Black only printer

  • Thread starter Thread starter Iconoclast
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I

Iconoclast

I am tired of replacing color cartridges in my Epson cx5200 although I never
use them.

I don't print enough to warrant a laser printer.

Are there any ink-jet printers on the market that print black only, with a
large, refillable cartridge?

I am dreaming again.
 
Iconoclast said:
I am tired of replacing color cartridges in my Epson cx5200 although I never
use them.

I don't print enough to warrant a laser printer.

Are there any ink-jet printers on the market that print black only, with a
large, refillable cartridge?

I am dreaming again.
Click to expand...


mono laser can be found very cheaply, even below $150 or $100. I think it's
worth considering because unlike wet ink, dry toner won't evaporate.
 
Hi Leo

Trouble is, I print maybe five pages B/W per day. Would that work out with a
laser printer?

I heard that lasers have long start-up (warm-up) periods and have to be on
all day long. Don't they waste a lot of power when they are on without being
used? Does the mechanism and/or toner deteriorate when they are turned on
but not used?

Thanks for any input
 
I can't see the advantage to filling the color cartridges with black ink.
Instead of wasting color ink, I would be wasting black ink.

Right?
 
Iconoclast said:
I heard that lasers have long start-up (warm-up) periods and have to be on
all day long. Don't they waste a lot of power when they are on without being
used? Does the mechanism and/or toner deteriorate when they are turned on
but not used?
Click to expand...

If you go out and buy an old, used laser printer, yes, that's exactly what
you'll run into.

With the new HP 1200/1300's we've been buying here at the office, they have
something like a 10-15 second delay for the first page out from a cold
start. They also don't appear to emit any heat when sitting idle.
 
[This followup was posted to comp.periphs.printers and a copy was sent to
the cited author.]

Hi Leo

Trouble is, I print maybe five pages B/W per day. Would that work out with a
laser printer?

I heard that lasers have long start-up (warm-up) periods and have to be on
all day long. Don't they waste a lot of power when they are on without being
used? Does the mechanism and/or toner deteriorate when they are turned on
but not used?
Click to expand...

Most modern lasers, espeically lower-end ones, tend to go to sleep when
not used. The fuser warms up fast enough that it is up to temperature by
the time the paper gets to it.

For an inkjet, look at one of the HP's that use the #45 for black. For a
new model, I think only the 6122/6127 series still use it. You can just
ignore the color cartridge. Even if it's empty, the printer will let you
print. The driver has an option for Grayscale, and futher options to print
black only (normally, it will mix color to get finer resolution.)
 
Iconoclast said:
Hi Leo

Trouble is, I print maybe five pages B/W per day. Would that work out with a
laser printer?
Click to expand...

Thats nearly two years, toner will last that long without any
problem. just ensure you use the cheapest copier paper instead of
universal paper. The clay in the extra white universal paper - paper
for copiers, lasers and inkjets - accumulates in the insides of the
printer eventually getting into somewhere important and doing damage.
Usually this is damage to the image drum.
I heard that lasers have long start-up (warm-up) periods and have to be on
all day long. Don't they waste a lot of power when they are on without being
used? Does the mechanism and/or toner deteriorate when they are turned on
but not used?
Click to expand...
Modern lasers of the Canon and HP brand use ceramic strip type
heaters - the cheaper ones anyway - these provide almost instant
heating, they also go into a sleep mode that uses very little power.
I have a Brother HL-8v, the fuser blew way back in 1994, when I
eventuall bothered to get a new lamp, the toner was still usable.
That's after 7 years sitting on the floor of my office. Damp
conditions would cause the toner to cake, however that wasn't a
problem with mine.
--
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I don't care if it spelt properly
 
Most modern lasers, espeically lower-end ones, tend to go to sleep when
not used. The fuser warms up fast enough that it is up to temperature by
the time the paper gets to it.
Click to expand...

The fuser assembly must be at the correct temperature before the
printer attempts to load a paper for printing.
 
Get a used HP Laserjet 5P (6 page per minute) or HP LJ 6P (8 page per minute).
They use what is called instant on Fuser that the warm up time is not that
long. It will definitely beat your Inkjet printer in finishing printing.
Considering the cost of a good refurbished Toner, you are looking at about 1.5
cents per page average. For the LJ 5P, you coudl easily find a good used one
for around $150 or so for add another $35 or so for a good used LJ 6P. The
memory upgrade for the printers are very cheap (Fast Paging Mode SIMM). They
use parallel port so it is very easy to share it in a SOHO environment. Their
monthly duty cycle is about 7.5 k or so.

D.
 
Iconoclast said:
I am tired of replacing color cartridges in my Epson cx5200 although I never
use them.

I don't print enough to warrant a laser printer.

Are there any ink-jet printers on the market that print black only, with a
large, refillable cartridge?

I am dreaming again.
Click to expand...
You seem to have gotten some really bum advice on B&W laser printers, as
evidenced by what others have written in reply to your statements.

I still have, but recently mothballed, HP Laserjet IID (D=duplexing for
automatic two sided printing) printers that I acquired for less than
$100 each, usually much less. They put out pages at about 1 cent per
page, and they can sit unused for months or years without significant
problem.

I upgraded these to newer HP Laserjet duplex printers generally for less
than $150 each, sometimes I actually got them for nothing - except then
I had to buy the duplexer and replace the empty toner cartridge.

Yes, at one time, the laser printers were expensive. The list price when
new of my IID and IIID printers was almost $4,000 quite a long time ago.

I hate to see people pay $50 to $90 for a full set of inkjet cartridges
when you can buy a whole laser printer used for about that amount of money.

However, do not buy anything except HP Laserjets or the Canon laser
printers. Canon makes the guts of all of the good HP laserjets, and
always has since about 1985.

I had mistakenly bought an Epson laser printer, based on Minolta laser
printing technology. I would never now buy anything but an HP laser
printer.

Jim

--
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I can't see the advantage to filling the color cartridges with black
ink. Instead of wasting color ink, I would be wasting black ink.

Right?
Click to expand...
If i remember correct, when i bought Lexmark Z23 (or Z33, same thing), it
was said that this printer can print with only black cart installed. Or
model Z13 - this one has option either only black or only color cart
installed as it has only one cart sitting (you can't have both installed at
the same time). One problems remains however that you loose any gray shades
printing, as for this printer uses colors and not black ink. But if you
print only black text, it doesn't matter. I suggest you insert one color
cart, tell him it's full, so it won't mess with that low ink warnings, as
Lexmark counts drops spilled and doesn't really know the condition of the
head.
But these printers are older models and as such there's a question if you
can get hold of it. Second, carts are so bloddy expensive that whole printer
is about the same price as one single cart. So, if you are willing to
refill, it's OK, otherwise...
As for laser, all moderd models are shut down to sleep if not in use. I have
old Panasonic and it takes about 15 seconds before it starts printing (it
goes onto sleep after 10-15 minutes), and this is about same time as Canon
i550 if it decides to clean heads before printing...HP models are even
quicker.
 
If you don't print much, a large ink reservoir is not your answer. You'll
be throwing ink away after it has dried.

You really DO want a laser. They're reasonably cheap new for some models.
They're ridiculously cheap for yesterday's office workhorses in the used
market. Just do it. You'll be glad you did.
 
| I am tired of replacing color cartridges in my Epson cx5200 although I never
| use them.
|
| I don't print enough to warrant a laser printer.
|

Laser printers now suit both low and high volume B&W printing. The are
now very cheap and the point is that the cost per page is very low.
They can also be left unused for months, without worries about the ink
drying up and the jets becoming blocked. No wasted ink as you struggle
to clear the jets, just turn it on and print.

Some of the older second hand office lasers can also be a good bargain,
I have an HP 4000 which is often left for a couple of months without
printing a single page and the cartridge replacement cost is much
cheaper per page than a smaller home laser type printer.



--
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| Trouble is, I print maybe five pages B/W per day. Would that work out with a
| laser printer?

That is many more pages than I generally need to print.


|
| I heard that lasers have long start-up (warm-up) periods and have to be on
| all day long. Don't they waste a lot of power when they are on without being
| used? Does the mechanism and/or toner deteriorate when they are turned on
| but not used?
|


The warm up time varies, but generally is about 30 seconds. Once warmed
up, they print much faster than an inkjet. I tend to leave my HP 4000
printer on all of the time, it goes into a sleep mode which uses very
little power.

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Harry (M1BYT)...

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| Does the mechanism and/or toner deteriorate when they are turned on
| but not used?
|

The toner will quite happily sit around for years without
deterioration.


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Harry (M1BYT)...

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| Get a used HP Laserjet 5P (6 page per minute) or HP LJ 6P (8 page per minute).
| They use what is called instant on Fuser that the warm up time is not that
| long. It will definitely beat your Inkjet printer in finishing printing.
| Considering the cost of a good refurbished Toner, you are looking at about 1.5
| cents per page average. For the LJ 5P, you coudl easily find a good used one
| for around $150 or so for add another $35 or so for a good used LJ 6P. The
| memory upgrade for the printers are very cheap (Fast Paging Mode SIMM). They
| use parallel port so it is very easy to share it in a SOHO environment. Their
| monthly duty cycle is about 7.5 k or so.
|

These HP home/office printers tend to be not very reliable and best
avoided. I have had two and neither lasted very long. Just as cheap s/h
and better constructed will be the proper office laser printers.


--
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Harry (M1BYT)...

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Free Amateur Radio Courses:-
http://www.ukradioamateur.org
 
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