What's new
By:
Filters

New printer or is this fixable?

Poopyface

Poopyface

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 8, 2020
Member Number
1904
Messages
697
Epson XP-310

Son of a bitch runs out of ink even when I don't use it. I print like 10-15 pages a year. It prints with missing lines and gaps and shit every time I put new ink (4 cartridges) in. I do the maintenance head cleaning, alignment, etc multiple times after installing new ink and then black ink shows half full while the rest of the colors are full.

FUBAR? Kick it? Shoot it? Scan some bacon?
 
My experience with Epson printers is they don't like being sat, had to bin our last one for that reason. Tried self cleaning, actual cleaning, aligning, new ink and it was still shit.
Got an HP now and it'll happily sit unused for 6 months and not cause any issues.
 
Ted_Kaczynski said:
Buy an HP Laserjet small business class color printer for ~$300 and forget about ink bullshit.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Most of the small office color lasers I've seen were $5-600, but I haven't looked in a while.

This one is $329. https://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-co...pro-mfp-m182nw. It comes with a crap black cart good for 800 sheets.

Black replacement cartridge is $48 for 1000 sheets. 4.8 cents per sheet. HP is frantic to keep you from using generic toner (chipped carts).

DPI = 600x600


The Epson Ecotank inkjet I've got at home was $279. It came with a spare bottle of black ink for 5000 sheets out of the box.

It has mediocre print quality, and I have to run Clean/Test eleventy times any time I want to use it.

Black ink bottle is $12 for 4000 sheets. .3 cents per sheet. Aftermarket ink is easily available.

DPI = 5760 x 1440

Huh. Tradeoffs either way. Laser doesn't seem like as much of a slam-dunk as I'd hoped. Cost aside, that DPI is surprising (unless I'm misreading). Eta- nope, that's photo-printing resolution.
 
Last edited:
I have good luck with brother Laser printer all in one's, copy scan print
they do have a chip in the toner cartage, over a year ago it told me to change toner, used the over ride and bought a new one and still have not changed it, lately its has been saying low toner but I'm still using it.
 
Poopyface said:
Epson XP-310

Son of a bitch runs out of ink even when I don't use it. I print like 10-15 pages a year. It prints with missing lines and gaps and shit every time I put new ink (4 cartridges) in. I do the maintenance head cleaning, alignment, etc multiple times after installing new ink and then black ink shows half full while the rest of the colors are full.

FUBAR? Kick it? Shoot it? Scan some bacon?
Click to expand...

Buy a laser printer and never worry about ink drying out again. They do cost more but they're worth it.
 
They damn near give printers away so they can sell ink. That’s the whole model adopted by the printer industry.

there was a printer company that tried the model to sell expensive printers and cheap ink, ( Kodak maybe???) and it flopped greatly.
 
Brother laser. Off brand and refilled toner are no problem.
 
People have no doubt told you:

If you absolutely must have a printer in your house, there is one printer you should be buying: An HP LaserJet of some type, preferably from a channel used by an IT pro. Get one of your geek friends to get you a deal.

Or, use a printing service. I've found the Mom&Pops to be about 1/3 the cost of a chain or place trying to be a chain, sometimes >10x less.

Every little town or enclave I've lived in has that one printing shop. Find it and use it.

So if you're not an IT person who has regular use of a printer and printing supplies and the latest fix-the-printer knowledge, there are TWO OPTIONS ONLY:
  1. Buy an HP LaserJet
  2. Use a printing service
Now you have been told, and now you know. ANY DEVIATION FROM THIS ADVICE IS YOUR OWN FAULT, so do not ask again :flipoff2:

I'm serious though. Choose one of those two options.
 
Get a simple Brother B&W laser for under $100 and pay when you need color. If you want color, hp laserjet pro 200 is reasonable and can use quality 3rd party supplies. If possible buy the 3rd party supplies locally as the supplies are often defective. Stay away from all ink jet copiers unless you print regularly and can justify the outrages price for ink. Both Epson and HP do make professional level ink jets with more reasonable consumable prices but they still clog if not used regularly. As HP certified dealer our cost was approx $600 to repair one of the professional series after it sat for 3 months.
 
I'll be he fourth to say a Brother Laserjet. Cheap to buy, and they don't care if you use their toner, someone else's toner, or even those refill kits. They just flat-out work.

And the high volume toner cartridge would likely last you the rest of your lifetime at your rate.
 
We use a Canon image class 232w.. Black and white laser. $100 at walmart and works awesome and is wifi capable.
 
I caved & went to laser when low activity made inkjet a "fuck you - fuck me" never ready solution.

We have an HP color laser that's held up well, but Brother has a good rep. for value.
 
Poopyface said:
Epson XP-310

Son of a bitch runs out of ink even when I don't use it. I print like 10-15 pages a year. It prints with missing lines and gaps and shit every time I put new ink (4 cartridges) in. I do the maintenance head cleaning, alignment, etc multiple times after installing new ink and then black ink shows half full while the rest of the colors are full.

FUBAR? Kick it? Shoot it? Scan some bacon?
Click to expand...

In red is why your cartridge runs empty as soon as you install it. When you run a head cleaner, if runs the print head at 100% and dumps that ink directly into the dump well on the printer. Once you have run it a few times, all your ink just went into the trash.

If you want value, then go with a Brother, had good luck with them. If you are going volume, then yes go HP as all of the service parts pop right out. All printers, even the laser will come with a >25% starter cartridge, you have to buy the 2nd set to get any real volume out of the machine. If you are looking at running reman/refill cartridges, then look for a machine that does not have the image drum included in the toner cartridge as they rarely get replaced during the refill and can cause image quality issues. (20 year printer/copier/it tech)
 
JunkCJ6 said:
In red is why your cartridge runs empty as soon as you install it. When you run a head cleaner, if runs the print head at 100% and dumps that ink directly into the dump well on the printer. Once you have run it a few times, all your ink just went into the trash.

If you want value, then go with a Brother, had good luck with them. If you are going volume, then yes go HP as all of the service parts pop right out. All printers, even the laser will come with a >25% starter cartridge, you have to buy the 2nd set to get any real volume out of the machine. If you are looking at running reman/refill cartridges, then look for a machine that does not have the image drum included in the toner cartridge as they rarely get replaced during the refill and can cause image quality issues. (20 year printer/copier/it tech)
Click to expand...

dis man knows.
 
subybaja said:
Interesting. Most of the small office color lasers I've seen were $5-600, but I haven't looked in a while.

This one is $329. https://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-co...pro-mfp-m182nw. It comes with a crap black cart good for 800 sheets.

Black replacement cartridge is $48 for 1000 sheets. 4.8 cents per sheet. HP is frantic to keep you from using generic toner (chipped carts).

DPI = 600x600


The Epson Ecotank inkjet I've got at home was $279. It came with a spare bottle of black ink for 5000 sheets out of the box.

It has mediocre print quality, and I have to run Clean/Test eleventy times any time I want to use it.

Black ink bottle is $12 for 4000 sheets. .3 cents per sheet. Aftermarket ink is easily available.

DPI = 5760 x 1440

Huh. Tradeoffs either way. Laser doesn't seem like as much of a slam-dunk as I'd hoped. Cost aside, that DPI is surprising (unless I'm misreading). Eta- nope, that's photo-printing resolution.
Click to expand...


LoL so let me get this straight, you print 10-15 pages per year and you're worried about an 800 page starter toner that will last you 50 years at that rate?


Right....
 
Epsons are good if they are used daily. Laser printers will save you money in the long run and brother printers are good workhorse printers.
 
total newb said:
How has no one pointed out that refill/replacement cartridges are a known low fill volume?
Click to expand...

How has nobody pointed out that page count is based on 5% coverage, or approx 1 paragraph. You will never get the advertised page output.:stirthepot:
 
87manche said:
dis man knows.
Click to expand...

Cut my teeth on IBM 4039 laser printers through the Lexmark Optra R to T line working for Walgreens, then on to being a Sharp copier tech for 10 years. Yeah I have been around a few printers.
 
SomeGuy said:
LoL so let me get this straight, you print 10-15 pages per year and you're worried about an 800 page starter toner that will last you 50 years at that rate?


Right....
Click to expand...

Are you confusing me for the OP? 'Cause I don't print that little.

Valid point though. At 10-15 pages per year, you should drive to Kinkos.
 
JunkCJ6 said:
Cut my teeth on IBM 4039 laser printers through the Lexmark Optra R to T line working for Walgreens, then on to being a Sharp copier tech for 10 years. Yeah I have been around a few printers.
Click to expand...

oh the optras.
I fixed a fuck ton of those in social security offices. seems like fusers were always an issue IIRC.

I can strip your oki microline down in like 10 minutes and diagnose the platen gear you fucking stripped even though I've been to your fucking office 5 times in the last year for stripped fucking gears because you morons won't just use the fucking feed buttons instead of the fucking knob on the side of the machine, all while you bitch at me that the machine is a piece of shit because you keep stripping gears.

no shit I took the knob and gave it to the office manager and told him not to let them have it back. Magically we stopped replacing gears in a printer every 3 months.
 
You dont print enough to justify owning a printer. I'd just use a Fedex/UPS store and pay $0.10/pg. It's inconvenient, yes, but makes more sense.
 
subybaja said:
Are you confusing me for the OP? 'Cause I don't print that little.

Valid point though. At 10-15 pages per year, you should drive to Kinkos.
Click to expand...

LoL oops, oh yeah, sorry :)

Although driving to the store is annoying to print a page or two now and then. I'm with everyone else on this, get a laser printer of some sort.
 
Got it working well enough to print the shipping label. I will go buy a laser jet next time this thing decides not to print.
 
87manche said:
oh the optras.
I fixed a fuck ton of those in social security offices. seems like fusers were always an issue IIRC.
Click to expand...

ah, jamming at the fuser entry.... change the toner and it magically works better.... find out there are 2 toner cartridge designs, one is swept up the the fuser entry, one is swept down. Swept down will run a full toner with no jams, swept up will jam every 1000 pages. way too many horror stories from working on that stuff, 2 identical printers, duplex unit jams on both, swap between the machines and neither jam for thousands of pages. I could go on for days
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Back Refresh