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dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46244
Location: yes
PostPosted: Thu May 25, 23 9:46 am    Post subject: printers Reply with quote
    

i've had a few

many have fallen, some did not survive training

a few years ago i decided to get an upgrade from the cheap printer+ ink that cost more than plutonium and is served in complex tank and head units

so as canon seem to make the most robust for the money i got a G6050

it has a tank for black, one each for CMY and the ink comes in bottles

since 2019 it has done 4 slabs of text printing, a couple of slabs of colour images and some full colour stuff on 300gm watercolour paper + a deep clean which drinks ink

first set of colour inks are used and fresh ones are on order for £30, the black tank has just been topped up from the first of the "spare" bottles which cost a tenner a time for 170ml of ink(so for black a full tank
an estimate for printing cost is maybe 10% of a decent cartridge type and almost free compared to the regrettable ones where one ink runs out and the rest which are still mostly full have to be thrown away to restore a full palette by purchasing a cartridge with 4 tanks and its own print head

when the print heads of this one wear out they are replaceable much as the cartridge type are, so far there is no hint they need replacing

it is ok to leave it for a month or two and it will get back to work when needed, i have killed at least two by not using them for a while

it will take a variety of paper etc up to 300gm with no strain, i have killed a few with 180gm

in the time i have had this kit and the ink it came with, the other sort would have cost more as i used to break one in a year or so, ink did not last long and even at refilled prices was daft money per sheet, see above etc

for fulltime office use, multipurpose "home use" or as a "community resource" this type of machine is a massive improvement on the cheap printer/expensive consumables model

it might not be their top end photo printer with lots of colours but i does still do a decent job on images, at least good enough for proofing before committing to pro printing for the final stages

good all round machine, from me that is high praise, i break kit or it is good kit

 
jema
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28238
Location: escaped from Swindon
PostPosted: Thu May 25, 23 1:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

HP have started get really nasty about third party ink.
I think the problem a lot of people have with printing these days is that they simply do not do enough.

When my printer dies I am almost certainly going to use the library.

https://www.hants.gov.uk/librariesandarchives/library/services/printing-documents

 
dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46244
Location: yes
PostPosted: Thu May 25, 23 2:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

tt does minutes and agendas for the pfi stuff she organizes, i do pictures and sometimes large documents, design stuff etc

most of the time it is fallow but when in use we eat paper and ink and my stuff would kill many printers with fat paper

both of us need it quite a lot at times

tt gets bulk stuff done in the central offices for planning inquiries etc but day to day stuff at home

we also use it for postal labels etc

i use it for more archived than pootered data storage if that seems sensible

if we had a local library that was open at 2 30 am and did not mind a crazy bloke feeding 300gm paper into their reasonably decent printer it would still be better to have one here

most folk might not need one, if you do these are good ones compared to the fallen and expensive of the past

tt sees it as mostly office, i see it as office and brush

ps the scanner on it is ok, not as good as my standalone hi res one but more than adequate for most things

re library equipment, i put a dead squirrel in a library scanner and obtained header images for some very twee notelets on pink paper

the tail did poke out a little at one point, the librarian decided it was best not to mention it

the corner shop but three away had a photocopier, they got used to me arriving with toast, if there were no smears or crumbs it was another 20 pence

best i have my own kit

 
gz



Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8948
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
PostPosted: Thu May 25, 23 6:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

My Epson is ok with non Epson ink.
Epson and HP are ok if you run Linux, Canon is definitely not.
I want to upgrade to a refillable ink one when I can, but that won't be for a while.
Mine is ok up to 190 gsm, as it is a down at the back and out at the front feed...I would love a straight through feed printer

 
sean
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon
PostPosted: Thu May 25, 23 9:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

B&W laser for home. Any colour stuff can be done at work if needed.

 
dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46244
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sat May 27, 23 3:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

this one does tray feed for office slab and back slot for posh paper

the tray is ok with photo paper if that is required

re "cheap" printers and paper wt

i got a year out of one after i "stretched" the roller compression with a big screwdriver and brutality

it was choking on 180 but tuned up to 240 with little more than a few well-placed lever wiggles to loosen the running gear and reduce roller pressure

the previous to this was hp, it was ok but was daft money to run and not as good

re the linux thing, it does matter with some kit and software packages

i had to go back to doze(or learn mac) to run photoshop, gimp is fine for basics, actually it is rather good for basics, but it would choke on the things i would feed it now or previously for that matter

ditto my screen and pooter combo, that was a shock, but it is the tool for the job

an observation that surprised me was about price vs time

building a machine for the job, in my case video and music editing were the high strain things as photos were quite small and not in realtime, was the best option 20 yrs ago

now buying one is cheaper and probably better

i still have the steampunk server in case it is needed, rubbish for pictures, ace as a jukebox and as secure as any static leccy thing can be

 
mal55



Joined: 15 Jul 2009
Posts: 168
Location: Erewash or in the dog house
PostPosted: Sun May 28, 23 11:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I use an Epson Ecotank. Ink comes in bottles and cheap ones do nicely with no problems.
I tend to do a lot of printing, whole books in some cases and this machine makes it cheap enough to do.

 
NorthernMonkeyGirl



Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4630
Location: Peeping over your shoulder
PostPosted: Sun May 28, 23 11:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

jema wrote:
HP have started get really nasty about third party ink.
I think the problem a lot of people have with printing these days is that they simply do not do enough.

When my printer dies I am almost certainly going to use the library.

https://www.hants.gov.uk/librariesandarchives/library/services/printing-documents


Yes, although it would be convenient to have one here if I need it (some companies still demand print-sign-scan-email forms), the library is a nice stroll away and works out cheaper than buying ink and finding storage space.
Different matter if the library were a drive away of course.

 
dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46244
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sun May 28, 23 12:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

mal55 wrote:
I use an Epson Ecotank. Ink comes in bottles and cheap ones do nicely with no problems.
I tend to do a lot of printing, whole books in some cases and this machine makes it cheap enough to do.


bottle ink has lots of good points

 
dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46244
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sun May 28, 23 12:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

[quote="dpack:1516110"]
mal55 wrote:
I use an Epson Ecotank. Ink comes in bottles and cheap ones do nicely with no problems.
I tend to do a lot of printing, whole books in some cases and this machine makes it cheap enough to do.


bottle ink has lots of good points

epson seem to be making a range of reasonably priced machines for different needs

although we need text in bulk now and again, eating fat paper, sheet feed, affordable number of colours that get close to true colour, were my top parameters

my one is good enough for developing the image, if the image deserves it there are folk with very nice printing "presses" or it is a tool on surface version

 
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