Annoying printers

On Tue, 02 Oct 2018 18:57:24 +0100, Mark Lloyd wrote:

On 10/01/2018 05:55 PM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:

[snip]

Trouble is inkjets like to make stripes.

They do. Sometimes that can be fixed by wasting ink (cleaning cycles,
usually more than one).

Do too many of those and it claims the "waste ink pad is full" and I must either replace the printer or pay Epson more than the value of it to replace the ink pad, which apparently I can't do myself. I did do it myself once (in fact all I did was tell the printer I'd done it by using 3rd party software).

On Tue, 02 Oct 2018 18:49:42 +0100, Mark Lloyd wrote:

On 10/01/2018 05:56 PM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:

[snip]

I replaced my last Epson with a 2nd hand one so I could keep the same
ink system.

I'll consider that, maybe there'll be one on eBay. I've done that before.

Look up CISS (Continuous Ink Supply System) on Ebay, and find one that matches a printer you can also get hold of. It's 0.01 GBP per ml of ink.

On Tue, 02 Oct 2018 18:46:20 +0100, Mark Lloyd wrote:

On 10/01/2018 04:18 PM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:

[snip]

No, because you can't buy cheaper toner. Toner is inherently expensive,
even if you refill them yourself.

I tried some "low cost" cartridges in my printer. They were NOT "low
cost", considering that they leaked toner messing up every page.

BTW, that printer is OK once I cleaned it thoroughly and put in good
cartridges.

I have only ever had them leak in the post, not the printer.

On Tue, 02 Oct 2018 18:42:59 +0100, Mark Lloyd wrote:

On 10/01/2018 04:17 PM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:

[snip]

Most people have many uses for a printer and need it done now, not the
next day.

Many people seem to think of cost only in money. I'm aware of how much
time my inkjet spends cleaning the printheads rather than the printing I
wanted. Also, now I've got a (Epson) inkjet printer that will not print
black (it prints the other colors OK), even with a new cartridge.

Yes I've wasted hours cursing the ****ing thing.

In article , Mark Lloyd
wrote:

Trouble is inkjets like to make stripes.

They do.

not normally, they don't.

Sometimes that can be fixed by wasting ink (cleaning cycles,
usually more than one).

if it's due to a clogged jet, then a head cleaning will fix it, usually
just once unless it's *really* clogged, which is very rare.

if it's due to misalignment, then a cleaning won't help, but an
alignment will, which doesn't use much ink (it's just printing
patterns).

https://2.img-dpreview.com/files/p/T...171/d2e7447044
77437281f0a8edbbdddaec

In article , Mark Lloyd
wrote:

Buying almost any laser printer is the better choice.

not necessarily. for photos, it's a much worse choice.

My current Brother laser printer won't print photos on glossy paper, but
it does a decent job on plain paper.

it's not as good as what an inkjet can do, even if it's not a photo
quality inkjet printer.

Not as good. I often find it to be good enough, and preferable to
multiple "head cleaning" cycles (sometimes requiring a new ink cartridge
or two) on an inkjet.

there's no need to do a head cleaning cycle unless there is a clog
which is mostly a thing of the past, except perhaps, if the printer is
not used very often or improperly shut down.

On Tue, 02 Oct 2018 19:17:21 +0100, nospam wrote:

In article , Mark Lloyd
wrote:

Buying almost any laser printer is the better choice.

not necessarily. for photos, it's a much worse choice.

My current Brother laser printer won't print photos on glossy paper, but
it does a decent job on plain paper.

it's not as good as what an inkjet can do, even if it's not a photo
quality inkjet printer.

Not as good. I often find it to be good enough, and preferable to
multiple "head cleaning" cycles (sometimes requiring a new ink cartridge
or two) on an inkjet.

there's no need to do a head cleaning cycle unless there is a clog
which is mostly a thing of the past, except perhaps, if the printer is
not used very often or improperly shut down.

No, I find they also clog in the middle of a large run.

In article , Jimmy Wilkinson
Knife wrote:


No, I find they also clog in the middle of a large run.

bull****.

On Tue, 02 Oct 2018 19:17:18 +0100, nospam wrote:

In article , Mark Lloyd
wrote:

Trouble is inkjets like to make stripes.

They do.

not normally, they don't.

Sometimes that can be fixed by wasting ink (cleaning cycles,
usually more than one).

if it's due to a clogged jet, then a head cleaning will fix it, usually
just once unless it's *really* clogged, which is very rare.

You must have a very rare and expensive inkjet. Most clog repeatedly and often need several cleaning cycles, whether they're used infrequently or not.

if it's due to misalignment, then a cleaning won't help, but an
alignment will, which doesn't use much ink (it's just printing
patterns).

https://2.img-dpreview.com/files/p/T...171/d2e7447044
77437281f0a8edbbdddaec

I've never seen any inkjet or other printer go out of line. Not sure why they have that alignment procedure as it's never needed.

In article , Jimmy Wilkinson
Knife wrote:

Sometimes that can be fixed by wasting ink (cleaning cycles,
usually more than one).

if it's due to a clogged jet, then a head cleaning will fix it, usually
just once unless it's *really* clogged, which is very rare.

You must have a very rare and expensive inkjet.

nope.

Most clog repeatedly and
often need several cleaning cycles, whether they're used infrequently or not.

nope.

if it's due to misalignment, then a cleaning won't help, but an
alignment will, which doesn't use much ink (it's just printing
patterns).

https://2.img-dpreview.com/files/p/T...171/d2e7447044
77437281f0a8edbbdddaec

I've never seen any inkjet or other printer go out of line.

that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

Not sure why they have that alignment procedure as it's never needed.

yes it is.

On Tue, 02 Oct 2018 03:06:46 +0100, Paul wrote:

Paul wrote:
Char Jackson wrote:
On Tue, 02 Oct 2018 09:38:41 +1000, Peter Jason wrote:

By the way, are laser toners light fast? I have
been downloading a few artworks & either printing
them out on my laser color printer (FujiXerox
CP405d) or printing the A3 version in the local
computer shop.
The quality of the FujiXerox is very good, though
the long-lasting cartridges cost about $440.

I have no idea. Hopefully, someone else will chime in.


I don't see the words "archival print quality" in
the article on toner. Black toner used to be made from
carbon particles, and that material should hold up well.
Something made from colored plastic or wax, not so much.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toner

Paul

Actually, the Wired article will give you
the names of some colored stuff.

https://www.wired.com/2015/03/whats-...printer-toner/

Carbon Black

Pigment Yellow 180 benzimidazolone

Pigment Red 122 2,9-dimethyl-quinacridone

Pigment Blue 15:3 Copper phthalocyanine

Then, if you toss the "end-word" of those into a Google
search, you can get more info. Those compounds are used
in inkjet inks. You would need to find a similar paper
on toner, to prove the compounds are actually in toner.

http://www.cabotcorp.com/~/media/fil...for-inkjet.pdf

The important takeaway from that PDF, is
that the lightfastness varies greatly. It means of
the toner colors in a print, one color might outlast
some of the others. The print will fade in one color,
and be "off". Rather than all the colors just "disappearing"
on some sunny day.

The articles seem to think that red pigment is pretty
good. If that's the case, why can't we have red cars
where the color stays good for the life of the car ?
The "red" used in paints isn't very good.

I don't know how you come to that conclusion. I've never seen a car where the paint has faded, even when old enough so that the mechanical parts are beyond repair.

On Tue, 02 Oct 2018 07:48:10 +0100, Martin Edwards wrote:

On 10/2/2018 12:08 AM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:
On Mon, 01 Oct 2018 07:55:55 +0100, Martin Edwards
wrote:

On 9/30/2018 7:00 PM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:
On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 18:41:29 +0100, nospam
wrote:

In article , Jimmy Wilkinson
Knife wrote:

Why is it, that in the 21st century, printers never do what you
tell them
to? They forget you want landscape, they forget the number of
copies,
they refuse to cancel a job you've sent, they try to use colour
ink for a
black and white image and take 5 times longer, they can't feed a
piece of
paper without jamming it, the nozzles clog up every five minutes,
the ink
cartridges are stupidly small, and they **** about for ten minutes
doing
god knows what, spinning the roller and moving the cartridge
back and
forth for no reason before they get to work!

oh ! user error

How is any of that user error?

because it doesn't happen to just about everyone else.

I don't know anyone who hasn't been annoyed 50% of the time they use
their printer.

settings are saved between jobs,

Well they try to. Then you get stupid things like 100 copies of
document x means you must want 100 copies of document y.

And cancelling a job is almost impossible, you have to turn off the
printer, tell the computer to cancel it, then for some reason wait 5
minutes?!

ink use is whatever the user chooses,

Really? So I can just insert a sensible sized tank into my inkjet
can I?

there is no delay in printing, and paper jams are *very* rare, usually
the fault of improperly loading the tray.

All printers are **** at loading paper, mind you it's pretty hard to
pick up one sheet with your fingers without licking them.

My loader is upright. At first it did not work because I shoved the
paper in too far. I learned to just drop it in, but chck that it had
made contact.

I thought that was obvious.

I daresay it was, but I'm not very practical.

I used to know a Czech professor who could change 15 settings in Windows simply by moving the mouse.

On Tue, 02 Oct 2018 20:14:59 +0100, nospam wrote:

In article , Jimmy Wilkinson
Knife wrote:

Sometimes that can be fixed by wasting ink (cleaning cycles,
usually more than one).

if it's due to a clogged jet, then a head cleaning will fix it, usually
just once unless it's *really* clogged, which is very rare.

You must have a very rare and expensive inkjet.

nope.

Most clog repeatedly and
often need several cleaning cycles, whether they're used infrequently or not.

nope.

if it's due to misalignment, then a cleaning won't help, but an
alignment will, which doesn't use much ink (it's just printing
patterns).

https://2.img-dpreview.com/files/p/T...171/d2e7447044
77437281f0a8edbbdddaec

I've never seen any inkjet or other printer go out of line.

that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

Not sure why they have that alignment procedure as it's never needed.

yes it is.

Strange that your printers never clog, but mine never go out of line.

On Tue, 02 Oct 2018 20:12:35 +0100, nospam wrote:

In article , Jimmy Wilkinson
Knife wrote:


No, I find they also clog in the middle of a large run.

bull****.

It isn't Mr Speed, as you have never seen my printer running.

On Tue, 02 Oct 2018 03:09:31 +0100, Jim H wrote:

On Mon, 01 Oct 2018 23:56:05 +0100, in
, "Jimmy Wilkinson Knife"
wrote:

I replaced my last Epson with a 2nd hand one so I could keep the same ink system.

I gave my inkjet printer to Goodwill years ago and replaced it with a
laser printer. The cartridges are pricey, but I get 2x to 3x the pages
for the same cost vs ink... and no nozzles to plug up.

But do your research because some have a reputation for bad paper
handling and jams are a real pain in the ass to remove unless you have
easy access to the back of the printer. Shop based on reliability,
reputation, ratings and definitely toner COST PER PAGE. Shop only for
lowest price for the printer and you're begging for disappointment.

When you set it up, decrease the auto-calibration and self cleaning
intervals drastically or turn both off altogether. You can calibrate
or clean manually by punching a few button or via a few mouse clicks
when truly needed.

What a bloody hassle, the printer should be made properly in the first place.

And lastly, if you do go the laser route, don't be discouraged by the
number of pages you get with the cartridges that come with the
printer. Fairly standard practice is that they're only half full vs
replacement cartridges.

As for the all the rest that you started out with... I've never heard
anything like it. You were either exaggerating or the printer you have
is a lemon. Plus a good healthy dose of not knowing how printer
settings work. Switching to a laser won't help even one little bit
with the latter... and might even make it worse.

Which of "the rest" are you referring to?