Extreme fixes (Epson printers)

[Sherlock77]

I recently spent lots of money on a brand new Epson photo printer, about $400

I had my first ink replacement tonight, and kept hitting "ink cartridge not recognized" when installing the new ink, which apparently is a huge issue for recent Epson printers... Should have done more research, yet I have always used Epson products with great success...

Anyway, did stumble across this video, not likely the fix I will do given my investment Although maybe... A hint if you are the impatient type, just head toward the last few seconds...

 

[Skittlebisquit]

I learned a bit about those from before. I have several of similar type, but much older. They do get dirty, and imported electronics sometimes have substandard components.

I learned that the stupid thing can get dried up ink inside of it, and bugs if course. Perhaps a pc repair person? See if it ever had the ink in it, then got put up, what you are getting could be a read fail error from dirty contacts, or a clogged orifice.

The little parts are tiny, q tips make it worse, bc the stupid hairs come off, and I think you are supposed to use a flouro hexane type of solvent like MEK

Methyl ethyl ketone is super dangerous, Any solvent is, both to health and to surfaces, and if course for fire danger. I haven't done it in forever, trying myself I killed two, and got one to work for a while.

My epson 280(?) Takes like eight ink thingies, it's seriously like eighty dollars for a full set! That's the one for photos.

I found a tech dude one time by asking at a copy shop, in the business district.

 

[Judge]

That's how I used to feel about my HP Color Printer. You'd think with the Internet that accurate troubleshooting of a printer would be a straight-forward and easy thing to find. Sadly it's been my experience that this is simply not the case.

Luckily before I tossed this printer, I eventually found a YouTube video that actually told the truth about how to fix it. Especially when it would stop drawing paper into the printer and citing that I ran out of paper- when I didn't. Had to clean all the rollers, and disassemble parts of it to get at one particular roller in the center of the printer. Something similar to this video:

LOL...had I not found that video I probably would have replaced it with an Epson or a Canon printer.

Speaking of which, I just heard that Canon has designed their scanner to cease working if the printer runs out of that precious ink. Oh boy!

If you're a geek you can fix this sort of thing. But if you're a mere "user"...well, I guess you're SOL.

Funny to ponder that I could buy a newer HP model at $140, that has ink cartridges (HP#67) at nearly half of what I'm paying now (HP#61). Maybe I should have gone into printer ink marketing. More lucrative and safer than hawking fentanyl.

 

[Sherlock77]

I learned a bit about those from before. I have several of similar type, but much older. They do get dirty, and imported electronics sometimes have substandard components.

I learned that the stupid thing can get dried up ink inside of it, and bugs if course. Perhaps a pc repair person? See if it ever had the ink in it, then got put up, what you are getting could be a read fail error from dirty contacts, or a clogged orifice.

The little parts are tiny, q tips make it worse, bc the stupid hairs come off, and I think you are supposed to use a flouro hexane type of solvent like MEK

Methyl ethyl ketone is super dangerous, Any solvent is, both to health and to surfaces, and if course for fire danger. I haven't done it in forever, trying myself I killed two, and got one to work for a while.

My epson 280(?) Takes like eight ink thingies, it's seriously like eighty dollars for a full set! That's the one for photos.

I found a tech dude one time by asking at a copy shop, in the business district.

I eventually got the ink successfully installed, but after far too much time

 

[Judge]

I eventually got the ink successfully installed, but after far too much time

What was the solution? Just curious. My first color printer was an Epson. The first high resolution (720p) one for Windows, many years ago. Had to use very expensive clay-coated paper back then, otherwise the ink saturated the paper. Paid a ridiculous price for the printer and paper apart from the ink as well. A heroin habit would have been cheaper.

These days I tend to take for granted all the things I must do to get a decent photo printed, even when the printer works as it should. But every once in awhile I realize just how much it takes to make it happen. Which IMO amounts to considerations far beyond anything the printer manufacturer implies or advertises.

Even then I have yet to make my HP printer render a proper shade of something between teal and aqua. It just won't do it, even with my OS, Monitor and printer all using the same color management- Adobe RGB (1998) D65 WP 2.2 Gamma .icc. With the results always leaning towards blue than green- even with a new color ink cartridge.

For most folks, take your .jpg files to Walmart. No joke. Far less stress and a lot cheaper.

Unless of course you're a photographer, which in case you MUST expose yourself with such abuse!

 

[Sherlock77]

What was the solution? Just curious. My first color printer was an Epson. The first high resolution (720p) one for Windows, many years ago. Had to use very expensive clay-coated paper back then, otherwise the ink saturated the paper. Paid a ridiculous price for the printer and paper apart from the ink as well. A heroin habit would have been cheaper.

These days I tend to take for granted all the things I must do to get a decent photo printed, even when the printer works as it should. But every once in awhile I realize just how much it takes to make it happen. Which IMO amounts to considerations far beyond anything the printer manufacturer implies or advertises.

Even then I have yet to make my HP printer render a proper shade of something between teal and aqua. It just won't do it, even with my OS, Monitor and printer all using the same color management- Adobe RGB (1998) D65 WP 2.2 Gamma .icc. With the results always leaning towards blue than green- even with a new color ink cartridge.

For most folks, take your .jpg files to Walmart. No joke. Far less stress and a lot cheaper.

I'm not sure myself, no really, I just "played" around with it and something somehow worked...

 

[Judge]

I'm not sure myself, no really, I just "played" around with it and something somehow worked...

Oh yeah. Been there, done that and got a closet full of t-shirts for it.

 

[Aspychata]

The movie "Office Space" has a great scene where two fired employees of tech firm take a printer out to deserted field to get revenge.

This movie also shows the redundancy of corporate policies and corporate jobs in general. And has my actress favorite Jennifer Aniston.

 

[Judge]

The movie "Office Space" has a great scene where two fired employees of tech firm take a printer out to deserted field to get revenge.

This movie also shows the redundancy of corporate policies and corporate jobs in general. And has my actress favorite Jennifer Aniston.

Reminds of two things. That at work, the IT guy was never around to fix the laser printer. That we employees had to learn all those things on our own...like extracting and "rocking" the toner cartridge to make it print properly.

Or having to hear older dot-matrix printers make noises worse then bluejays screeching.

Oy.

Printers...the bane of our existence.

 

[Aspychata]

Law firm printers? Don't get me started. Every job has to be entered in client number.
Then you have to do 10 copies of 50 page depositions. You have to pray that the machine doesn't jam. And you needed complicated printers to handle the jobs. Seeing the printer tech guy meant freedom for several hours.

E-filing has really helped alot. That has saved many trees.

 

[Sherlock77]

Reminds of two things. That at work, the IT guy was never around to fix the laser printer. That we employees had to learn all those things on our own...like extracting and "rocking" the toner cartridge to make it print properly.

Or having to hear older dot-matrix printers make noises worse then bluejays screeching.

Oy.

Printers...the bane of our existence.

I never worked in an office much, but still remember the sound of dot matrix printers... I can only imagine the constant sound of that...