Printer issues?

Hey there.
I’ve also got a Brother printer/scanner, specifically the DCP-585 CW model.
It recently gave up on me, which is frustrating because I barely even use it—it was basically kept turned off most of the time, and now apparently the "print head" isn't working anymore.
So, here’s what I’m wondering... I've heard that you actually need to keep these printers plugged in all the time just so they can run their self-cleaning cycles and stuff.
Does anyone know if I actually need to physically print a page every so often, or is it enough to just leave the thing powered on so it stays ready, even if I don't end up printing anything for a year or two?😁
I know it might sound like a silly question, but I'm getting mixed signals. Some people swear you have to print at least one page every single week to keep the ink from drying up, while others say that’s total nonsense and you don't need to bother.

Emily Ramos35 said:Hey there.
I’ve got a Brother printer/scanner, the DCP-585 CW model.
It died on me, even though I barely use it. Apparently, the "print head" isn't working anymore, and I usually kept it powered off anyway.
Here's what I'm wondering... I heard this thing needs to stay plugged in all the time just to run its cleaning cycles and stuff.
Do I actually need to print something regularly, or can I just leave it plugged in and not touch it for a year or two?😁
I know it sounds like a silly question, but I've heard conflicting things—some people say you have to print at least one page every week so the ink doesn't dry up, while others say that's total nonsense.

Honestly, it all comes down to the ink formula and how much is left in the cartridge.

When gear sits idle, two things happen. First, just like when you open a jar of preserves, once air hits the ink, it starts to go bad. Second, if there are enough preservatives in that "mix," the liquid can eventually evaporate.

Try running a little experiment with a jar of fruit preserves and an inkjet cartridge, then see what that preserves looks like after six months.

So, if you aren't planning on using an inkjet with an integrated print head for a while, you really should either fill it up with fresh, 100% full ink or flush out the whole system with some print head cleaning solution.

Your third option is to track down a high-quality ink that's known to sit in your specific printer for 6 to 12 months without issues.

For a real-world example of how this works, check out our >Newsletter 2011 6

adriatix.hr >> news 5

Thanks for such a detailed breakdown.🙂
I’m going to try to dig a little deeper into the ink specs themselves, though I have a feeling the specific printer model plays a massive role in all of this.

Emily Ramos35 said:Thanks for the detailed breakdown.🙂
I’ll try to dig deeper into the ink itself, though I feel like the printer model plays a huge part too.

Just remember, there are no guarantees. It all comes down to the ink formula.

Right now, we've got a Brother j 135 in the shop for a "survival test." It came in looking like its nozzles were basically in a coma. It had three OEM cartridges inside, all pretty much bone dry. One slot was totally empty—who knows how long it sat abandoned like that. After about 3 or 4 hours of work, we actually managed to get it back to 100% functionality. If you think about what the repair bill would have been for the end user, it's no wonder they just tossed it. But today? It's perfect. And based on the serial number, it's not even that old.

We ran a nozzle check yesterday and it still looks flawless. This thing has been sitting on our shelf since September. Every time we get a new shipment of ink for a specific series, we run this exact kind of test on the batch. If we find that the nozzles clog up after sitting for a while, that ink doesn't meet our standards, and we don't order it again. Even if it works fine during daily use, we won't touch it. So, when you're buying ink or cartridges elsewhere, definitely make sure you check what kind of quality control procedures your supplier actually follows.

A low price tag or a fancy label doesn't always mean you're finding the best way to save money.

Here’s the deal—I need a printer for maybe twenty pages a week. A couple of those will be photos or illustrations, but everything else is just straight black text.
I don't care if the photo quality is amazing; I just need something reliable that won't die on me, and most importantly, the cost per page needs to be dirt cheap when using third-party ink. It's gotta have scan/copy functions, but honestly, I don't give a damn about WiFi.

Don't ask me about refilling cartridges—I'm not getting into the weeds with you, just know I want low running costs using generic ink.

Budget for the hardware is around $233. I might stretch to eight hundred if the long-term savings make sense, or even $0.33.

I checked out these models (they're at my local shop, but I'll hop in the car and hunt around more):
EPSON SX235W 449 KN HP B209A 599 KN P. $150
HP B209A $200

P.

hollowhound4 said:I checked out these printers—they've got them at the local shop, but I'll probably just hop in the car and hunt for more options:
Epson SX235W $150
hp B209A $200

P.

Also—the clerk is pushing the HP B209A hard on me. Claims HP is generally more reliable than Epson, but I'm seeing a ton of nasty reviews about this one, like right here: http://tinyurl.com/87hqx44

How much can you actually trust these online reviews...?

I’m looking to pick up a new printer by $117. I'm torn between grabbing an all-in-one inkjet or just sticking with a black-and-white laser. I don't actually print that much—maybe around 50 pages a month—though I might occasionally need to print something in color. I know that makes a laser less than ideal, but I only mentioned it because those cheap laser printers look so tempting. 😁

EPSON AcuLaser M1400 $166 - laser
EPSON SX130 $100 - all-in-one
HP DeskJet 1050A $108 - all-in-one

Or if you guys have any better suggestions, I'm all ears. My main priority is being able to find affordable third-party ink easily.

Also, I was wondering how the ink setup works on the Epson SX130. From what I can see, it uses separate cartridges for black, cyan, magenta, and yellow. If one of those colors runs out, does the whole thing stop working, even for basic black-and-white printing?

Arthur Thomas said:I'm looking for a new printer by $117. I'm torn between an all-in-one or just a black-and-white laser. I don't print a ton—maybe 50 pages a month. I might occasionally need color, so maybe a laser isn't the move, though I mentioned it because those things can be so cheap. 😁).

EPSON AcuLaser M1400 499 $166 - laser
EPSON SX130 299 $100 - all-in-one
HP DeskJet 1050 $108 - all-in-one

Or if you guys have a better suggestion. Having easy access to cheap third-party ink is pretty important to me.

Also, how does the ink situation work on the Epson SX130? It looks like it uses separate black, cyan, magenta, and yellow. If one color runs out, will it stop printing black and white too?

It won't print unless you swap in some
Colibri refillable T1281 cartridges for the SX 130.

So, I've got this EPSON sx115 and it’s started acting up on me a little bit 😠

Basically, every 14th line I print has this weird blank strip running right through the middle of the text. Anyone have a clue what the deal is?

darkmarlin16 said:My EPSON sx115 is starting to act up on me. 😠

Basically, every 14th line has this blank white strip running right through the middle of the text. Any idea what's going on?

Probably just some clogged nozzles.

I've got a headache with my Canon i250 printer.
It keeps blinking orange about 5 or 6 times, then flashes green for maybe two seconds before going right back to that orange blinking loop. It just won't stop. I swapped out the ink, and according to the computer, both the black and color levels are totally full. Still can't get past this stupid error.

Operator error.
Press the printer's RESUME button.
If this doesn't clear the error, cancel printing and turn the printer off and then back on.

One or more ink tanks might have been replaced when the printer's front cover was opened.
If you have replaced them with new ones, reset the ink counter on the Maintenance tab of the printer driver.

Tried resetting it and basically everything else under the sun, but nothing's working.
Anybody know what's actually going on here? Help me out.

Can anyone recommend an A3 printer that handles canvas printing?

hollowcyclist16 said:Can anyone suggest a good printer for printing on canvas, specifically A3 size?

check out

adriatix.hr >> News>> newsletter 5

If you have any other questions, just hit me up here.

My Canon pixma MP 610 isn't pulling enough black ink. What could be causing this?

Sam Wood94 said:My Canon pixma MP 610 isn't pulling enough black ink, any idea why?

If you've got it set to Photo paper, it won't use the heavy black because that's pigmented ink, which actually sucks for photos and CDs.

Makes sense, right?

Fine. I haven't checked that specific setting yet, but I'll give it a shot. Everything has been working perfectly fine until now; for instance, if I hit the black-and-white button for a copy, it prints exactly what was scanned without any issues. I dropped it off today at a friend's IT firm, so he’s going to take a look tomorrow and see what he can figure out.

Sam Wood94 said:Fair enough. I haven't checked that specific setting yet, but I'll give it a shot. It’s just weird because everything else worked fine—like, if I hit black and white on the copy function, it prints exactly what I scanned. I actually dropped it off at a buddy's place today; he runs an IT firm, so he's gonna take a look tomorrow and see what he can figure out.

Looks like you either fried the B&W print head section or the nozzles are totally clogged.

I’m on the hunt for a solid printer/scanner combo for under $117. My main priority is keeping those replacement ink costs from breaking the bank. Does anyone have any good recommendations?

frozengardener98 said:I need a printer/scanner combo for under $117 where the ink replacements won't break the bank. Anyone got recommendations?

If you aren't printing a ton,

HP Deskjet 3050 + refill service
It works great and it's super fast, but like people say, they don't last long because there aren't many cheap third-party cartridges available.

Epson SY 435 + Colibri, plus you can just refill the ink yourself
The upfront cost is definitely higher, but the cost per page is way, way lower.

Thanks for getting back to me. What’s your take on this HP DeskJet 2515 printer model?