Clueless about auto duplex printing on laser printers? Don’t worry we’ve got you covered. Auto duplex printing is basically printing on two sides of the paper automatically. Yes, it means that you don’t have to flip the pages manually when you want two-sided printed pages.
But how do you do that? Is there a special switch that you need to flip? Read on to find out!
Manual VS Auto Duplex Laser Printer
Manual duplex printing can achieve the same result as automatic duplex printing — the only difference is that you will have to turn the page over yourself to print the other side.
On the other hand, in auto duplex printing, the printer does the flipping for you. This saves you time, money, effort, and paper!
An auto duplex laser printer helps you to enjoy higher print quality, faster print speeds, cleaner prints, lower print costs, and more efficient printing.
Check out some of Brother’s best Laser Duplex Printers
Here are some additional tips to enhance your printing efficiency:
Two Ways to Optimize Printing Speed
1. Use a Laser Printer
Compared to inkjet printers, laser printers usually print more quickly, regardless of whether your prints are in colour or monochrome (black and white).
2. Use Auto Duplex
As mentioned previously, auto duplex printing saves you the hassle of manually flipping the pages. Just press print, make yourself a cup of coffee, and come back with double-sided prints!
How do you set up auto duplex printing?
How To Do Auto Duplex Printing
Setting up duplex printing can change your printing routine and reduce costs. All you have to do is to follow the steps below:
Are you a student who needs an affordable printer for your printing needs?
Tired of paying for expensive prints every time a school project is due?
Having to wait in the long queue at the school’s printing shop during submission deadlines?
Perhaps you are a parent who grimaces at the struggle of your children, and wishes to make their lives easier.
Students (and parents) rejoice! In this article, you will learn how you can save money on printing by investing in the right affordable home printers perfectly suited for your needs.
Why Do Students Need Affordable Printers
But first, let us address the elephant in the room — do children, teenagers and youths need printers?
The short answer is a resounding yes! Here are four reasons why students need low-priced printers at home.
Printing of School Projects and Assignments
With project-based learning and school projects being the norm these days, students need to print reports, essays, photos, and other assignments.
These may sometimes include colour printouts of charts and graphs, or captioned photos depicting different locations that they’ve been. It is also common for students to print out lesson plans and notes from their teachers.
Tertiary level students in universities may also need a printer to proof-read long essays or churn out copies of their research reports.
Printing of Personal Fun Projects
Beyond school projects, having an affordable printer also allows your child to stretch her imagination with fun personal projects.
She could design and print out a photo book documenting your last family vacation. Create a sign-board just for her room. Or write a fictitious story involving space aliens and cowboys!
A home printer also allows you to print out family photos — a perfect way to decorate your home during these times.
Expensive Shop Printing Costs
Beyond the above reasons, printing can also be increasingly more expensive at print shops with rising labour and rental costs.
While professional printers may be suited for large volume commercial prints, small-scale printing costs for home users are likely to be high. This is especially so for high resolution colour printouts for images such as photos, posters, or other illustrations.
Inconvenience of Printing in School or at a Shop
Faced with mounting pressures at school, students who need urgent print-outs of their assignments may find it frustrating to look for an available print shop.
Often, queues at such printing shops may form — especially close to project deadlines!
Besides battling other students to get your job printed first, you may also have to contend with occasions where the shop closes, like weekends, public holidays, or non-retail hours.
What To Look For in an Affordable Student Printer
Getting an affordable printer will help you to solve your student printing woes. You won’t need to go to a library or an internet cafe to print out your work, or rip your hair out when your regular print shop closes.
Before you run out to get any affordable printers you can find, consider these factors when you choose a printer that is best suited for a student.
Print Quality of Printer
Low cost shouldn’t equate with low quality. While searching for the best economically-priced printer, you’ll need to ensure that your printer doesn’t skimp on print quality.
Check that your value-for-money printer can print out various documents with perfect clarity. It would be such a shame if your hard work came out with a bunch of blurs, lines and smudges!
Space Needed for Printer
Next, consider the space you have for your printer. You wouldn’t want a printer that takes up too much space, given the constraints of your room.
Try to find one that is compact yet packed with the features that you need for your school and personal printing needs.
Cost of Printer — Think Long-Term Costs
Lastly, you’ll need to consider the price of the printer itself, as well as its running costs.
Often, students and their parents opt for the cheapest printer available in the market without considering the ongoing cost of its consumables. Such costs may add up — especially when the volume of school work that needs to be printed goes up.
There are four running cost components that you should consider:
Printer Ink or Toner Cost
Printer Paper Cost
Printer Electricity Consumption
Printer Maintenance or Repair Cost
Printer Ink or Toner Price
The printer ink or toner is one of the biggest running costs when it comes to owning a printer. You wouldn’t want to get a cheap printer that has a huge cost for its ink or toner.
You may want to consider if the majority of your print jobs are to be in black and white or colored. This will help to determine your budget for the cartridges — yes, colour cartridges are more expensive.
Do also be careful of using third party ink or toners — those may not be suitable for your machine and may damage it in the long-term.
It is wise to find a balance between your cost-per-page and the upfront printer cost.
Once you have these costs figured out, it would be easier to see if a printer will burn a hole in your pocket in the long term.
Pro Tip: If you’re looking to get an inkjet printer, you should use it at least weekly to maximize its cartridge use. Idle printers can dry up cartridges or result in clogged print heads.
If you are not printing constantly, and have longer idle time in between prints, it is better to get a laser printer. While the upfront costs of Laser printers may be higher than inkjet printers, toner replacement wouldn’t be as often. Besides, laser printer toners are dry powders which wouldn’t dry up with time.
Printer Paper Price
The next cost to consider are your paper costs. There are different types of printing media and they all have different prices.
If you need to print art pieces on a certain print medium, its costs and compatibility may vary from printer to printer. Getting these special papers from the same printer brand ensures that your printouts will be of a premium quality — it also helps you to avoid printer jams and other mishaps.
If you are just printing regular documents, sticking to regular A4 plain paper shouldn’t be much of a problem. A cost saving tip is to buy your printing paper in bulk or during a sale — it is much cheaper than buying them individually.
Printer Electricity Consumption
This next cost might seem negligible to some, but with any electrical appliances, the electricity consumption costs of your printer do add up over time.
Where possible, look for printers that have a deep sleep mode or energy saving functions. This might not seem like an important cost to consider in the beginning — however, in the long run, it will save you a considerable amount.
Printer Maintenance and Lifespan
What’s the point of buying a printer which spoils the next year? Fixing it or buying a new one altogether can be both troublesome and costly.
To prevent this, ensure that you buy a reliable printer with a good warranty. Often, this is a good sign that its maintenance costs will be manageable.
Do also look out for printers from established trustworthy brands that provide reliable customer service. This can help you to reduce your printer maintenance costs, and minimise the need for you to replace your student friendly printer every few years.
Where To Buy The Best Printers for Students
If you are looking to buy the best affordable printer for students, here are a few printers from Brother that can meet a student’s needs for affordability, high print quality, low consumables prices, and compact in size.
Looking for a Nifty Photo Printer? We’ve Got You Covered
Picture this — You’ve taken tons of photos of your kids, your family home, and even your two cats. You’ve shared them on social media, and occasionally, get to relive those special moments as you scroll through the memories that your smartphone throws up.
Wouldn’t it be nice to hold physical prints of those precious photos in your hand? Or to frame your priceless captures to be hung on that empty wall in the hallway?
In today’s Internet, smartphone and wireless-powered age, making physical photo prints can be as easy as snapping your fingers. You can send photos directly to your home printer (no computer or wires needed), or better still, print photos on a portable printer with a few taps on your phone.
Thinking about investing in a portable photo printer? Photo printers in Singapore come in all shapes, sizes, and specifications. How do you buy the right photo printer for your home or office? What kind of inks do you need to consider? More importantly, what features should you consider?
In this article, you’ll learn all about the different types of photo-friendly portable printers, how to choose a portable printer, as well as the range of printers small and lightweight enough to be easily transported yet robust enough to handle your everyday printing needs.
Types of Portable Printers
Portable printers come in three main flavours:
Inkjet Printers: These are the most common portable printers, and are commonly used for home printing of photos and other image-based documents.
Dye-sublimation Printers: While dye-sublimation printers in commercial settings tend to be larger in footprint, there are a few such printers designed for portability and accurate photography reproduction.
Pocket Photo Printers: These are specifically made for printing photographs, and are often carried around for events like weddings, parties and other occasions where “instant” photos are needed.
If you need to print out documents as well as photos, an inkjet printer is likely to be your best bet.
Dye-sublimation printers, on the other hand, are more specialised printers. Used to produce high-quality photo prints, they are ideal for professional photographers. The downside is that such printers are expensive and are not suitable for printing text documents.
Meanwhile, pocket photo printers are more suited for once-off uses — such printers are unable to handle a large variety of printing jobs.
Now size can be misleading — you might think that the smaller the printer, the cheaper it is. This simply isn’t the case. On the contrary, portable printers that have an extremely small footprint may cost more than larger multi-purpose printers.
Brother DCP-T520W is one of Brother’s most popular ink tank printers, suited for printing high-quality and long-lasting photos, while also capable of handling document printing jobs.
This refillable ink tank printer features a transparent cover that allows for easy front access to the embedded ink tank, and handles a variety of print jobs speedily and efficiently. With a document print speed of up to 17/9.5 inch per min (ipm), this nifty printers will empower you to print more in less time. It also works with Brother’s Ultra High Yield Ink bottles, which roughly translates to 7,500 pages in black and 5,000 pages in colour!
Considering a pocket photo printer?
The Kodak Photo Printer Mini is a pocket-sized printer that can print wallet-sized photos from iOS or Android devices.
At just 0.9 by 3 by 6 inches, the Mini’s star quality is definitely its portability. You can easily slip it into a handbag or even a large pocket, making it a useful companion for parties or events where you want to snap photos and give out to friends.
How Does Portable Printing Work?
Most portable printers in the market today come with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology to enable seamless communication with your laptop, smartphone or tablet.
Some of these are also battery-powered, which allows for even more freedom in printing documents, photos and other materials when you are on-the-go.
In short, portable mobile printing no longer requires you to lug heavy printer cables to connect from your device to a printer. What a relief!
What To Look Out For in a Portable Printer
In this section, you will learn all about the key features and functionalities of portable printers, as well as what you should consider prior to buying a portable photo printer.
Size/Portability of Portable Printers
Portability is one of the biggest decision-making factors when choosing a portable printer. While they may be easier to carry, smaller printers usually result in a trade-off in print quality. Hence, you have to balance the need for easy transportation with your ideal print quality output.
While small pocket-sized printer options do exist, you will experience some limitations in your print sizes. In the long run, you may get more bang for your buck by investing in a compact desk printer that can handle document printing while printing consistently high-quality photos.
Print Resolution of Portable Printers
Most photo printers — be they inkjets, sublimation-dye, or pocket-sized — offer good resolution, providing better-quality prints relative to traditional printers. A photo printer with a resolution of 1,200 x 3,600 dpi or even higher would suffice for crisp-looking photos and images.
Inkless vs. Ink Cartridges
Another important consideration is the type of cartridges or ink used.
Today, most printers use Zero Ink (or Zink for short), which involves embedded dyes in the photo paper itself. Zink saves money in the long-run but has trade-offs in print resolution or the ability to reproduce a rich black colour.
A traditional inkjet printer, on the other hand, shoots microscopic dots of ink to produce an image or a printed page. Only the necessary ink for the image is used, and the remaining ink in the cartridge can be used for subsequent prints.
For Brother printers that work with ultra high-yield ink bottles, you can enjoy printing up to 7,500 pages in black and 5,000 pages in colour on a single round of cartridges!
A dye sublimation printer works by heating a special ribbon containing solid inks. The ink sublimates (becomes a gas without liquefying first), laying down varying amounts of the three primary colours onto the paper. The gas then solidifies on the page, resulting in full-colour images.
The dye sublimation process tends to result in lower efficiency in terms of ink: the printer transfers only a portion of the ribbon’s colour panels onto the page. The ink that remains on the panel cannot be reused.
Paper used in Portable Printing
Inkjet printers work with copier paper, envelopes, labels and other forms of office media. They offer greater flexibility as inkjet printers can accommodate specialty paper with matte or glossy finishes for photo printing.
Dye sublimation printers, on the other hand, require specially-coated paper. Beyond postcards and photo prints, dye sublimation printers can also be used to print novelty items such as T-shirts and tote bags. All these are fine and dandy at the beginning but your printing costs can chalk up quite easily.
Print Speed of Portable Printers
If you require high-volume printing, look out for print speeds shorter than 10-15 seconds per print when you choose your portable printer.
The longer the print time, the slower your workflow will be.
Wireless or Mobile Connectivity
There are several ways to connect to a printer. Some printers offer direct connections to your computer, laptop or mobile device using a USB port, while also supporting Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
Most printers will also support both Android and iOS devices. Remember to consider the devices you would be using with your portable printer, and double-check the compatibility before making a purchase.
Price of Portable Printers
How much do portable printers cost? Well, it varies. Most portable printers are priced between S$130-S$300. Do remember though that this price only covers the printer and the initial round of ink, and excludes the costs of consumables such as paper (or other media) and ink, as well as their power consumption.
Be sure to include the longer-term costs of these consumables in your budgetary considerations.
How to Print Photos From Your Phone
There are various ways to print photos directly from your smartphone.
Apple Airprint
For iPhone users, Apple Airprint is the easiest, most fuss-free way to print from your device to any wireless printer that is on the same wireless network. You do not even need to download and install additional software (drivers).
Here is a step-by-step guide:
Make sure your phone and your printer are on the same Wi-Fi network
Open the Photos or Gallery app
Select the photo you wish to print and tap the Share icon
Scroll down the options and select ‘Print’
Tap on Select Printer
Select your printer from the list
Change the paper size, if necessary, specify the number of copies), and send your print job off!
Major printer makers—such as Brother, Canon, and HP—cover iOS devices and are compatible with AirPrint.
For Android users, you can utilise a range of wireless apps for direct printing from most printer vendors. There are also printing apps, such as Mopria Print, that you can download and use.
Brother iPrint&Scan
Whether you are team iOS or team Android, Brother’s iPrint&Scan app allows you to print or scan effortlessly from your smartphone, tablet, or notebook – without the hassle of wires.
The app also comes with a range of advanced features such as document editing, faxing, and machine status updates.
iPrint&Scan is also compatible with AirPrint, Mopria, and Windows Mobile Print.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to choose a photo printer, and are acquainted with the key essentials that make a good portable photo printer, what will your choice be?
A pocket photo printer for fun and spontaneous moments or a practical desktop inkjet printer that can meet your other printing needs as well as churn out good quality photos before you can even say “Cheese”?
Are you still searching for the perfect printer? Which printer should you buy for your family at home, a home office, a corporate office with multiple users, or factory?
Having too many choices can be confusing. This is why we’ve done the legwork for you and curated a list of Brother printers that perfectly suit these 7 different personal and professional uses:
Families with school-going kids
Home office (work from home)
Corporate office with multiple users
Industrial/Manufacturing production work
Budget friendly
Techies
Photography fanatics
1. Families with school-going kids
Growing up in a household equipped with a printer makes family and school life so much easier. You can print out handwriting/colouring worksheets, mazes, and puzzles for your younger kids, while your older children can print articles and school assignments at the click of a button.
If you have school-going children under your wing, your ideal printer should be able to handle a wide variety of needs, such as:
Printing in colour
Photocopying worksheets and assignments
Scanning artworks and articles
Printing multiple pages of reports, double-sided
Printing from a mobile device
Considering the diversity of needs, an all-in-one printer may be your best bet.
Has up to 6 sec (Mono) / 6.5 sec (Colour) first print-out time
Has automatic 2-sided printing
Holds up to 150 sheets in the standard paper tray
Holds up to 80 sheets in the Multi-Purpose Tray
Holds up to 20 sheets Automatic Document Feeder
Has wireless connectivity
Supports mobile printing with Brother iPrint&Scan, Apple AirPrint, Mopria, Wi-Fi Direct
Has up to 1,200 x 6,000 dpi print quality
Say goodbye to expensive printing costs from print shops! With this versatile printer, your family can enjoy effortless printing at home.
2. Home office (work from home)
The best printers for home offices are ones that are able to keep up with your business workload. You may need to scan invoices, print reports, photocopy documents or fax secure information to a coworker, a client or a supplier. Having a printer that can support your workflow will maximise your work efficiency and save you unnecessary headaches.
In choosing the best printer for your home office, you should keep an eye out for the following qualities:
Fast printing speed for work efficiency
Automatic duplex printing and scanning for productivity
Large paper capacity to reduce frequency of reloads
Printing from different devices—mobile, laptop & tablet
To achieve optimal work efficiency and productivity, you should choose a multifunction printer.
Holds up to 50-sheet Dual CIS Auto Document Feeder
Holds up to 30-sheet manual feed slot
Has integrated NFC and USB reader
Has wireless and mobile connectivity
3.7” LCD touchscreen to support easy-to-program shortcuts
With this printer in your home office, you can look forward to enjoying a fuss-free and more productive workflow.
3. Corporate office with multiple users
In a workplace with multiple staff, you’ll need to be able to set up a large printer network for different users. Each user may have different needs, ranging from printing and photocopying, to scanning and faxing.
Your printer will also need to be easily accessible by users across the office, either through wired or wireless network connections. The perfect printer for medium to large enterprises also needs to cater to many users and be able to keep up with multiple print jobs.
Essential things to look out for include:
Network connectivity for multiple users
Printer sharing across multiple users
Fast printing speed for work efficiency
Automatic duplex printing and scanning for productivity
Large paper capacity to reduce frequency of reloads
High-volume & low-cost printing
Reliability to prevent downtime
To ensure maximum efficiency and minimal fuss, the best printer for your corporate office is a Multi-function Centre or a business printer.
Print speed of up to 22ipm (mono) and 20ipm (colour)
Copy speed of up to 12ipm (mono) and 9ipm (colour)
Scan speed from 2.7 seconds (A4 size, 100×100 dpi)
Fax speed 33.6 kbps
Holds up to 250 sheets Input Tray (Standard)
Holds up to 250 sheets Lower Paper Tray
Holds up to 100 sheets Multi-Purpose Tray
Holds up to 100 sheets (A4) and 50 sheets (A3) Output Tray
Super high-yield ink cartridges available (BK up to 3,000 pages & C/M/Y up to 1,500 pages)
Investing in a reliable printer will help to create a seamless experience for your staff and boost the productivity of the company.
4. Industrial / Manufacturing production work
When your business heavily relies on printing work, the quality of these prints is of the utmost importance. The costs can easily add up when printing large volumes of fliers, brochures, posters and pamphlets. Hence, you need to carefully balance between the cost-efficiency and the quality of these prints.
The ideal printer should be able to keep your print quality high and running costs low.
High print quality to ensure business standards
Fast printing speed for production efficiency
Versatile print trays for different-sized prints
Multiple types of print media
High-yield cartridges to keep high-volume printing affordable
The perfect printer to keep your production work running smoothly is a high capacity Multi-Function Centre.
Ultra-high-yield ink available (BK up to 6,500 pages & C/M/Y up to 5,000 Pages)
Owning such a printer might mean a bigger upfront investment but lower running costs and improved productivity.
5. Budget friendly
Looking for a pocket-friendly printer? Do not just rush to buy the cheapest printer on the market. Here’s why: The costs of consumables can add up to a hefty amount over time!
Instead, you should carefully consider both the printer cost as well as the cost of its consumables to find out which printer is the most economical over a specific timeframe.
Your usage of the printer may not be heavy duty, but you still need one that is cost efficient. Hence, the printer you choose should have these characteristics:
Low average cost of printer and consumables
Low-maintenance printer
Small in size
A low cost and reliable printer may be just what you need:
Ultra-high-yield ink available (BK up to 7,500 pages & C/M/Y up to 5,000 Pages)
Dimensions: 435 x 380 x 159 mm (W x D x H)
Weight: 7.3kg
The good news is you won’t be burning a hole in your pocket with these printers!
6. Techies
Do you want a technologically advanced printer that makes your life easier, more productive and fuss-free? In this digital age, connectivity is one of the defining successes of our era.
Maybe you want a printer that can print anything from anywhere or one that can easily manage your print jobs according to your everyday tasks.
With various technologies combined, this printer should have advanced features to meet all your modern needs:
Network connectivity in multiple forms like Wifi or the ethernet.
Control remotely, possibly through your mobile device
Intuitive (so you can avoid reading the manual!)
Modern technology such as touch screen
Memory function for repeated tasks
Automated tasks to replace usual manual ones
Fast printing speed
Meet the most advanced printers in our collection:
Mobile Print (Brother iPrint&Scan, Airprint, Mopria, Google Cloud Print)
WebConnect (Brother Cloud Apps)
NFC (Card Reader / Print&Scan / Link to Solutions Center)
Up to 22ipm (mono) and 20ipm (colour) print speed
Up to 12ipm (mono) and 9ipm (colour) copy speed
From 2.7 seconds (A4 size, 100×100 dpi) scan speed
33.6 kbps fax transmission speed
Up to 1200×4800 dpi print quality
Display: 3.7” LCD Touchscreen
256MB memory space
Supported Operating Systems include:
Windows: Vista / 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10 / Server 2008 / Server 2008 R2 / Server 2012 / Server 2012 R2
Mac: OS X v10.9.5 / 10.10.x / 10.11.x
With these printers, you will be breezing through your print jobs in the least amount of time and effort!
Photography fanatics
As a photographer, colours, shadows and light are key elements in your photographic art pieces. In order to do justice to these details, the quality and resolution of your printer is of the essence. As such, your needs are specific to its output quality.
Vibrant and high quality colour prints
Photo quality inks that are long-lasting and smudge-proof
Allow printing across a range of sizes
Allow printing from camera, laptop, phone, tablet
The following printer will help to bring your photographs to life.
How are you celebrating this special occasion this year? With the imposed new set of Covid-19 restrictions in place to keep everyone safe, there are many things that you could do to spend the day with your loved ones.
There are many fun and creative projects on Brother Creative Centre to keep you and your little ones busy.
Sending them an personalize e-cards
Do you know that Brother Creative Centre has lots of creative activities, customizable templates and holiday cards?
Here are some examples of card designs that you could personalize and send to your loved ones. Impressed them!
Printing activities that you could do with your little one
If you have young kids around, you can print out these adorable activities to stimulate their creativity. It’s fun to turn imaginative ideas into reality!
We recommend activities like:
Paper crafts and origami
Coloring pages
Sudoku game
It’s also a great time for you to have fun and bond with your little ones.
Origami Colouring
Getting ready for a virtual get together
Lastly, get your Hari Raya meal delivered. Although, we are not able to get together for the meal, you could cater food delivery and have it delivered to your loved ones. Enjoying the meal together over a virtual meeting to hangout allows us to connect and see one another and have some fun.
This month we’re featuring a few projects for the precious little ones in your life, starting with a cute embroidered baby bib. The Brother Free Design for this Month is an adorable bear design. It’s sized just right for most baby bibs. Read through this tutorial and you’ll learn about font editing features found in many Brother sewing machine models. You’ll also find tips for improving your embroidery skills throughout the instructions. While your Brother embroidery machine may not look exactly like the images shown here, I suggest you compare names of the keys on the screen to those found in your own machine to learn more about these features and put them into practice. Exploring embroidery font features makes this project perfect for sewing beginners and beyond. Are you ready?
Materials and Supplies:
Brother sewing and embroidery machine. Note: Machine featured in this project is the Brother NV180 . You can use any machine with 4-inch hoop capability.
BrotherEmbroidery Threads and Bobbin Thread for embroidering.
SA5929 Brother Cut-Away stabilizer cut to fit hoop size.
Temporary adhesive spray specifically for machine embroidery.
Plain low nap baby bib, sized large enough for featured design.
. See Figure #1a for original thread color and stitch information. See Figure #1b for modified colors.
Figure #1aFigure #1b
Basic steps for creating embroidered baby bib:
Prepare bib for embroidery and hoop with stabilizer.
Create design using edit mode of sewing machine for changing size and configuration of lettering.
Embroider design and remove stabilizer.
1. Transfer design to machine. Create a combination design with bear and lettering as follows: Select design, touch Set and then touch the Move key. Use arrow keys to move design to bottom of hoop and touch OK. See Figure #2a and Figure #2b.
Figure #2aFigure #2b
Touch Add and select a block style font from the font menu. See Figure #3a and Figure #3b.Tip: Block style fonts work better than fonts with thin columns on this low nap fabric.
Figure #3aFigure #3b
Program lettering using small font size, using arrows on machine to navigate through the lettering screens to select both upper and lower case letters. Add a space between the two words, and an exclamation point at the end. Tip: Be sure to select S for small, right after selecting the first letter. See Figure #4a, Figure #4b, Figure #4c, and Figure #4d.
Figure #4aFigure #4bFigure #4cFigure #4d
Tip: I like to start with smaller, rather than larger lettering and then use the sizing feature to increase the lettering size to fit the hoop area. This is especially helpful when using the Array feature, as larger lettering will sometimes prevent you from using various array functions. Here is my formula: Start small, add the array, and then change sizing last.
Set your lettering, touch move key, and use arrow keys to move lettering above the bear head. Touch OK. See Figure #5.
Figure #5
Touch font edit key. Touch array key. Curve lettering over bear head. Touch OK, then OK again to return to embroider edit screen. See Figure #6a, Figure #6b, and Figure #6c.
Figure #6aFigure #6bFigure #6c
Tip: There are many more options for editing embroidery fonts. Watch for more in future tutorials!
Touch size key and increase lettering until the machine stops at the maximum size. Touch OK. See Figure #7
Figure #7
2. End editing. Center combination on the screen, then touch Embroidery. See Figure #8a and Figure #8b.
Figure #8aFigure #8b
3. Hoop cut-away stabilizer and lightly spray with adhesive, following manufacturer’s directions on the can. Note:It is very important to avoid over spraying. Tip: To keep adhesive from getting on the hoop, I like to cut a window in a piece of scrap paper and tape it over the hoop to protect the edges. Spray over paper, then remove and discard. See Figure #9.
Figure #9
4. Center bib in hoop, securing it to the tacky surface. Place water-soluble over the bib to help tame the nap and keep the design from sinking in. Tip: Lightly dampen the outer edges of the stabilizer to make it tacky and it will adhere to your fabric. Embroidery design on bib. See Figure #10
Figure #10
5. Remove from hoop and trim stabilizer, leaving a margin of ½ to 1-inch of stabilizer around the design. Tip:Bonding from temporary spray adhesive will usually disappear within 2 to 5 days. To dissipate earlier than that, iron the sprayed fabric with a warm dry iron. This type of adhesive does not wash out. You’ll want to make sure spray adhesive is gone before thoroughly washing out water-soluble as recommended on the package.
You are finished with embroidering your baby bib! Enjoy!
Options and ideas:
Feel free to sew your own multi-layer bib. Embroider on the top piece then add a lining to hide stitches on the wrong side.This article has been republished from Brother Sews USA.
Brother Singapore has launched – a new computerised sewing machine, FS60x, that is designed to enhance -user experience for every sewing project.
Whether you are a beginner who has just picked up your sewing interest or a sewing enthusiastic who is set to complete a complicated project, a good sewing machine is your best friend.
This basic computerized sewing machine takes heavy duty sewing seriously. From metal frame interior to powerful computerized motor, it is designed to handle stretchy materials and denim with ease.
Stitch through layers and layers of denim without straining the extra Tough’s specially geared motor
It is also easy to operate with features such as auto needle threading, one-step buttonhole sewing and sliding sewing speed controller, making it an ideal sewing companion for sewers of all sewing experience.
The FS60X comes with 60 built-in stiches and 7 one-step buttonholes styles which make it perfect for a variety of sewing projects.
A quick glance at the specification of FS60X:
LCD display
Quick-set drop-in top bobbin
60 built-in stitches
7 one-step buttonhole styles
Advanced easy needle threading
Slide sewing speed controller
LED sewing light
Fast bobbin winding system
1 year carry-in warranty
An optional accessory – the extendable wide table that can be attached to the machine, so that you can have a larger working space. Not only that, but it also allows easier handling of wide cloths during sewing.
This high performance computerised sewing machine is made with heavy duty meal frame for improved durability and reduced vibration.
What makes it better? Online support is also at your finger tip.
Tutorial’s video
Operation manuals
Stitch chart application
Needle and thread suggestions for different fabrics.
FS60X retails at S$428 with GST. Explore the all new Brother FS60X here.
If you are reading this, chances are, you are either the owner of a home-based business, or someone who is considering starting one of your own – and you’re not alone! With the added flexibility, agility and freedom that running a business from your home affords, it is easy to see why a large portion of start-ups across the world are doing so. This, however, comes with certain challenges, one of which being that most business-grade printing solutions were made for traditional office environments, with very few options designed to be truly suitable for the home office.
With that in mind, what are some of the options you should consider when choosing a printing solution for your very own home-based business?
Laser or Inkjet? It depends.
One of the main benefits of inkjet printers is that they are an affordable option for any home business owner while being capable of delivering vibrant colour image and photo prints. However, with the high prices of printer ink, they could end up being significantly costlier once you start printing larger volumes. But that’s all about to change with Brother’s range of Refill Ink Tank Printers, a new breed of business-oriented ink printers designed for greater cost-savings while delivering outstanding print quality and print speeds.
Or, if you are looking for more document-focused printing capabilities, then look no further than Brother’s range of Laser and LED printers. With either mono or colour printing options, these capable solutions provide speedy, stable performance that’s ideal for high-volume printing of documents with crisp and easily readable text – even on smaller font sizes.
Print productivity that doesn’t cost you dearly.
Printing costs can make up a significant part of your expenses, which is why Brother’s Refill Ink Tank and Laser print solutions are designed with small businesses and home offices in mind. Our ultra-high yield refill ink bottles and toner cartridges offer affordable, high-quality prints for all your marketing, invoicing, presentation or reviewing needs that not only translates to a low cost-per-page, but also allows you to print thousands of pages before requiring a refill or cartridge change.
Form and functionality bundled in one compact package.
Forget about those large, costly copiers that are commonly found in big office departments. Aside from being affordable, Brother’s print solutions take up a significantly smaller footprint than traditional copiers and are perfectly suited for your home office. Packed with wireless networking capabilities that allow staff to easily connect to a single printer, high print speeds, flexible paper handling, high-volume duplex printing, and innovative Cloud Apps that offer seamless mobile printing and scanning on the go, they deliver amazing value and functionality for the modern home office.
Made for the home, built to last
Another major concern about compact printers is that they aren’t designed to withstand the vigours of high-volume business printing. The thought of costly supplies and frequent breakdowns are the main reasons why many are put off by the idea of utilising them.
But Brother has got you covered.
All of Brother’s genuine supplies are optimised to work perfectly with our printers for unmatched consistency and reliability, which results in less wastage, repair and maintenance costs in the long run. And with over 100 years of award-winning reliability and customer service to its name, you can be assured that any Brother printer is built to last.
With that being said, there’s certainly no one-size-fits-all solution for your unique business model. Do you require a solution with only print functionality? Or maybe you’re looking for a Multifunction Centre that’s capable of scanning, copying and faxing as well? Whatever your needs, we’re sure that you’ll find the ideal solution right here.
Brother International Singapore launches new Refill Ink Tank printer series with improved speeds, cost efficient and enhanced features for the home and office environment.
With paradigm shift in the way we operate business- towards remote working, Brother has developed a new line of compact, space-saving print solution to suit every home and business need.
DCP-T520W (print, copy, scan with Ethernet and wireless LAN)
DCP-T820DW(auto 2-sided print, copy, scan with Ethernet and wireless LAN)
MFC-T920DW (auto 2-sided print, copy, scan, fax with Ethernet and wireless LAN and USB direct printing).
The performance and enhanced features include:
Achieve incredible cost efficiency
With the improved page yield of 7,500#pages for the black and 5,000# pages for colour printing, the new Brother Ink Tank series enable you to print more documents and photos at lower cost-per-print making your prints affordable.
Additionally, the new series* offer automatic 2-sided printing which help to reduce paper wastage by up to 50%. This helps in environmental concerns and saving costs.
# Quoted approx. yields are extrapolated based on Brother original methodology using Test Pattern ISO/IEC 24712. Quoted approx. yields are not based on ISO/IEC 24711
*Applies to DCP-T820DW and MFC-T920DW
2. Increase your productivity
Enjoy faster and improved print speed of up to 17 ipm/16.5 ipm* (monochome/cxolour printing) with the new Ink Tank printer. This means that you will spend less time waiting at the device collecting your printouts.
The use of the dye-based technology ensures that you get high-quality photos and text prints.
*Applicable to DCP-T820DW and MFC-T920DW only
3. Convenience print
To facilitate the convenience of printing, users can also make use of email print feature to print image or document by sending directly to the printer email address.
This allows you to print from anywhere, if your device is connected to the internet.
You can also enjoy effortless mobile printing where you can print directly from your devices such as iPhone or Android™ through Brother’s application iPrint&Scan and Apple Airprint. However, you will have to make sure that you are in the same network as the printer in order to print wirelessly.
Built-in wireless and Ethernet connectivity also allows the printer to be easily shared amongst the workgroup.
4. Ease of printing
The new series feature a. The plug and play functionality This eliminates the need for driver installation on Windows 10 PCs and notebooks making it a good option for users who are not familiar with software and driver installation.
b. Embedded, front-access Refill Tank System The font-access transparent ink cassette makes refilling inks convenient where it allows users to monitor the ink level and have it timely refilled.
What makes it better? The Refill Tank System also offers a quick, fuss-free refills without the mess.
c. Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)
The 20-sheets ADF* allows user to perform multi-page copying and scanning without having insert the pages individually making it time efficient.
*Applicable to DCP-T820DW and MFC-T920DW only
d. Customizable one-touch copy shortcut
Users can customize the shortcut button on the printer for quick access to commonly used copy features such as “Fit to page” and “Reduce page size from A4 to A5”
The printers are available from 22 Feb 2021 in Singapore. The retail price of DCP-T220 is at S$198, DCP-T520W is at S$268, DCP-T820DW is at S$368 and MFC-T920DW is at S$408, all with GST. What’s more, you get 3 years carry-in or 30,000 pages warranty (whichever is earlier).
With Spring just around the corner, I thought I’d share how to sew a fabric gift basket. These homemade baskets make great gifts for all different occasions, holidays, and themes! I sew these DIY fabric baskets for everything from baby showers to teachers’ gifts and more. Add machine embroidery for a nice custom touch. Use these homemade fabric baskets for custom storage bins as well! Get the tutorial below on how to sew your very own fabric gift basket.
Exterior: 2 pieces that measure 17” (wide) x 13” long
Liner: 2 pieces that measure 17 x 13”
Fusible Fleece: 4 pieces that measure 17 x 13”
Strap: 1 piece 17 x 6”
Fusible Fleece: 17 x 6”
For the 2 piece (Blue Checkered)
Exterior: Top section: 17 x 3 x ¾”
Exterior: Bottom section: 17 x 10 ¼”
The rest of the pieces measure the same as above.
Fuse the fusible fleece to the wrong side of all pieces.
Use a grid ruler and mark off a 3” square at the bottom corners for both exterior and liner and cut.
Place exterior and liner pieces right sides together. Stitch the sides and bottoms with a 1/2” seam allowance.
For the corners: With right sides together, connect the seam so it’s centered to the other side and clip or pin.
Stitch together and repeat for all corners. (1/2” seam allowance).
The bottom should look like this when complete.
Now let’s sew the handle.
Fuse the fleece to the wrong side.
Fold the sides into the center and press.
Fold in half so the edges are together and press.
Top stitch down both sides (about 1/8” from the edge).
Find the center front and center back of the basket and mark. Place the handle right sides together with the basket over those marks and sew (1/4” seam allowance).
Flip the basket so right sides are out including the handle.
Place the basket into the liner so the right sides are together. Attach seams to seams and pin or clip all the way around.
Sew ½” seam allowance all the way around the edge leaving a 3” opening just an inch off one of the handles. This will be the opening to flip right sides outs.
Flip right sides out through the opening.
Press the basket. Top stitch with a 3.0 stitch length and just off the edge (1/8” or so) around the top edge of the basket, closing the opening as well.
Now fill your homemade gift basket with all sorts of goodies. I sew these fabric baskets for gifts, but they’re also great to use as homemade storage bins. You can add some machine embroidery to customize them. For the blue checkered basket, I embroidered the name on the top section. You can use this tutorial herefor that portion. I also embroidered a sash to tie around the floral basket. Make these for all different occasions: I love sewing them for party favors, Mother’s Day gifts, and more. Use your imagination and take your homemade gift baskets to the next level of fun.
This article has been republished from Brother Sews USA.
