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Author Topic: HP ink cartridge woes Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-23-2004 05:42 PM                        I have an HP 1220 inkjet printer. I have a brand-new ink cartridge (which has been on my shelf for about 8 months) in which the yellow won't work. I tried another new cart and it worked fine. Anyone have any tips for coaxing the yellow ink out of this bad cart? Or am I just screwed? I can't find the receipt, so returning it to the store is out of the question.  |  IP: Logged Ken Layton Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1452 From: Olympia, Wash. USA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 09-23-2004 05:52 PM                     Soak the end of the printhead of the cartridge in 99% rubbing alcohol for a few minutes. You only need a thimble full to do it. Then place the printhead part of the cartridge on a wet paper towel and gently squeeze the sides of the cartridge. That should get the ink flowing again.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 09-23-2004 06:12 PM                     This is just a little off topic. I also use a HP1220c printer (it's pretty good for printing large, tabloid size sketches). Recently one of the people in our office bought some recycled ink cartridges from Office Depot. The prices were quite a bit lower than the new HP cartridges. The price might have been nice, but the output SUCKS. The color is muted. There's lot of banding. Black line work bleeds. Overall it's just shit. Recycled ink cartidges might be fine for a cheapo printer in the kids' bedroom. But they are flat out useless for any kind of office work, especially when you need at least acceptably good print quality. The high price of inkjet ink cartridges really has us looking at color laser printers. Prices on a lot of those units have dropped quite dramatically. I saw a Konica-Minolta model for under $600; the unit even had a built in Ethernet to work as a network printer. Color laser printers commonly feature a decent amount of built-in RAM. This is another area where ink jet printers suck much ass. My HP 1220c can print a plain paper page fairly quick. But while it's printing, I can't do too much with my computer since it has to spool out the print job. It's like the PC suddenly got drunk or something. This would not be a problem if the printer had a decent amount of built-in RAM. As cheap as RAM and hard disc capacity has become, I believe all office environment printers (especially any used for graphics work) should have full Raster-Into-Postscript "RIP" functions. That means a good amount of RAM (64MB, 128MB or more) and a 20GB or larger hard disc for spooling up high rez jobs. This could be easily done while keeping the cost of a color laser or ink jet printer well below the $1000 price point.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 09-23-2004 06:59 PM                        That's well within my price range... but if the laser people market their equipment like HP does, I probably can't afford the toner cartridges!  |  IP: Logged Wayne Keyser Master Film Handler Posts: 272 From: Arlington, Virginia, USA Registered: May 2004 posted 09-23-2004 08:45 PM                     I have been extraordinarily happy with the "discount" cartridges from carrotink.com - the product is really quite good (used to be so-so but the printers accept them better, now, as well.)  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 09-24-2004 02:37 AM                        About a decade ago I had an HP inkjet (a Deskjet six hundred and something, if I remember correctly), which gave me no end of problems with the cartidges drying up. It was one of the worst buys I ever made. The big problem was with the black cartridges: if you didn't use them pretty much every day the printing would get streaky for the first half the page and then spray ink all over the place. After going away for a fortnight's holiday it really played silly buggers. I tried gently dabbing the head with a lens cleaning cloth soaked with IPA (isopropyl alcohol, not India pale ale!), which did practically nothing. I then thought 'sod this' and in frustration gave it a scrub with an IPA-impregnated toothbrush. It never printed anything again. I've never bought another HP inkjet since, and nor do I ever intend to.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 09-24-2004 03:21 AM                        Ignoring printer cost, I've never really been totally satisfied by any inkjet printer that uses disposable print heads (print head on the cartridge). The only ones I've used, or seen output from, that I've liked (and used in camera ready artwork) are the higher end Epson Stylus series of printers with built in (and expensive to replace) print heads. My Epson Stylus 850Ne could print the best counterfit, err nevermind.  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 09-24-2004 06:18 AM                     Generally speaking, the cheaper the printer, the more expensive the supplies. There are some very cheap laser printers available these days, I cannot believe that they can possibly be made for the price they are selling for. I'm sure that they're sold at a loss, and the profit is all made on the consumables.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 09-24-2004 09:40 AM                    I would enjoy having a color laser and the price is really making it tempting but my primary use for color (not that some other uses would not come up if I had one) is printing photos and lasers are still not up to what a good ink jet will do. I liked my Epson Photo Stylus 750 until it clogged. (I was using an aftermarket continuous feed ink system with dummy cartridges linked by tiny tubing to ink bottles.) And I love my new (earlier this year) Canon i860 (or was it 960?) on which I have not yet dared use anything but OEM ink. On the B&W side my HP Laserjet 6L has served me long and well and is now my oldest piece of in-service computer gear.  |  IP: Logged John Walsh Film God Posts: 2490 From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way Registered: Oct 1999 posted 09-26-2004 06:49 AM                     My understanding is that HP designed an 'orginal' type of ink cartridge, and patented it. This design is being used in many new printers, to prevent aftermarket companies from making knock-offs and taking some of HP's profits away.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-26-2004 08:48 AM                     quote: Steve Kraus lasers are still not up to what a good ink jet will do. Its obvious that you've never had any pictures printed on a really high end color laser printer such as at a photographic digital printing center or a simple place like Office Depot. The quality of those exceeds ink jet by so many miles as to make it not worth owning a "home type" color printer at all. Of course these are 40,000.00 plus color laser printers. For a buck I can get a full page color photo laser printed that'll put to shame any ink jet printed photo. The other benefits are that laser printed pictures are permanent and not subject to water damage and do not require special "Photo Paper" to make the prints on. For the cost of 50 sheets of good photo ink jet paper and ink for my H-P printer I can get almost 100 8X10 pictures printed at Office Max on a 40,000.00 color laser printer. I've given up for the most part on home color printers as its cheaper in the long run to have them printed by someone else. Home color ink jet printers are really a scam when you sit down and analyze the situation closely !! Of course there are those people that don't have access to these printers any where near where they live........ If you need larger prints form digital files then I suggest the Flex method that is supported by many fine photographic labs. Cibachrome like prints from digital photos are easy and inexpensive with this incredible printing process. http://www.xmission.com/~borge/DS_lambda.html Mark  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 09-26-2004 10:21 AM                    Well my comparison wasn't just against a home office-type machine but also with output given me by a friend who works in graphics at a large business. But I don't know what kind of machine they have. But I'm willing go concede that the best is probably better than I've seen. I think therefore that a comparison test is in order. Is there some particular color laser I should seek? Would Office Max / Copy Max (there is one closer) have this or should I seek out an Office Depot? I should also find something really hi rez to print. My love my Olympus camera but its almost 5 years old now and its 1600 x 1200 isn't high enough rez for a good comparison. So I'll find something snappy to print and try it on both the commercial color laser and my own inkjet. My ink spritzer is in fact the Canon i960.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-26-2004 11:26 AM                     I don't know what make-model they have out here but I can find out tommrrow as I plan on going there. Be sure to purchase some really good heavy white paper to have the lasers printed onto, I think I bought some heavy Kodak paper stock last time.... lots cheaper than photo paper!! Lasers cannot do glossy, so if you like glossy forget about the laser thingy all together. The laser will blow the ink jet away for rez but what you're really after is just a comparison of quality vs. cost from both types and rez doesn't matter a bit for this comparison. Pick a picture with alot of colors in it. Mark  |  IP: Logged Ron Yost Master Film Handler Posts: 344 From: Paso Robles, CA Registered: Aug 2003 posted 09-26-2004 12:15 PM                     Why not have real photo prints made? The Fuji Frontier and/or Noritsu printers used at one-hour places, WalMart, Costco, drugstores (and pro-labs, too), make wonderful prints and enlargements from digital files .. if they're given a good file to work with. The Kodak system found many places these days is nice to work with, too, for 'ordinary' family prints and such from digital files. Yes, I know, it all depends on who's running the machine and how well it's calibrated and maintained, but most places will work with you to get the best results possible from your files. If they don't want to, or you don't like the results, find another processor. They're 'all over' these days. Even WalMart makes excellent real photo-paper prints and very nice enlargements from digital files these days. Mine has two Fuji Frontier's. I use WalMart all the time for digital enlargements up to 8 x 10 from my Canon DigitalRebel. For larger prints there are several online photo printing places that produce gorgeous prints for relatively little money. Lots of competition keeps the prices reasonable. Color laser is kind of good, IMHO, but no where near as nice looking as what a real photo printer can do. I've never cared for the 'greasy' look of laser toner for photos. They are definitely getting better, but I don't think they're good enough yet. I haven't tried every laser out there , but I have used our local Staples and OfficeMax. One amateur shooter's opinion. I definitely agree it's not worth doing it yourself, and, believe me, I've spent plenty on printers and cart's in the past. Isn't worth it, as others have said, with all the higher-quality and lower-cost options available these days. Not even mentioning all the time involved. Ron Yost  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-26-2004 01:45 PM                     Ron, What format do those store printers have to see, JPG, TIFF, etc? Do they accept them just on CDR's, or on Zip disks and other formats? The reason I like Laser os because you can get a nice 8X10 for a buck and the color always has matched exactly what the original looks like on the first try. Ya can't do an 8X10 that looks as nice as they do for a buck anywhere else. A bit greasy looking... sort of...perhaps waxy looking.... but some matte spray tales care of that problem anyway. Seems that the world of shot on film photography is quickly drawing to a close...... Mark  |  IP: Logged

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