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Color Laser Printer WIFI (Although I'm old!)
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rrinker:
 I gave up on color inkjet a number of years ago. I print so little in color that the ink was always drying up, netting me only a few pages worth of yield from each expensive cartridge or refill. For infrequent use, even heavy use with long idle times between uses, you can't beat laser - the color toner doesn't dry up just sitting there, it's ready to go even if you haven't printed in color for a month.
 I happen to have a Canon. I found a good source on Amazon that has proven to work reliably, for third party replacement toners. For the cost of one Canon genuine color cartridge, I get a pack that has all 3 colors, plus 2 blacks - since I (actually, it's my GF) prints a LOT of text, we go through black toner like crazy. Even with the 2:1 ratio, I still buy extra blacks.
 I've had this about 5 years now, it's probably printed close if not over the rated pages per year, and just keeps on chugging. It has WiFi, wired ethernet, and USB, but since it sits 5 feet from my switch, I have it plugged in instead of using WiFi.
SilverSolder:

--- Quote from: rrinker on March 31, 2020, 03:26:46 pm --- I gave up on color inkjet a number of years ago. I print so little in color that the ink was always drying up, netting me only a few pages worth of yield from each expensive cartridge or refill. For infrequent use, even heavy use with long idle times between uses, you can't beat laser - the color toner doesn't dry up just sitting there, it's ready to go even if you haven't printed in color for a month.
 I happen to have a Canon. I found a good source on Amazon that has proven to work reliably, for third party replacement toners. For the cost of one Canon genuine color cartridge, I get a pack that has all 3 colors, plus 2 blacks - since I (actually, it's my GF) prints a LOT of text, we go through black toner like crazy. Even with the 2:1 ratio, I still buy extra blacks.
 I've had this about 5 years now, it's probably printed close if not over the rated pages per year, and just keeps on chugging. It has WiFi, wired ethernet, and USB, but since it sits 5 feet from my switch, I have it plugged in instead of using WiFi.

--- End quote ---

I'm making sure to get the worst of all worlds, by caring for several different inkjets as well as mono laser...  please don't talk me into looking into color laser as well!    :scared:
tooki:

--- Quote from: rrinker on March 31, 2020, 03:26:46 pm --- I gave up on color inkjet a number of years ago. I print so little in color that the ink was always drying up, netting me only a few pages worth of yield from each expensive cartridge or refill. For infrequent use, even heavy use with long idle times between uses, you can't beat laser - the color toner doesn't dry up just sitting there, it's ready to go even if you haven't printed in color for a month.
--- End quote ---
For sure, I also recommend lasers for people who print sporadically. But FWIW, there are massive differences in inkjets’ tolerances for downtime. 1990s-2000s Epsons were notorious for being spectacularly intolerant of downtime. By the end of the 2000s, I would not recommend them for anything other than busy offices (where high-quality color was needed) where they’d be used on a daily basis. Even just once-weekly use wasn’t enough to guarantee they wouldn’t clog.

In contrast, Canon inkjets with the separate ink tanks, at least the ones from 2000 on, have proven to be excellent performers in this regard. Yes, they’ll still use a bit more ink after a very long downtime, but they don’t clog up, even after months of sitting idle. I’m still using my 2008 Canon MP970, and in literally 12 years, I’ve only had to deep-clean the heads once or twice. (And with it being such an old model, I’ve been able to stock up on genuine Canon ink for free or close to it by trawling the classifieds for unopened ink from people who upgraded to a newer printer and had leftover spare tanks.)

Finally, while it’s a much smaller problem than inkjet ink drying up, laser cartridges do not have unlimited shelf life. Just last night, I pulled out the small B&W laser (also a classifieds freebie) that I have for PCB making, only to discover that in the probably 2-3 years it was sitting in the cupboard, the imaging drum has gone bad — it has a horizontal stripe across the drum, presumably from the prolonged contact with another roller. I’ve heard of this problem before, as well as of the rubber wiper blades going hard. Either way, a new print cartridge solves it, and it takes years, not months, to happen. But it does happen. :P

(Then, last night, the printer decided to not eject the toner transfer sheet, but instead wrap it around the fuser drum and iron it tight. In the process of getting that off, I caused a few scratches on the fuser drum, effectively ruining it. Good thing it was a freebie with a nearly-empty cartridge!!!)
tooki:

--- Quote from: daveyk on March 29, 2020, 06:32:06 pm ---Is there a good color wax printer out there like the Xerox we had a work?  I forget the model but it had 4 or 5 WAX cubes instead of a toner cartridge.  It had the best printout I have ever seen in a color printer and it was as fast as a laser.  It did need services a couple times a year, but it was used hard, probably printing 200-500 pages a day.  I would love one of those, or similar, for here at home. LOL, I can only dream.  I wonder if WAX printers are okay for PCB transfer paper?  I would highly doubt it.

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Addendum to my prior reply to you:

The reason the wax-inkjet Phaser printers were so fast was that they had page-width printheads (one for each color, of course), so it took merely one pass (edit: probably a few, see SeanB’s reply) of the transfer belt transfer drum under the heads to create the image, and then one swift transfer to the paper while ejecting. Pairing that with the fast CPUs they put inside those things is what let them have the superb print speeds.

Anyway, while wax inkjet is now gone, page-width aqueous inkjet now exists. HP sells it as their “PageWide” printers. I’ve not had a chance to try one yet, but if their specs are to be believed, they’ve got outstanding print speeds, with the same low time-to-first-page times as a prewarmed wax Phaser. And the ink for them is cheap. (As in, the cartridges cost a bit, but they’re enormous. AFAIK these have some of the lowest page costs of any desktop/office printers in existence.) Like the wax Phasers, they’re sold as small-workgroup office printers. What I have no idea about is their resilience to sporadic use. I know HP uses a lot of technologies to prevent and clear clogs (like back suction to reverse clogs back out, instead of trying to force them out forward like previous ones), but I just have no practical experience with these.

As for print quality, they wouldn’t be my first choice for photos, as even their maximum resolution (1200x1200dpi) isn’t that high. But I have seen the output from them, and it’s great for business graphics, text, and other everyday documents.
jfiresto:

--- Quote from: tooki on April 01, 2020, 10:23:42 am ---... I pulled out the small B&W laser (also a classifieds freebie) that I have for PCB making, only to discover that in the probably 2-3 years it was sitting in the cupboard, the imaging drum has gone bad — it has a horizontal stripe across the drum, presumably from the prolonged contact with another roller....
--- End quote ---

Are you sure it was not (not so) prolonged light pollution?
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