Printers

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pamcook
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Printers

Post by pamcook »

Okay all you technical folks - our Epson (Photo R1800) printer hadn't been used in quite a while. I've run the clean cycle 5 times and it's still not good. It's a waste to use it for every day printing and we don't have another printer.
Do I splurge and have it professionally cleaned (can you even do that?)? Or do I just buy a Canon Pyxsma for photos and an every day printer? Do you have recommendations for a work-horse home printer? I feel like the cleaning for the Epson is going to be more expensive in the long run.
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Monica
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Re: Printers

Post by Monica »

There are ways to clean the heads. Search Youtube for videos.
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paddlegal
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Re: Printers

Post by paddlegal »

Bummer about your printer Pam. If you do decide to get a new printer, I can recommend the Canon MG7720. It's been a good workhorse for me in printing photos and general photocopying. I can't tell you what each printing/copy costs though. But I ended up getting this one in September when my very old HP died while I was helping Charley with the photo album he made for his GF for their "anniversary". I was able to print out a pile of photos for his project fairly fast and the prints looked great. So far I am very happy with it.
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pbp908
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Re: Printers

Post by pbp908 »

If I don't use my Epson for a long time, cleaning doesn't help - I have to replace the ink. Right now the big printer needs a complete replacement of all 7 cartridges and the thoughts of the cost is hurting my Scottish soul. I can buy a LOT of paper for that much money. :lol:
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pamcook
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Re: Printers

Post by pamcook »

Good to know Pam. I cleaned it 5 times before quitting. It's good enough for general printing and that's after replacing 4 of the inks. I just don't use it for photo printing.
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Keitha
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Re: Printers

Post by Keitha »

I'm sorry to hear that Pam. I'm an Epson gal all the way; first I had a photo printer and when it died - honestly, I got an "end of life" message on the screen when it was 15 years old - I replaced it temporarily with an Epson all-in-one from which the photos are good enough that I haven't felt the need to replace it with a photo printer. Unless you count my Epson PM-400, which is quick and easy for small prints. I always used my Epson printer for all my printing so it wouldn't be sitting unused, which is when the ink dries up and the print head clogs. Plus, I don't have the real estate for more than one big printer here.

I understand in Epson printers the print heads aren't in the cartridges, so even replacing the ink doesn't solve the problem of ink dried/clogged in the print head. (In HP printers they are in the cartridges, so putting in a new one means a new unclogged print head.) You might see if you can get a cleaning agent to clean the print heads; I've never had to, so don't know much about them.

Not that this helps you now, but they say you should print something at least every two weeks to keep the print heads moist. And I didn't know this - you should keep your printer turned off, because when you turn it on it does a little clean as part of the start up operation, which also helps it stay unclogged.
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EDelValle
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Re: Printers

Post by EDelValle »

there are cleaning sheets included with the
printer when you buy it. But try to remember
where you put them for safe keeping for when you
will need to use them.

The Epson web site always has good deals on their
refurbished printers and they last forever.
I paid $40.00 for a color printer to have on my desk
at work, a workforce, after about 10 years, I brought it
home to replace a printer that died on me and it is
still printing away
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pbp908
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Re: Printers

Post by pbp908 »

I have to say that my Epson PhotoMate printer has been going strong now for almost 10 years. I do have to use it every once in a while to keep the ink working. Just don't buy one of their large photo printers - that's when the ink gets expensive. Unless, of course, you want to primarily print large photos. Mine goes up to 17" wide. We have an HP for everyday use which works fine.

One thing I did find out with the large printer - you have to keep them covered because they collect cat hair and quit pulling the paper until Epson cleans them out. :lol:
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Re: Printers

Post by jfugina »

Printers is one of those things that we've never had much luck with. We've tried brand new and refurb, and we've tried cleaning and repairing printers ourselves, but they never seem to last. I've currently got two photo printers that I need to take for recycline - one Canon and one Epson, and another large-format Epson that might still work, but it's so old that it's difficult to get any of our current computers to even recognize it.

So I just got an HP all-in-one for Christmas. It was $50 and well-reviewed. I know it's not very eco-friendly of me, but at that price, I'll be happy enough if I get 2-3 years out of it. We've never gotten our money's worth out of anything high end and expensive, so this is my new printer strategy. I can't offer a recommendation yet, as I've only printed about 5 pages so far. But the photo quality has been pretty good for the things I've printed.
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