I would love to do some fun things with the thermal printer I have lying around, however, I’m not so sure it is possible to get BPA free paper. Even the “BPA free” paper comes with similar molecules like BPS, which has been shown to be just as bad for the human endocrine system. If anyone can correct me on this and point me to some paper I would be comfortable with my kids handling (kids put everything in their mouths), please let me know.
Most of the alternatives today (including the Costco receipt in my pocket) are labeled "phenol free". As I understand it they use vitamin c or a urea derived compound.
In Germany there is a thermal paper that is considered food contact safe<p><a href="https://www.koehlerpaper.com/en/products/Thermal-paper/TH_Blue4est_POS_cash-register-rolls.php" rel="nofollow">https://www.koehlerpaper.com/en/products/Thermal-paper/TH_Bl...</a><p>Maybe someone sells this where you live? I have found a shop in the US: <a href="https://www.ncco.com/blue4est/" rel="nofollow">https://www.ncco.com/blue4est/</a><p>Searching for blue4est was the key.
Obligatory "be careful with that poison paper" warning![1]<p>[1]: <a href="https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=thermal%20paper%20bpa&sort=byDate&type=comment" rel="nofollow">https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...</a>
Thermal printers for TTRPG handouts is such a good idea. Handing a player a physical slip with a riddle or loot description is way more immersive than reading off a screen.
It's actually <i>the</i> reason as to why I wanted to get a thermal printer a few years ago. To be honest, I'm surprised someone else had this idea, too.<p>Alas, that never materialized as the in-person campaign I was DMing fizzled out.
Thanks for posting my project! was wondering where the influx of GitHub stars came from :)
I do this, I give my players an rfid tag, scanning the tag prints their character sheet, background and any secret goals they have (With cuts in between) they can then destroy the secret materials and scan again if they forget.
Just a question, but on these threads it’s nonstop talk about how dangerous the paper is like using it for one dnd game will give you cancer but we don’t blink twice at cashiers handling it 8hrs a day?
I think people here just assume they won't ever have to be a cashier and ignore that risk?
When I worked at a register in my teens we were given gloves to wear.<p>It’s pretty uncontroversial that the paper is hazardous. And when you’re sweating the BPA absorbs into the skin more readily. The issue is more about the dose curve; according to the FDA and other regulators, it’d be impossible to hit the upper limit on exposure by just handling receipts, while there’s plenty of evidence that there is no harmless threshold. Kinda like lead, albeit without a doubt BPA is less harmful than lead.
Anyone have a good recommendation for a thermal printer? I've been looking to get one for printing out daily to-dos and shopping lists.
There are a ton of brands and I got a random knock off so I can only report on that one. I would recommend putting some thought and research into what size you think you'll need. I got a 58mm printer and I'm realizing it's quite narrow.<p>Also you might want to consider the size of the printer itself. I bought a open-box new printer off ebay and the seller's photos didn't give any sense of scale. I was surprised how big this "mini" printer is. It's about the standard size of a printer you'd see at a grocery store, so I don't think I'll be keeping it on my desk.
For daily to-dos a generic 58mm Chinese ones is probably enough. For pen and paper stuff I highly recommend going with anything 80mm, as 58mm can be too narrow...<p>Search "58mm usb thermal receipt printer esc/pos" on Amazon and you will find various generic models
Seeed studio has a module if you want to make your own - <a href="https://www.seeedstudio.com/Embedded-Thermal-Printer-p-1621.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.seeedstudio.com/Embedded-Thermal-Printer-p-1621....</a>
I got the Phomemo M02 Pro and have liked it alright for printing out playtest cards on-the-fly. Claude did manage to replicate an integration someone else did the hard work of working out w/ dithering etc, but the native app's fidelity & speed has been better for my use-case, at least
This looks awesome but I've read in the past that there are a lot of PFAS chemicals on these thermal printer papers. Is there like "safe" paper they have now that you can use for these things?
<a href="https://www.pca.state.mn.us/business-with-us/bpa-and-bps-in-thermal-paper" rel="nofollow">https://www.pca.state.mn.us/business-with-us/bpa-and-bps-in-...</a><p>> If you must give paper receipts, look for “phenol-free” paper, which is safer for human health and has fewer environmental effects. Three types that do not contain BPA or BPS and are competitively priced contain either ascorbic acid (vitamin C), urea-based Pergafast 201, or a technology without developers, Blue4est. The latter uses a coating that reveals an underlying dark layer when heat is applied.<p>> Companies that offer phenol-free alternatives: ...
I just use index cards and a pen, but I wish I was a competent enough sketcher to make them look as cute as these printout templates. These look great.
I kinda love that someone wanted this to exist.<p>I shared with my ttrpg folk
Probably best left for short lived notes, thermal printouts have tendency to degrade
I wonder, are there modern and cheap dot matrix printers (and papers?). They would give a “roguelike” feel to this sort of output.<p>I remember I enjoyed the simple typewriter behavior of connecting them to a computer db9 cable and using the terminal that used to come with windows to type out directly in the paper something short. I think this app had a red phone as icon or something like it (and there was a reimplementation later with a donkey on the icon).
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