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Erasable photocopy

Option to 'weaken' fuser on photocopy
 
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Even given the existence of all sorts of computer-based editing tools for just about everything, sometimes pencil and paper can be nice. Making photocopies of partial designs to use as 'branching' points can be useful, but unfortunately photocopies can't be erased the same way as pencil can.

I would think, though, that it should be possible to change the fuser assembly on a copier so that, if desired, it would yield a copy that was erasable with a common eraser.

supercat, May 17 2003

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       I like this idea. Maybe some sort of graphite toner would be an interesting option.   

       A weird thought: being able to specify erasable sub-regions within a document. Not sure if there's any real use for that, though.
bristolz, May 17 2003
  

       would using an eraser be messy, bris? I was thinking of the smudges that carbon paper used to make.
po, May 17 2003
  

      
thumbwax, May 17 2003
  

       I think you can get close to this simply by turning the fuser off, as its job is to "cook" the toner onto the page. But as bris points out, you'd probably want to switch to a different toner formulation, as standard toner would probably be too messy when erasing.
krelnik, May 17 2003
  

       My workplace is essentially a copyshop, so I have a bit of experience on this subject…   

       There really isn’t a great demand for this sort of thing, it’s a nice idea but would be costly and impractical.   

       One of the Xerox copiers we use has a scan-back facility where you scan the document on the copier, view the image on your computer in TIFF format, edit it within PhotoShop, and send it back to the copier to print. Handy for getting rid of unwanted lines of text, kids fingerprints, that sort of thing. No loss of image quality in comparison to a normal photocopy.   

       But if you really want this facility without the computer image-editing part, simply lowering the temperature of the fuser module should do the trick. It needs to be pretty damn hot for the toner to fuse properly with the oil and stick to the paper. I’m used to seeing photocopies lift from the page when the machine hasn't had sufficient time to reach the required temperature. Only trouble is, these copies would be prone to further smudging.   

       I suggest a 2 part process to photocopying: Part 1, machine scans the original document and applies toner to the paper. You are then able to brush away sections as needed, before proceeding to Part 2, feeding the sheet back through the machine where fuser oil is applied and the paper is passed though the hot fuser module, sealing the edited image to the page. Voila.
fshhhh, May 17 2003
  
      
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