Author Topic: Inkjet Printers  (Read 13955 times)

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Offline sleemanjTopic starter

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Inkjet Printers
« on: June 01, 2017, 08:54:13 am »
Who ever invented the inkjet and thought it was a perfect thing for casual users who rarely print things should be shot.

I have just spend another several hours of my life trying to coax an inkjet (in fact, several inkjets from my stockpile, going through them to find just ONE that I could get to function properly) so my mum could print some photos, as she needs to do a couple times a year (for reasons unimportant).  Cleaning cycle after cleaning cycle, cleaning contacts and nozzles on HP carts, cleaning cycles and dripping alcohol into brother cartridge ports, using all manner of ideas to coax a brand new HP cartridge apparently dry and clogged from the factory into actually, you know, working.

My favourite part was where I finally got one genuine black HP cartridge flowing, actually printed one page perfectly, and then the printer decided the cartridge, the full cartridge, was magically no longer valid, not just invalid but "not intended for this printer", despite the fact that it's exactly the right cartridge. :wtf: :wtf:

Finally, touch wood, I have coaxed both the colour and black cartridges into enough life to give a fair rendition of a realistic colour print on the HP, if that will last longer than the ink takes to wear off my hands, is anybody's guess.

Inkjets have precisely two things going for them; firstly, they are small and cheap, unlike most colour lasers which are big and expensive, and second they contain lots of useful parts which can be liberated when you get so fed up with them that they take flying lessons out the nearest window.

/Rant
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Offline Towger

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #1 on: June 01, 2017, 09:03:42 am »
Chuck the lot and pick up an old mono laser on ebay.  The likes the of a HP4250 is built like a tank. 20k pages before these been a refill on a large toner cartridge.

Tell the mother to get her photos printed in a shop, does not cost much and quality will be better.
 

Offline sleemanjTopic starter

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #2 on: June 01, 2017, 09:07:54 am »
Yes I have two mono lasers on the go at any one time for my own purposes, they are cheap and reliable.

And yes, I probably should just give her a USB stick and tell her to go down the shop next time!
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Offline Electro Detective

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #3 on: June 01, 2017, 09:18:38 am »
Good advice, been there myself   :-+

My last surviving inkjet plonker gets used as a black and white printer,
the dead FULL colour cartridge/s stay in there just so the pos works with the black cartridge   :horse:

They saw us coming when they released inkjet printers and half assed printer drivers    :clap:



« Last Edit: June 01, 2017, 09:40:35 am by Electro Detective »
 

Offline Jeroen3

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #4 on: June 01, 2017, 09:28:09 am »
A printers sole purpose is to test how much frustration a human can take.
Now think of all the people servicing printers as their full-time job...
 

Offline Zbig

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #5 on: June 01, 2017, 10:26:45 am »
Not to play down your problems with your inkjet printers guys, just chiming in to share my experiences on the opposite. I've been using Canon PiXMA inkjet photo printers for some 13 years now and never had a single clogged nozzle. They often sit unused for months/half a year on end and then print just fine when needed, after they finish their (admittedly long) maintenance routines.
 
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Offline Jeroen3

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #6 on: June 01, 2017, 10:47:07 am »
I once owned a Canon Pixma, it refused to scan a document to USB because the printing nozzle had "expired".  :rant:
For 4 years no I have an Epson. Not a single issue... yet.

Was Epson the first to break the Ink Mafia Omerta with their EcoTank printer?
 

Offline Zero999

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #7 on: June 01, 2017, 10:57:31 am »
Chuck the lot and pick up an old mono laser on ebay.  The likes the of a HP4250 is built like a tank. 20k pages before these been a refill on a large toner cartridge.

Tell the mother to get her photos printed in a shop, does not cost much and quality will be better.
I agree. Inkjet printers are a rip-off. I haven't used one in years. It's much better value to go to a print shop for occasional colour prints.
 

Offline Zbig

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #8 on: June 01, 2017, 11:16:01 am »
I once owned a Canon Pixma, it refused to scan a document to USB because the printing nozzle had "expired".  :rant:
For 4 years no I have an Epson. Not a single issue... yet.

Was Epson the first to break the Ink Mafia Omerta with their EcoTank printer?

Right, that's the only reason I had to ditch my first Pixma (and replaced it with another...) but it was printer only (no scanner) model. Indeed, their print heads keep track of the number of dots they spat out in their lifetime and then shoot themselves in the head as they reach their "projected life expectancy" (read: when Canon think it's really high time for you to get a new one). Of course, assuming typical workload, by the time it happens, the prices and availability of the replacement heads makes the repair non-economical. That's a bit low, I agree and if they even refuse to allow to use the scanner in the relevant models (my second one has a scanner built-in), that's just outrageous. Wasteful also, as their machines are of quite high quality and well-engineered.

Fun fact: they use a "dual-chamber" ink cartridges, with a liquid ink and sponge sections and employ a kind of a hybrid low-ink detection system, based on a combination of optical sensing (for the liquid ink section) and dot-counting (after what the sponge absorbed is all that's left). Apparently, they got sued by some people who complained that the printer driver forced them to replace the tank while there was still some reasonable amount of ink still left in the sponge. Canon's solution: now they tell you that the "Ink in the tank this or that has probably run out" or something to that effect :D
 

Offline P90

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #9 on: June 01, 2017, 11:19:00 am »
I haven't had an inkjet printer in 20 years...
Laser all-in-one is the way to go.
 

Offline Zbig

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #10 on: June 01, 2017, 11:21:11 am »
I agree. Inkjet printers are a rip-off. I haven't used one in years. It's much better value to go to a print shop for occasional colour prints.

Unless you, like me, enjoy printing photos at home and consider it a part of your hobby. Also, you have full control over the choice of the medium you print on. You can go as far as tweaking your printouts to the color temperature of the light you use to illuminate the prints on your walls. Then you just accept that, as a hobby, it has to cost more than the commercial solution ;)
« Last Edit: June 01, 2017, 11:23:39 am by Zbig »
 

Offline Zbig

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #11 on: June 01, 2017, 11:22:33 am »
I haven't had an inkjet printer in 20 years...
Laser all-in-one is the way to go.

For you :P Go ahead and print a gallery-quality photo on a gallery-quality paper on your laser printer ;)
 
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Offline P90

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #12 on: June 01, 2017, 11:37:19 am »
I haven't had an inkjet printer in 20 years...
Laser all-in-one is the way to go.

For you :P Go ahead and print a gallery-quality photo on a gallery-quality paper on your laser printer ;)

I suppose I should say a laser for the average user...
Well if you need a photo inkjet for a specific task, then by all means, knock yourself out... LOL
If I require an occasional color print or two, I just go down to my father in-law's and waste his ink...   LOL
 

Online amyk

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #13 on: June 01, 2017, 11:45:38 am »
I believe HP uses water-based inks. On the few that I've had to struggle with, steaming the printhead briefly in boiling water seems to work. They're not good for CIS conversions either, since they use thermal heads which are easily damaged by running dry (could be deliberate...)

I once owned a Canon Pixma, it refused to scan a document to USB because the printing nozzle had "expired".  :rant:
For 4 years no I have an Epson. Not a single issue... yet.

Was Epson the first to break the Ink Mafia Omerta with their EcoTank printer?
Commercial/industrial large inkjets have always used bulk ink and piezoelectric printheads (also used by Epson), and people have been converting Epsons to CIS long before they came out with EcoTank.
 

Offline hamdi.tn

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #14 on: June 01, 2017, 10:15:54 pm »
anyone can explain to me why ink cost that much compared to dirt cheap printer  :palm: all the time i end up throwing the printer and bying new one coz it cost less than refill. this is evil.
 

Online jpanhalt

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #15 on: June 01, 2017, 10:48:59 pm »
anyone can explain to me why ink cost that much compared to dirt cheap printer  :palm: all the time i end up throwing the printer and bying new one coz it cost less than refill. this is evil.

The printer is free.  It uses special ink cartridges.   That's where the profit is: expendables.  Been that way in industry for many years.   I could get a $million instrument for "free" so long as I got locked into a reagent contract.  The printer itself is a one-time purchase.   There is minimal longer-term profit.   Analogy: software by subscription.

John
 

Offline Electro Detective

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #16 on: June 01, 2017, 11:05:49 pm »
The printer is free.  It uses special ink cartridges.   That's where the profit is: expendables.  Been that way in industry for many years.   I could get a $million instrument for "free" so long as I got locked into a reagent contract.  The printer itself is a one-time purchase.   There is minimal longer-term profit.   


Analogy: software by subscription.

John

or...     Hardware By DECEPTION    >:D

The   'cheaper to buy a new printer'   scam has been going strong for what... 20 years?  :clap: :clap: :clap:

Disgusting to think what ratio of UNNECESSARY computer related waste that dumped printers occupy, in some countries back yards

I see lots of them here in peoples front yards, waiting for hard waste pickups

I bet most of them work perfectly, but fail in the  -one click to print-  'occasional use' function
due to an empty cartridge, paper jams,

badly scripted USB drivers supplied with bloatware,
screwed drivers due to some Fupdate
or some dud 'free'  anti-virus program   >:D  going into a processes lockdown tantrum.

The -All In One- printers are a total wank, and I refuse to buy one at any price,
who needs ANOTHER scanner when current scanner functions, and all the customer needs is just ANOTHER printer that works 'occasionally' (lol)

I don't need an -All In One- printer which resembles a childrens toy clothes iron press  :palm:
« Last Edit: June 01, 2017, 11:08:16 pm by Electro Detective »
 

Offline P90

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #17 on: June 02, 2017, 12:44:41 am »
The printer is free.  It uses special ink cartridges.   That's where the profit is: expendables.  Been that way in industry for many years.   I could get a $million instrument for "free" so long as I got locked into a reagent contract.  The printer itself is a one-time purchase.   There is minimal longer-term profit.   


Analogy: software by subscription.

John

or...     Hardware By DECEPTION    >:D

The   'cheaper to buy a new printer'   scam has been going strong for what... 20 years?  :clap: :clap: :clap:

Disgusting to think what ratio of UNNECESSARY computer related waste that dumped printers occupy, in some countries back yards

I see lots of them here in peoples front yards, waiting for hard waste pickups

I bet most of them work perfectly, but fail in the  -one click to print-  'occasional use' function
due to an empty cartridge, paper jams,

badly scripted USB drivers supplied with bloatware,
screwed drivers due to some Fupdate
or some dud 'free'  anti-virus program   >:D  going into a processes lockdown tantrum.

The -All In One- printers are a total wank, and I refuse to buy one at any price,
who needs ANOTHER scanner when current scanner functions, and all the customer needs is just ANOTHER printer that works 'occasionally' (lol)

I don't need an -All In One- printer which resembles a childrens toy clothes iron press  :palm:

I'm quite happy with my Brother all-in-one monochrome laser printer that I've had for 10 years. I use it to make photocopies all the time, without having to go through the computer. Toner is inexpensive for it.
 

Offline james_s

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #18 on: June 02, 2017, 01:00:28 am »
I gave up on inkjet printers around 10 years ago because I'd spend 50 bucks on a stupid ink cartridge, use it once or twice and then find it was plugged up the next time I needed it. Bought a color laser printer off of craigslist and never looked back.

Inkjets print much nicer photos but it's not often that I need to do that.
 
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Offline Electro Detective

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #19 on: June 02, 2017, 01:11:32 am »
The next whatever type printer I buy WILL be researched beforehand, more than any other gear of interest.

I have better things to do than waste time doing 'printer support' every time someone needs to do a 'quick'  |O or 'occasional' one page print  :horse:



 

Offline Ampera

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #20 on: June 02, 2017, 02:53:42 am »
Still using dot matrix ribbon printing. It's slow, but it works, and it's a tank. There is no screwing around. If the machine has drivers, and you have paper, throw it in, start the print, and it will finish it.
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Offline Halcyon

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #21 on: June 02, 2017, 03:10:19 am »
I think the last time I used an inkjet printer was sometime in the late 1990's. Since then, I've only ever used laser printing.

Sure, technology and ink formulations are probably much better than they were then, but they are still plagued with problems for the light-duty user. Clogged nozzles, alignment issues and maintenance/cleaning routines which take considerable time and waste a lot of ink.

I use a Brother HL-2250DN and while it has been superseded by newer models, it's still a great little printer. I pay under AUD$100 for a high-yield toner cartridge which gives me around 3000 prints which works out to be about 3 cents per page. The only maintenance required was the paper pick-up rollers needed replacing, which is required on every printer without a tractor feed at some point.
 

Offline ludzinc

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #22 on: June 02, 2017, 03:23:22 am »
Hate ink jets, been an advocate of mono lasers to the family, and get colour printing done in a shop.

However the kids have hit that stage in school where they need to print colour at home.  Long story short, the Fuji CP225W is a sub AUD$150 colour laser printer.  Not an option for colour photos, but at this price who needs to screw around with ink!

Check it out https://www.binglee.com.au/fuji-xerox-cp225-w-colour-printer

 

Offline P90

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #23 on: June 02, 2017, 03:42:44 am »
Hate ink jets, been an advocate of mono lasers to the family, and get colour printing done in a shop.

However the kids have hit that stage in school where they need to print colour at home.  Long story short, the Fuji CP225W is a sub AUD$150 colour laser printer.  Not an option for colour photos, but at this price who needs to screw around with ink!

Check it out https://www.binglee.com.au/fuji-xerox-cp225-w-colour-printer

buy them a monochrome laser printer and a box of artist's color markers... LOL
 

Offline BrianHG

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Re: Inkjet Printers
« Reply #24 on: June 02, 2017, 03:53:25 am »
I got rid of my HP paintjet and good riddance.

I bough this guy:
https://www.amazon.com/Brother-HL-3170CDW-Wireless-Networking-Replenishment/dp/B00BQU141C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496375220&sr=8-1&keywords=brother+hl-3170cdw

Ok, so it's a 200$ color laser and a little big, but, quiet, no ink cleaning, double sided printing, and, you can reset the toner cartridges toner level counter from within the printer menu, no software, allowing you to use all the toner left right until then end without worrying about a print-head drying out just to be trashed.

Though the toner costs, I've printed far more on this printer with the toner which came with it than all those stupid paint cartridges which needed replacement.  The only word of warning, if you want your printer to last forever with perfect prints, only replace toner cartridges with originals from brother.  Any third party compatible refiled junk WILL trash your printer.

It's a winner for the price and I will never touch a paint jet again in my life.  It also prints great on regular office copy paper, though I like using the super bright white copy paper from HP.  No need for photo quality paper.
« Last Edit: June 02, 2017, 03:57:18 am by BrianHG »
 


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