PrePeat rewritable printer lets you undo print jobs, no ink or toner used
By Ross Miller 
posted Feb 9th 2010 12:37AM
posted Feb 9th 2010 12:37AM
Inkless / tonerless printers aren't exactly new, but here's a more novel approach: inkless, tonerless, and completely reusable. The PrePeat rewritable printer is exactly that: using special paper made of PET plastic, you can make all the flowcharts and meeting notes you need, and when you want to start fresh, feed the paper back in to start fresh. Upfront cost is 500,000 yen (about $5,600 in US) for the printer and 300 yen for each sheet, in lots of 1,000 -- which we're taking to mean at least another 300,000 yen / $3,360 to get some use out of it. Each piece of paper is said to work about 1,000 times, but no word on how much (if any) history can be extracted from the materials -- just keep that in mind should sensitive information be your daily trade. Video demonstration after the break. 
That's freaking awesome! Expensive...but awesome!
PRINT IS DEAD!
this is the future of news-paper.
Bring an old one - take a new one...
@forrealdood
Report Cards will never be the same mwah ahahaha
@forrealdood
I think it's fantastic. Print isn't dead yet and it may never completely die.
@forrealdood
At least in theory it could be affordable. If you used each sheet 1,000 times that would be a million prints for $8,960; just under a penny per page. Of course you'd have to be in a situation where you needed a LOT of temporary prints to even come close. Also you'd likely end up damaging or losing the paper before you got many prints out of it.
@forrealdood But will anyone buy it until it is not green?
Neat idea, but probably the number one use for it—short-use items like meeting agendas—would be seriously limited by that slow print speed.
From the video, they start a single-page print at about 1:00 on the dot, and it doesn't exit the printer until about 1:13. This comes out to at least 4-5 pages per minute.
Also, it would be hard to catch up to the cost of a laser printer, since you are going to lose some of those $3.36 pages to accidents like putting them through a shredder, spills, and other mishaps. At least PET is highly recyclable.
Hopefully the prices will come down, and the speed will go up. The print resolution looked pretty decent in the video.
@OverZealous
Since the paper is made of PET plastic, wouldn't it be more durable and resistant to spills? And can't people tell the difference between paper and plastics before putting something through a shredder? -_-
I really like this concept. I recycle at least a few printed pages every week.
@Chu
Are we talking about the same people that can't recognise a USB socket when it is turned 90 degrees and think that turning the monitor off is the same as turning off the computer? I would say there are plenty of people that would not tell the difference between plastic and paper.... mostly these people seem to be in management positions....
Omg, with the money you pay for the printer and paper, you can buy a pretty good doll with almost real body temperature, life-like joints and detachable body hair.
This printer is a nice concept, but with that price... uh... I'm sure some companies would take these up. I wonder how you can use this in the education industry with all the printouts and whatnot; But students probably prefer keeping the printouts and doodling/writing notes on them.
This wasn't exactly made for the education sector to begin with...
@ROFL
Yeah, even in its current state I see this as useful for companies that still insist on hard copy memos and the like. I'd say a mid sized company could get a good deal of traction out of a printer like this, and they get to say they are green as well.
@onlymyrailgun I'm still traumatized from the show Channel 4 (in the UK) ran called Guys 'n Dolls....
You just brought back some of that trauma.. Thanks.
@onlymyrailgun I imagine you COULD write on this paper with a heat-generating pen or similar tool. Then it would erase just like the printed images next time through the printer
i will just reprint my typos if its a million dollars lol
I honestly think this'll pay itself off in the long run considering the prices of ink cartridges. I got suckered by an all in one printer for $25, nice deal huh? Well, the cartridges cost almost, if not more, then the printer itself. Now I'm stuck with a big rip off sitting next to my computer. I rather have this.
@DelayTime
Try paying £25...
I refill my black cartridges (Canon) and print in monochrome where possible but occasionally I have to shell out £25 for a colour cartridge. The printer cost £30.
AWESOME!
I can print my butt at work when I'm drunk and can undo it when I'm sober! Woohoo!
What happens if the paper gets wrinkled/crumpled a little? How durable is the paper? How much of a beating can it take and still be reprinted on?
It would be interesting to see what kind of systematic approach large companies will take when these technologies become more prevalent.
I would imagine that it works best with paper that isn't wrinkled.
@JKooL
It looks almost like hard plastic, and for what the said it works somewhat like e-ink (relying on temperature instead of magnetic fields).
And can you write on it and still reuse it??
Dig info news? I'm not even gonna start.
OMG. That was so freaking cool. I'd pay $5,000 just to see it work!
My math is horrible so, forgive me if I'm wrong here. In theory, you can make 1,000,000 copies for a penny a piece? That's a lot cheaper than my printer.
@Rocknr66
It's $3360 per 1000 sheets. That's $3.36 per sheet for 1000 uses, or roughly 3 copies per penny.
I included the initial cost of the printer. And fudged to make it a nice even 10,000.
Is the plastic sheet recyclable? If not, then I'd rather use 1000 sheets of printer papers.
@disguised
Well I see how you could be concerned with end of life recycling, but I think that if you factor in the processing necessary from 1000 sheets of paper then it still may be worth it, but as far as I know PET is recyclable.
Cool product, but I think it would take a tree shortage wiping out Earth's toilet paper supply before anyone would pay $3 for a sheet of paper.
Still, burnable CD's used to cost $25 each, so maybe someday they'll be one of these in every home!
I like the concept, just keep developing this. Sure the entry level cost is huge but this is basically fresh from being a research device. Honestly I am awaiting the printer that makes the polymer pages as it prints and can recycle the page back into the pool it makes the pages from, then you would not have to worry about sensitive info, unless you hid a scanner in the printer hooked to a small modem... but then the whole idea is ridiculous... anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah super printers, can't wait.
So the printer's green in color, will supposedly be 'green', costs a lot of $'green', and carries the name of something that was once green? (or if the 'pre' part is considered, then it would still be green, no? before-peat... heh)
... that's a lotta green.
Its like an analog version of flash memory, complete with write cycles. Long live physical media
- what is this circle on the balance sheet?
- umm, i put my coffee on it...
"Inkless / tonerless printers aren't exactly new"
REALLY?
Because i've never seen one, so....obviously nobody has done one right
@MDJCM You've never seen a credit card receipt? Almost all of those nowadays are printed with thermal printers. No Ink or Toner, but not very high-resolutions either.
@MDJCM Just because you've never seen one means nobody has ever done one right? You can't possibly believe that?
Thermal printers have been used for a long time in manufacturing. I serviced them as an I.T. guy in a food processing plant back in the nineties and the printers were ancient then. They used them to put transportation & routing labels on products.
@jimgadgetman So why doesnt every household have an ink-free or toner-free printer?
Why isnt that product being developed to be good enough for home printing?
It looks to me like the only reason we dont have this because of the big printer companies dont want to give away something that hits their fat profits from overpriced cartridges
Expensive right now but that is the great thing about technology. Production costs go down. Very nice.
Wait... this is not related to the Pre?
[closes tab]
This is a horrible idea....
1) You would have to handle the paper with care, otherwise you will get paper jams and bad reprinting...
2) Much heavier than paper
3) Slow print time.
4) At the cost of the printer it would need extensive maintenance before you recoup the cost.