Waste Printer Ink Now Or Waste Ink Later

[Jerry1]

My next task is to find some type of automation to automatically print the purge page on a schedule to not have to manually do the print. But no luck finding a good solution yet.

What does the printer do when it turns on? It may do a basic clean by spraying a little ink just to prime the heads. I have no idea, but if it does spay a little ink at startup, then you can probably just have a timer to turn it off and on.

 

[ERD50]

How easy is to swap tanks on these? When I had an inkjet, with the standard small carts, I took an old one, drilled a hole in it, and filled it with Rubbing Alcohol to run the deep clean cycles, so I wouldn't waste ink.

Can that be done with these tank units?

FWIW, I switched to a monochrome Brother (HL-2270DW) many years ago. If I need color, or super-hi quality, I just get that done at a local printer. I used to use Costco, but I haven't had the need for years, so not sure where I'd take them now, but I assume there are plenty of options (Walgreens? Staples? etc)

-ERD50

 

[wolf]

Had same problem when I used HP cartridges. Solution. HP color laser printer.
Never had "clog" issue again.

Heard on internet. Bad things about current HP printers. Something about
having to "subscribe" to ink, in order to get printer to work.

Anyways, heard Brother's laser a good alternative, and cheaper.

Just my 2 cents. Do your own research.

 

[easysurfer]

We have not seen that size of drop. Even after running cleanings. Confused.

I didn't use a ruler and measure. Wish I did so I could give a more precise amount. Definitely a noticeable drop.

 

[easysurfer]

What does the printer do when it turns on? It may do a basic clean by spraying a little ink just to prime the heads. I have no idea, but if it does spay a little ink at startup, then you can probably just have a timer to turn it off and on.

Haven't come across any documentation about such activity to prime the heads. I read in an Amazon review of Brother larger ink cartridges doing something like what you described. But then on another review I read of owners still complaining about ink clogging. So, don't know what to believe.

 

[gauss]

I have dumped the ink jet printers a long time ago for laser printers. Also did this for my MIL and DW's uncle. Was way less of a hassel to buy an off lease commercial laser printer than to have to service ink jet printers.

The hassle factor alone made it an easy call for me, but when you take into the price of the consumables, (ie ink vs toner cartridges) then this improves the business case even more.

I think I paid less than $200 for my HP Laserjet 4000's and maybe $300-$400 for the HP Color Laserjet 3050DNs.



-gauss

 

[ncbill]

We don't print photos at home (thank you Shutterfly!) so for ~15 years the main printer has been a black & white Brother laser multifunction.

Which is old enough to use 3rd party toner cartridges (no chip needed)

Picked up a color laser cheaply for the spouse's work but haven't used that in years.

 

[easysurfer]

Update: I found a Windows program that using a CMD command to print out PDF files from a folder. The program paired with Windows Task Scheduler and now I rigged up computer to automatically print a Printer Purge Sheet PDF stored in the needed folder.

Initially, I scheduled the print to happen automatically on Sundays at 2:10 am (when my computer is already running nightly backups). Will see like in about a month from now if once a week is enough. If not, I'll bump up the dosage to autoprint more often until I get the frequency right.

Hopefully, with this approach, no more Epson Ecotank clogs. To be continued ...

 

[Jerry1]

Update: I found a Windows program that using a CMD command to print out PDF files from a folder. The program paired with Windows Task Scheduler and now I rigged up computer to automatically print a Printer Purge Sheet PDF stored in the needed folder.

Initially, I scheduled the print to happen automatically on Sundays at 2:10 am (when my computer is already running nightly backups). Will see like in about a month from now if once a week is enough. If not, I'll bump up the dosage to autoprint more often until I get the frequency right.

Hopefully, with this approach, no more Epson Ecotank clogs. To be continued ...

Good find! Good luck.

 

[easysurfer]

Good find! Good luck.

I've tested the scheduling and printing. That works fine. First time I ever tried scheduling my own tasks with Windows Task Scheduler.

Now just a matter of finding the sweet spot frequency to print to avoid a clog.

 

[Texas Proud]

And what pray tell is that app?


I might have to look to see what scheduler is also

 

[easysurfer]

And what pray tell is that app?


I might have to look to see what scheduler is also

Sure. The program is called 2Printer. There is a paid version and a freebie version. Paid is $149 (too much for my blood). Free is free with a minor catch. Minor catch is after each print, a nag reminder page is printed out. Worth the trade off, I think as I'm only printing out the Purge sheet and the nag page once a week (thus far, as long as I don't have to print more often).

The software's website gives a good example of how to set up with task scheduler.

https://www.print-conductor.com/how-to/scheduled-printing

note: 2Printer is the program you want. Not sure why the page talks about print-conductor as I think that's a different paid program.

 

[dixonge]

this is why my next printer is going to be a color laserjet...

 

[easysurfer]

I set a reminder alarm on my computer to perform a nozzle check on my Epson Ecotank on 11/13 to see how well this automated printing to keep nozzles unclogged thing is working .

In meantime, I'll try to use the printer as I normally do to not skew the test.

 

[easysurfer]

Update --

Two weeks into my new "keep the ink flowing" process, the black ink ran into a clog and I had to run a nozzle clean to remove. I went ahead and looked at how much ink was used up to clean and the clean cycle used up about 3mm (give or take) of the ink level. The ink levels were almost full before running the one clean cycle.

I'm going to update my auto print schedule now to auto print twice a week to see if that works to prevent future clogs.

 

[easysurfer]

I've upped the auto print schedule now to 3 times a week. Hopefully 3 is the charm.

 

[audreyh1]

Wow, seems like you are having a lot of trouble. More than expected IMO.

 

[easysurfer]

Wow, seems like you are having a lot of trouble. More than expected IMO.

To clarify, the 3 auto prints isn't 3 clean cycles, but just printing a couple of pages to keep the ink from drying.

I've been auto printing once a week, this worked for 2 weeks but then the black ink got a clog. I then went auto printing twice a week but even before the 2nd print could already see a drying out pattern on black and and one of the colors.

So, now I'm up to 3 times a week.

I figure, even if I end up auto printing a couple sheets a day just to keep ink from clogging, that'll still use less ink than a clean cycle.

 

[CaptTom]

Going on 3-1/2 years old with my Epson. I don't think I've ever done a "clean." I rarely print anything. I use it more for scanning. And when I do print, it's often black and white.

I just ran a "print head nozzle check" page. Looks perfect.

I suppose everyone's home environment is different, but daily or thrice-weekly printing doesn't seem right. I haven't looked, but I wonder if there's some sort of head "parking" location which might not have a good seal, or might have gunk built up on it. The guys who supported printers at work used to know what areas on each needed a regular cleaning with alcohol or acetone or whatever magic potion they used. Nowadays there are probably YouTube videos on how to clean each model.

 

[easysurfer]

I'm sure there are some variables involved too like environment and how old is the printer and ink along with frequency of printing. When my printer was new, I only printed the nozzle check page about once a month (along with any regular printing I did). Didn't have an issue for about 6 months. Then the clogs started.

I guess kind of like same car off assembly line. For one owner has no issue. For another more.

 

[easysurfer]

Two exhibits. Easier to illustrate than describe.

I've been printing out a purge sheet to try and keep the ink flowing to avoid clogs.

Exhibit A (left) shows black clogged only after two week (after I ran a clean cycle, then did auto print weekly).

Exhibit B (right) shows black already not solid pattern (after only two auto prints). So I now bump up to 3 auto prints a week. Nozzle check after exhibit B still shows nozzle as clean. But I'm aiming for a more solid black bar.

 

[Jerry1]

Isn’t there some type of super clean that can be done? I keep thinking it would be nice to run some actual solvent through the print heads instead of using the ink.

 

[easysurfer]

Isn’t there some type of super clean that can be done? I keep thinking it would be nice to run some actual solvent through the print heads instead of using the ink.

There are cleaning kits sold online but how effective is up for debate. Plus, isn't a simple process. Cost wise, might even be cheaper just to run the clean cycles and waste the ink.

Here's a video of how involved the cleaning with solution looks:

Of course, I'm hoping that keeping the ink flowing by printing out purge pages is the most economical and less headache.

 

[Jerry1]

Yeah, that doesn’t look like fun. Another one of those things where you can’t pay someone to do that for less than the cost of a new machine.

 

[easysurfer]

I waved the surrender flag and am not printing my purge sheets once a day.

When I was printing 3 times a week, a nozzle for one of the color ink was already clogging. So another clean cycle to clear and now the everyday print to see if that does the trick.

I'll wait a month from now to run a nozzle check to see how things are coming along.