DON’T PANIC!
If your thermal printed labels and receipts are faded to the point that you cannot read them, there is a way to view or read faded unreadable thermal printed labels and receipts still. This will be a very short post, so for the sake of being picked up by the powers that be, i.e. Google, I will add extra details that might not be needed, but still usefull to show. That’s just how it works, ask me how I know.
The example I use is a custom mixed paint that I needed the toner details from to buy more paint, but the label had faded completely and was unreadable. Not only did I panic, but there was a fit of rage involved as well. I thought I was going to have to repaint the whole room.
Years ago I bought this really low nanometer black light for checking for air conditioning leaks. I used it mostly for finding scorpions on the brick wall in my backyard when I lived in Arizona. Anyhow, I thought that there must still be some kind of witness marks from the thermal printer that would still be detectable and rememberd that I still had this fancy blacklight. Viola . . . the entire label was detectable under my 365nm blacklight. I’m sure any black light will work though. I don’t have any other blacklight’s to test this out though, but if you are able to read your thermal labels or receipts with other blacklight’s I’d appreciate your feedback about it, and thank you.
Faded, Unreadable Thermal Lablel
You can see from this image that the thermal label is completely unreadable. Just DANG! But like I said from the start of this post, “Dont panic!” As you can see below in the closeup, these labels can be seen in their entirety with a blacklight. There may be exceptions I’m sure, but you get the picture. ( Pun )
Closeup of a Faded Thermal Label Under a 365nm Blacklight
Notice the date on this thermal label. It is from the beginning of 2021 and I took these photo’s in 2022. This paint was in my garage and not even exposed to sunlight.
Apply Heat To The Backside
( But could damage the receipt )
Another way to recover the label or receit is by applying heat to the backside of it, which turns it somewhat black, but this is hard to do if the label is attached to something like mine was.
(DO NOT apply heat to the front. This will turn the whole thing BLACK.)
Careful with that axe Eugene. If you know, then you know.
Conclusion
Don’t panic and go buy a blacklight to read your faded thermal printed labels and receipts.
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Professional geek and early implementer of virtualization in 1998.
Small business owner and was once the network admin for Knight Transportation. Racquetball fanatic, but had to retire from it.
Business, Technical, and Administrative Professional of Web Design, SEO, SSO, UX/UI, Networked Systems, and Virtualization with more than 20 years of experience.