diff --git a/screenless/bureau/bureau.py b/screenless/bureau/bureau.py
index 41f4b47..24c0dad 100644
--- a/screenless/bureau/bureau.py
+++ b/screenless/bureau/bureau.py
@@ -356,6 +356,20 @@ class Bureau(object):
         self.log.debug(str(self.commands))
         self.log.debug(str(self.api))
 
+    def _get_small_printer(self):
+        """
+        returns an instance of the small escpos printer
+        """
+        if (self.smprint["inep"] is None) and (self.smprint["outep"] is None):
+            prn = printer.Usb(self.smprint["vendorid"], self.smprint["productid"])
+        else:
+            prn = printer.Usb(self.smprint["vendorid"], 
+                              self.smprint["productid"],
+                              in_ep=self.smprint["inep"],
+                              out_ep=self.smprint["outep"])
+        return prn
+
+
     def print_full(self, template, **kwargs):
         """print a full page (A4) document """
         # TODO: look up the printer LPR name / allow multiple printers/non-default
@@ -376,13 +390,7 @@ class Bureau(object):
         """
         print on Thermal Line printer.
         """
-        if (self.smprint["inep"] is None) and (self.smprint["outep"] is None):
-            prn = printer.Usb(self.smprint["vendorid"], self.smprint["productid"])
-        else:
-            prn = printer.Usb(self.smprint["vendorid"], 
-                              self.smprint["productid"],
-                              in_ep=self.smprint["inep"],
-                              out_ep=self.smprint["outep"])
+        prn = self._get_small_printer()
         text = textwrap.fill(text, width=self.smprint["textwidth"])
         text += "\r\n" * 2
         prn.text(text + "\r\n\r\n")
@@ -393,13 +401,7 @@ class Bureau(object):
         """
         print an image on the mini thermal printer.
         """
-        if (self.smprint["inep"] is None) and (self.smprint["outep"] is None):
-            prn = printer.Usb(self.smprint["vendorid"], self.smprint["productid"])
-        else:
-            prn = printer.Usb(self.smprint["vendorid"], 
-                              self.smprint["productid"],
-                              in_ep=self.smprint["inep"],
-                              out_ep=self.smprint["outep"])
+        prn = self._get_small_printer()
 
         if type(img) is PIL.Image.Image:
             im = img
diff --git a/screenless/bureau/publicrelations/publicrelations.py b/screenless/bureau/publicrelations/publicrelations.py
index 33ca4db..39e8e09 100644
--- a/screenless/bureau/publicrelations/publicrelations.py
+++ b/screenless/bureau/publicrelations/publicrelations.py
@@ -145,7 +145,8 @@ class PublicRelations(Bureau):
         else:
             count = 10
 
-        prn = printer.Usb(0x416, 0x5011, in_ep=0x81, out_ep=0x03)
+        prn = self._get_small_printer()
+        # TODO: abstract this to use a simple templating system instead of raw
         prn.codepage = "cp437"
 
         # TODO: add fancier formatting i.e. inverted text for username/handle
@@ -159,7 +160,8 @@ class PublicRelations(Bureau):
             prn.text("\r\n")
             prn.set(text_type="NORMAL")
             twtext = html.unescape(t["full_text"])
-            t_wrapped = textwrap.fill(twtext, width=48) + "\r\n"
+            t_wrapped = textwrap.fill(twtext, width=self.smprint["textwidth"])\
+                        + "\r\n"
             t_enc = t_wrapped.encode("cp437", "ignore")
             prn._raw(t_enc)
 
@@ -173,7 +175,7 @@ class PublicRelations(Bureau):
                     im = PIL.Image.open(filename)
                     if im.mode in ("L", "RGB", "P"):
                         im = PIL.ImageOps.equalize(im)
-                    im.thumbnail((576, 576), PIL.Image.ANTIALIAS)
+                    im.thumbnail((self.smprint["width"], 576), PIL.Image.ANTIALIAS)
                     prn.image(im, impl="bitImageColumn")
 
             tw_shortcode = self.short_tweet_id(t["id_str"])
@@ -190,7 +192,7 @@ class PublicRelations(Bureau):
         shortcode, _ = data.split(".")
         tweet_id = self.get_tweet_id(shortcode)
         tweet = self.t.t.statuses.show(id=tweet_id, tweet_mode="extended")
-        prn = printer.Usb(0x416, 0x5011, in_ep=0x81, out_ep=0x03)
+        prn = self._get_small_printer()
         prn.codepage = "cp437"
 
         prn.set(text_type="U")
@@ -199,7 +201,8 @@ class PublicRelations(Bureau):
         prn.text("\r\n")
         prn.set(text_type="NORMAL")
         twtext = html.unescape(tweet["full_text"])
-        t_wrapped = textwrap.fill(twtext, width=48) + "\r\n"
+        t_wrapped = textwrap.fill(twtext, width=self.smprint["textwidth"])\
+                    + "\r\n"
         t_enc = t_wrapped.encode("cp437", "ignore")
         prn._raw(t_enc)
 
@@ -213,7 +216,7 @@ class PublicRelations(Bureau):
                 im = PIL.Image.open(filename)
                 if im.mode in ("L", "RGB", "P"):
                     im = PIL.ImageOps.equalize(im)
-                im.thumbnail((576, 576), PIL.Image.ANTIALIAS)
+                im.thumbnail((self.smprint["width"], 576), PIL.Image.ANTIALIAS)
                 prn.image(im, impl="bitImageColumn")
 
         tw_shortcode = self.short_tweet_id(tweet["id_str"])
@@ -297,7 +300,7 @@ class PublicRelations(Bureau):
         else:
             count = 10
 
-        prn = printer.Usb(0x416, 0x5011, in_ep=0x81, out_ep=0x03)
+        prn = self._get_small_printer()
         prn.codepage = "cp437"
 
         # TODO: add fancier formatting i.e. inverted text for username/handle
@@ -313,7 +316,8 @@ class PublicRelations(Bureau):
             prn.set(text_type="NORMAL")
             ttext = bleach.clean(t.content, tags=[], strip=True)
             ttext = html.unescape(ttext)
-            t_wrapped = textwrap.fill(ttext, width=48) + "\r\n"
+            t_wrapped = textwrap.fill(ttext, width=self.smprint["textwidth"])\
+                        + "\r\n"
             t_enc = t_wrapped.encode("cp437", "ignore")
             prn._raw(t_enc)
 
@@ -331,7 +335,7 @@ class PublicRelations(Bureau):
                     im = PIL.Image.open(io.BytesIO(req_data.content))
                     if im.mode in ("L", "RGB", "P"):
                         im = PIL.ImageOps.equalize(im)
-                    im.thumbnail((576, 576), PIL.Image.ANTIALIAS)
+                    im.thumbnail((self.smprint["width"], 576), PIL.Image.ANTIALIAS)
                     prn.image(im, impl="bitImageColumn")
 
             tw_shortcode = self.short_tweet_id(str(t["id"]))