Inkjet, separated colors, text only - advice, pls?

  • Thread starter Thread starter BigBen
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BigBen

Hi All,

I guess the tittle just about says it all...

I need an inkjet printer, for text printing only, with color printing,
with the capacity to buy first the colors that I use most.

And, please, a printer that doesn't suddenly stop working at all when
one of the colors runs out - or at least gives me a good early warning
of which color is about to run out, so that I don't have to wonder why
the hell the printer has stoped working, or I have to rush out to buy
an ink cartridge in the nmiddle of a rush job :-(

Of course, the whole point, of having the separated colors, is ...
making it cheaper than having to through away most of the color ink I
still have in the 3color catridge I presently have, and have given up
using - on a HP psc 1315.

So, reliable, cheap to run, good enough for text, and inkjet, are my
requirements.

TIA,



Ride to ride another day.
jbr
 
BigBen said:
Hi All,

I guess the tittle just about says it all...

I need an inkjet printer, for text printing only, with color printing,
with the capacity to buy first the colors that I use most.

And, please, a printer that doesn't suddenly stop working at all when
one of the colors runs out - or at least gives me a good early warning
of which color is about to run out, so that I don't have to wonder why
the hell the printer has stoped working, or I have to rush out to buy
an ink cartridge in the nmiddle of a rush job :-(

Of course, the whole point, of having the separated colors, is ...
making it cheaper than having to through away most of the color ink I
still have in the 3color catridge I presently have, and have given up
using - on a HP psc 1315.

So, reliable, cheap to run, good enough for text, and inkjet, are my
requirements.

TIA,
Click to expand...
Your question has been answered before many times.
Whatever you purchase I suggest that you have extra ink on hand so you
don't have to rush out in the middle of work.
 
Your question has been answered before many times.
Whatever you purchase I suggest that you have extra ink on hand so you
don't have to rush out in the middle of work.
Click to expand...

OK, so that answers part of my question(s).
That rises a suspicion though - does it pay to use separate colors??

TIA



Ride to ride another day.
jbr
 
BigBen said:
OK, so that answers part of my question(s).
That rises a suspicion though - does it pay to use separate colors??

TIA



Ride to ride another day.
jbr
Click to expand...

I wonder about the separate colors too. The Canon's are easy to fill
and almost certain to work when refilled. However, they do seem to take
a lot of ink compared to the other carts. I think it's because my
Canons go through too many cleaning cycles. I have a 50/50 mix of
Canons and HP and plan to stick with the Canon separate tanks for now
because I have lots of cheap ink.
 
(e-mail address removed) (BigBen) wrote in @news20.forteinc.com:
Hi All,

I guess the tittle just about says it all...

I need an inkjet printer, for text printing only, with color printing,
with the capacity to buy first the colors that I use most.

And, please, a printer that doesn't suddenly stop working at all when
one of the colors runs out - or at least gives me a good early warning
of which color is about to run out, so that I don't have to wonder why
the hell the printer has stoped working, or I have to rush out to buy
an ink cartridge in the nmiddle of a rush job :-(
Click to expand...

Nearly all modern inkjet printers require all cartridges present and
containing ink to function.
Of course, the whole point, of having the separated colors, is ...
making it cheaper than having to through away most of the color ink I
still have in the 3color catridge I presently have, and have given up
using - on a HP psc 1315.
Click to expand...

If you refill, that is not really a concern, just refill the empty
compartment, and top up the others. If you don't, then you need to look
into printers with separate carts.
So, reliable, cheap to run, good enough for text, and inkjet, are my
requirements.
Click to expand...

I'd look into the Canon Pixma 4200, if you insist on inkjet. Although
replacemt carts cost a bit, they do quite a bit of printing.

HP could have something also, although, IMO, Canon is one on the best
values in ink.

Otherwise, consider dropping color and get a B&W laser.
 
BigBen said:
Hi All,

I guess the tittle just about says it all...

I need an inkjet printer, for text printing only, with color printing,
with the capacity to buy first the colors that I use most.

And, please, a printer that doesn't suddenly stop working at all when
one of the colors runs out - or at least gives me a good early warning
of which color is about to run out, so that I don't have to wonder why
the hell the printer has stoped working, or I have to rush out to buy
an ink cartridge in the middle of a rush job :-(

Of course, the whole point, of having the separated colors, is ...
making it cheaper than having to through away most of the color ink I
still have in the 3color catridge I presently have, and have given up
using - on a HP psc 1315.
Click to expand...

Your requirements are mutually exclusive. Any of the separate ink
printers will require ink in all the chambers to allow printing, or else
the printhead may be damaged.

As for separate color being cheaper, that may or may not be the case.
Unless you are printing lots of the same colors (for example a logo on a
letterhead) the colors are generally used up pretty evenly, and you are
never "throwing away most of the color ink". Measurements I have made
in the past would suggest that less than 5% ink typically remain when
printing "normal" stuff. What you probably need is a printer with
larger cartridges (whether combined or separate). The PSC 1315 is a
pretty low end machine, with rather small cartridges. How much printing
do you do (in pages/month)? Be aware that for most separate ink
supplies printers the printer will service all the colors (and black) of
ink, even if only black is being used. If you print color infrequently
half or more of your color ink may end up in the service diaper.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
I'd look into the Canon Pixma 4200, if you insist on inkjet. Although
replacemt carts cost a bit, they do quite a bit of printing.
Click to expand...

OK, thanks for the advice!

Otherwise, consider dropping color and get a B&W laser.
Click to expand...

No way - color makes my work of proofreading of text a LOT easier and
faster

Thanks a lot!



Ride your 2 wheels, but in order to ride them yet another day!
jbr
 
do you do (in pages/month)? Be aware that for most separate ink
supplies printers the printer will service all the colors (and black) of
ink, even if only black is being used. If you print color infrequently
half or more of your color ink may end up in the service diaper.
Click to expand...

Say again? In English, please??




Ride your 2 wheels, but in order to ride them yet another day!
jbr
 
Canon IP4200 with OEM ink
Click to expand...


Thanks.

Can't see why Canon doesn't do a harder job at promoting their
printers - ate least around here (Portugal). Just today I was looking
at printers and cartridges in a large commercial surface, they had,
HP, Epson, Lexmark, and Samsung. That's all.

I hardly ever find Canon for sale at large commercial surfaces :-()



Ride your 2 wheels, but in order to ride them yet another day!
jbr
 
I guess the tittle just about says it all...

I need an inkjet printer, for text printing only, with color printing,
with the capacity to buy first the colors that I use most.
Click to expand...

I've been very happy with a Canon i550, discontinued now, but has
separate tanks, Canon cartridges are relatively cheap, and I can
replace the yellow cartridge more often than the others when I print
out "hilited" text they way I do. Whatever the mid-line 3-color (plus
black) printer they may have, I'd go for it. Software is very
straightforward. They do spend a lot of ink on head-cleaning, it
seems to me.

Brother printers at low price-points also have separate tanks, but I
heard there were sometimes software problems or reliability issues.
Used a cheap Brother laser printer a few years ago, never had any
problems with it. So, you might consider them if you see them.

J.
 
BigBen said:
Say again? In English, please??
Click to expand...

In English: If you buy a printer that uses separate printheads and ink
supplies a significant amount of your ink will be used in keeping the
printhead unclogged. Such printers will have a large absorbent pad in
the bottom of the printer that soaks up the waste ink. Separate ink
tanks may not be any advantage if more than half your ink is used in
servicing the printheads rather than actually printing on paper. See:
http://h10060.www1.hp.com/pageyield/articles/us/en/EfficiencyArticle.html
for some background information.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
Bob said:
In English: If you buy a printer that uses separate printheads and
ink supplies a significant amount of your ink will be used in keeping
the printhead unclogged.
Click to expand...


Maybe that is true for Epson but it is totally untrue for Canon. My
Canon just does not use cleaning cycles and has run perfectly for almost
2 years. I only use Canon ink.
 
measekite said:
Maybe that is true for Epson but it is totally untrue for Canon. My
Canon just does not use cleaning cycles and has run perfectly for almost
2 years. I only use Canon ink.
Click to expand...

It is 100% true of canon. The automatic cleaning cycle of the ip4000
kicks in if you don't use your printer for 24hours and under 60hours,
where about ..14 grams of bci-3e black is spent,. So if you print one
thing every two days, assuming 25grams of black (it's 25ml and I don't
know the specific gravity of the ink), no matter how much you print
each time you'll end up empty in under a year. Most light users I know
get 6 months or so of ink before they replace the tanks. The volume
isn't listed as getting higher until two weeks have passed without
printing, so one can print one thing weekly.

Color automatic cleaning kicks between 5 days and two weeks. and
that's listed as .50 grams.

There is a whole chart on this subject, i'm just listing the smallest
times. But needless to say if you only print one page every two days
expect about 1/2 your black ink to be used to clean the heads. Under
this scenero, an HP with an intragrated head might be a more cost
effective choice.
 
zakezuke said:
measekite wrote:




It is 100% true of canon. The automatic cleaning cycle of the ip4000
kicks in if you don't use your printer for 24hours and under 60hours,
where about ..14 grams of bci-3e black is spent,.
Click to expand...

Absolutely correct. Anyone with even half a brain would have noticed
that their Canon printers would automatically go into "lengthy" cleaning
cycles (routines) after a day or two, or whatever, of inactivity. The
reason Measekite's doesn't is because he'd rather lie than have the
truth slip out. If our printers wouldn't go into automatic cleaning mode
then I'm sure ALL of us would be complaining of occasional clogging.
This often looked upon "wastage" of good ink for cleaning is something
I absolutely don't worry about as I have 4 sets of very affordably
refilled cartridges in rotation/storage and several sets of blank
cartridges that can be filled at a moment's notice. There's no ink or
cartridge shortage at my abode . . . And like the Dave Clark Five (rock
group) once said... "I like It Like That!". Happy cleaning!!!

-Taliesyn
 
My Canon does not do this. Maybe the machine senses defective ink and
does it on the relabeled ink.
 
Taliesyn said:
Absolutely correct. Anyone with even half a brain would have noticed
that their Canon printers would automatically go into "lengthy" cleaning
cycles (routines) after a day or two, or whatever, of inactivity. The
reason Measekite's doesn't is because he'd rather lie than have the
truth slip out. If our printers wouldn't go into automatic cleaning mode
then I'm sure ALL of us would be complaining of occasional clogging.
This often looked upon "wastage" of good ink for cleaning is something
I absolutely don't worry about as I have 4 sets of very affordably
refilled cartridges in rotation/storage and several sets of blank
cartridges that can be filled at a moment's notice. There's no ink or
cartridge shortage at my abode . . . And like the Dave Clark Five (rock
group) once said... "I like It Like That!". Happy cleaning!!!

-Taliesyn
Click to expand...

Don't worry T...that lying idiot of a moron imbecile has no idea what
his outdated canon printer does.
He is beyond stupid.
Frank
 
Taliesyn said:
measekite wrote:
My Canon does not do this. Maybe the machine senses defective ink and
does it on the relabeled ink.
Click to expand...

Measekite, your canon, an ip4000, does this. All canons which have
been in production for the past few years do. It's based on a timer
and not a defective ink sensor. The ONLY way it does not do an
automatic cleaning cycle is if you print something once every 24hrs for
the pigment black, once every 5 days for the dye tanks. It's
documented in the canon service manual. I imagine you could ask canon
support about the cleaning cycles... odds are they will just tell you
they exist.

This is not a conspricy to hide the truth of aftermarket ink, this is
simply a function of the printer.
 
zakezuke said:
Measekite, your canon, an ip4000, does this. All canons which have
been in production for the past few years do. It's based on a timer
and not a defective ink sensor. The ONLY way it does not do an
automatic cleaning cycle is if you print something once every 24hrs for
the pigment black, once every 5 days for the dye tanks. It's
documented in the canon service manual. I imagine you could ask canon
support about the cleaning cycles... odds are they will just tell you
they exist.

This is not a conspricy to hide the truth of aftermarket ink, this is
simply a function of the printer.
Click to expand...
Zakezuke - don't forget the cleaning cycle that runs when an ink cart gives
the low ink or ink out signal on the ink monitor and you replace it with a
new cart - in the troll's case a new OEM cart. You will actually have LESS
automatic cleaning cycles when you refill carts before they have the
reservoir empty. Unless the low ink signal is initiated the ink monitor
doesn't recognize the replacement cart as new or newly refilled and there is
no auto cleaning cycle. So, you see, refilling with aftermarket bulk inks
before the reservoir is empty not only saves tons of money by virtue of the
differential in cost of refilling over OEM, but you also save a considerable
amount of ink from ALL the carts by avoiding an otherwise automatic cleaning
cycle from occuring.
 
zakezuke said:
Measekite, your canon, an ip4000, does this. All canons which have
been in production for the past few years do. It's based on a timer
and not a defective ink sensor. The ONLY way it does not do an
automatic cleaning cycle is if you print something once every 24hrs for
the pigment black, once every 5 days for the dye tanks. It's
documented in the canon service manual. I imagine you could ask canon
support about the cleaning cycles... odds are they will just tell you
they exist.

This is not a conspricy to hide the truth of aftermarket ink, this is
simply a function of the printer.
Click to expand...

A comment and a question.
Comment: Certainly my iP4000 goes through a lot
of humming, wheels turning, etc. every time I turn
it on. Intervals between printings are usually 1
day to 2 weeks. So if mine is typical, any iP4000
owner would know that rather lengthy cleanings
occur when printing intervals are more than a few
days. In contrast, my HP 970, does a little whir
and then prints even after it sit idle for 3-4 weeks.

Question: I assume that the 24hr for pigmented
black and 5 days for the dye tanks are based on
the printer being plug in and on standby. I
assume that is true whenever the printer is
plugged in since it uses power even when the
switch is off. So, does turning the printer off
or unplugging the printer between print sessions
affect the length of time between automatic
cleanings. Seems I read somewhere that when the
printer is unplugged and plugged in again, even if
for only a short time, the printer assumes that a
cleaning is needed.
 
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