch locks on to the sheet.
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Print a single page of document onto your plastic sheeting. You will need to print in draft or normal mode; do not use high quality prints as this is too much ink and will streak.
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Pull the single printed sheet out of your printer and allow it to air dry for several minutes.
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Separate the plastic sheet from the paper.
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Tips & Warnings
When not actively using the plastic sheet copies you created, protect them by laying clean sheets of paper on top of the ink. This will prevent them from smudging or being damaged from handling.
Do not allow anything to touch the printed side until it is fully dried. Even after fully drying, the document may smudge if you push hard enough or spill liquids on it. Combined sheets of plastic and paper are also more likely to get caught in your printer and cause a jam. If this happens, clear it as normal before continuing. If this repeats several times, your printer will be unable to print on plastic sheets.
