MakerSpace Review: Mini Portable Thermal Printer

August 7, 2023 by Karen Jensen, MLS

August 7, 2023 by Karen Jensen, MLS Leave a Comment

Being a fan of printers of all shapes and sizes, I kept getting an ad for a mini thermal printer on my socials. And I’m not going to lie, this time they got me. In part because I kept thinking about the ways that these could be used in a MakerSpace. For the most part, this did not disappoint.

If you look online or on Amazon, you will find a wide variety of these small, portable thermal printers. They run on average of $40.00, which is not a bad price. They work much like a library receipt printer and print in black and white on thermal paper. You can buy white paper or colored paper to add a pop of color to compensate for the black and white printing only. Print and outline graphics work best, because the printing is small.

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Since it is a bluetooth printer, my hope was that you could set this up in a MakerSpace and a teen could come in an print right from their own phones. Unfortunately, you have to download an app to print, as seen above, so you’ll have to set up a station with an iPad that has the app pre-loaded. You could also set up a throw away email address so teens could email an image to the iPad, print the image, and then delete said image from the iPad. The app does allow for some image adjustments though, so there is that bonus.

The test image I created is pretty heavy on the black ink, so I don’t necessarily recommend that. I did some other images that were outlines or just quotes, and those worked great. I printed them off and slapped them in my planner, which is a great use for this.

This is also great for printing off formulas, charts, and things like diagrams of the brain to slap right into your notebooks for school notes. So this would be a great study aid. In fact, I bought an additional one to send back to college with Riley, as she used both a planner and is a meticulous note taker and she loved it.

Cons:

Since it is thermal paper, it is not permanent. Like your receipts, they will eventually fade over time, especially if you get them too close to intense heat.

You can print directly from a phone or device; you have to go through an app. This means you will have to set up a station in a makerspace to use this device with multiple users, which is doable.

Works better with line images, charts, graphs, etc.

Pros:

Very affordable

Very easy to use

Has some practical uses, including journalling, note taking, studying, etc.

You charge it using a usb, but the battery lasts a while and it is very easy to carry around

I am a fan and recommend this printer, depending on what your needs are.

Filed under: Makerspace

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Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).

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