Which printer?

[Johnny]

I find my Epson Stylus is quite poor for my needs: its ink is not viscous
enough to print on trace or watercolour paper, which is rather important to
me, and, more important, it doesn't grip good quality envelopes at all well,
meaning that, even when suitably guided into the paper feeder, perhaps only
20% of the envelope printouts are useable (each envelope being quite
expensive) and the head cleaning lark uses immense amounts of ink and time
and need to be done regularly.
Is there, say, a Canon or some other printer at a price below £150 that will
be better for my needs?
Thanks,

Johnny

 

[Arthur Entlich]

You don't mention which Epson you are using, or how much use it has
gotten. All printers need cleaning and maintenance over time. Feeder
wheels need to be cleaned, etc.

Are you using OEM or third party inks? Are they dye or pigment?

The C80, 82, 84 and 86 and C64 and 66 all use pigment inks which would
probably be better for your needs.

Most dye inks tend to run when wet unless used with special papers.
That might be an issue with things like envelopes.

Canon uses dye inks for their printers.

Art

 

[Johnny]

You don't mention which Epson you are using,

Stylus 830

or how much use it has

gotten.

A fair amount, but not immense. I can image a lot of dust could have got in.

All printers need cleaning and maintenance over time. Feeder

wheels need to be cleaned, etc.

I regularly clean the bits that are easy to get at; I wouldn't know how to
do more than that.

Are you using OEM or third party inks? Are they dye or pigment?

Replica Epson. They are liquid, so doesn't that mean they're dye?

The C80, 82, 84 and 86 and C64 and 66 all use pigment inks which would
probably be better for your needs.

It's the feeding through the machine I'm most worried about.

Most dye inks tend to run when wet unless used with special papers.
That might be an issue with things like envelopes.

Canon uses dye inks for their printers.

So did my old Lexmark Z53, but the viscosity of the inks was such that there
was no problem.

Johnny

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Stylus 830

or how much use it has



A fair amount, but not immense. I can image a lot of dust could have got in.

All printers need cleaning and maintenance over time. Feeder



I regularly clean the bits that are easy to get at; I wouldn't know how to
do more than that.

I will provide a suggested method for cleaning the paper path at the end
of this email.

Replica Epson. They are liquid, so doesn't that mean they're dye?

No, although you are correct that pigments themselves are dry, pigment
inks are the pigments suspended in a liquid. The Epson printers I
mentioned below, for example use pigment inks. So do some HP (for the
black (and I expect, so do some of the Lexmark). The newer Canon use
both pigment and dye black, and some older models may have used pigment
black. Pigment black inks are denser.

It's the feeding through the machine I'm most worried about.

See below.

So did my old Lexmark Z53, but the viscosity of the inks was such that there
was no problem.

The black ink in your older Lexmark might have been pigment.

Johnny

Here's some suggestions for Epson printers where the feed mechanism
isn't picking up the paper, or is pulling it in crookedly.

The following instructions are provided without warranty. You accept
full responsibility for any damage you might do to yourself or your
equipment in using the advice offered in this following posting.
=====================================

Take a piece of heavy bodies absorbent paper like watercolor paper
(student grade is fine, but NOT a paper designed for inkjet printing).
Spray one side of it with window cleaning so it is damp but not
dripping, and the paper is still stiff enough to feed through. Put your
printer on, and run the page through the printer numerous times without
printing (using the load paper and eject features). Turn the paper
every which way while loading it. If it gets very dirty, replace with
another one.

If the printer is not accepting the paper to feed it through give it a
slight help as the printer tries to load the first few times. It should
begin accepting the paper as the paper grabbing wheels get clean.

Then send some plan bond paper through to help dry out the assorted
rollers. Allow the printer to sit and dry for a bit (30 minutes to an
hour.

Then try it and see if the paper will feed properly. If it still is
problematic, try some rubbing alcohol on some long cotton swabs and try
to get to the rear feed wheels and clean them. Do this with the
printer off and try to avoid getting cotton stuck there. The wheels are
usually hidden by a flange of mylar plastic, so it can be tricky to get
to them. Be careful to not distort or damage or alter the location of
this mylar, It is what keep multiple pages from being drawn into the
paper feed.

Art

 

[John McWilliams]

Arthur Entlich wrote:

Here's some suggestions for Epson printers where the feed mechanism
isn't picking up the paper, or is pulling it in crookedly.

The following instructions are provided without warranty. You accept
full responsibility for any damage you might do to yourself or your
equipment in using the advice offered in this following posting.
=====================================

Take a piece of heavy bodies absorbent paper like watercolor paper
(student grade is fine, but NOT a paper designed for inkjet printing).
Spray one side of it with window cleaning so it is damp but not
dripping, and the paper is still stiff enough to feed through. Put your
printer on, and run the page through the printer numerous times without
printing (using the load paper and eject features). Turn the paper
every which way while loading it. If it gets very dirty, replace with
another one.

If the printer is not accepting the paper to feed it through give it a
slight help as the printer tries to load the first few times. It should
begin accepting the paper as the paper grabbing wheels get clean.

I found that taping light weight paper together in steps allowed the
feed mechanism to take up the paper nicely.

 

[Johnny]

Thankyou very much.
Couple of things: the Lexmark printed on trace and watercolour paper not
only with the black but also with the colours. It was a Z53. I would have
got another Lexmark were it not that I had heard so many bad thingss about
them, and the fact that mine went haywire for some reason I couldn't fathom,
when I'd only had it for a few months (it was like there was a poltergeist
in the machine).

The method of cleaning looks interesting - one I shall try.

Johnny

 

[Arthur Entlich]

John McWilliams wrote:

I found that taping light weight paper together in steps allowed the
feed mechanism to take up the paper nicely.

Do you do anything more to the paper other than step it (do you dampen
it with a cleaner of some sort). I would assume so, since I don't think
the stepped paper would fix anything by its own. Does the paper hold
together is it gets damp?

Art

 

[John McWilliams]

Do you do anything more to the paper other than step it (do you dampen
it with a cleaner of some sort). I would assume so, since I don't think
the stepped paper would fix anything by its own. Does the paper hold
together is it gets damp?

Yes, indeed. Forgot to mention that I put sudsy ammonia on it one time,
and iirc, isoproply alcohol another time.

I tried to keep the leading paper dry, as it's the bottom one the way I
do it, and would presumably take up most of the strain or tension of the
feed. So, the dampness was limited to the center 1/3 or so of the
papers, but not soaked through.

Anyway, it worked well.

 

[Fred]

Don't buy Lexmark, unless you like Indian tech support who read the same old
sheet of paper over and over .... (a) problem with your UBS port or (b)
reinstall the software.

Lexmark printers are slow and are CRAP!!