You are absolutely wonderful. Thank you for everything you do for DMS.
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10 4. I’m waiting for Metro Repro to get back on costs for potentially refurbishing them but I suspect that will be an equally dead end since they are an HP and Canon product distributor.
Your description of what happens to an HP Designjet, which is left to sit, is accurate. Once the ink has been allowed to dry in the lines and heads, you have a dead horse.
Luckily, the lines are cheap. Grainger or Amazon sell all grades of flexible tubing–cheap.
The ink pumps are actually in the ink cartridges, which do not dry and cake. They are driven electromechanically, which does not fail due to sitting, so they’re probably OK.
The heads cake, and simply will not work. But, it is possible to clean them, despite what HP says. Pour ethanol or iso-propyl alcohol about 2mm deep in a flat dish. Place the head, print element down in the dish overnight. When back in the Designjet, the machine does a health check during initialization. If the head passes, do a test print. If there are still bands missing, I’ve used a Water-Pic with a 50/50 solution of alcohol and water to revive some of these. Some just can’t be saved, but others can.
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I’m sure a dumb question, but is this rehab process you’ve described a possibility for the old Epson? It wasn’t working well before because of fluctuating conditions in the annex and has been in offsite for a while.
Honestly, I’ve never serviced an Epson. I’ve printed plenty, and done the color matching ICC profiles on them; but those high end Seiko machines are usually handled by factory trained techs. Just replacing a print head is only authorized by factory techs.
If you want me to take a look, I’m not afraid.
BTW, these large format Epsons are the top of the food chain in graphic arts. They are the industry standard for precision color matching. I can’t see why DMS needs a proofer of this caliber. No one is doing Giclee prints on canvas, or matching precision color work. Epsons are fabulous, but very expensive to maintain, and demanding of their owners.
The HPs do good quality work (as far as most people can see), are easy to maintain, and robust workhorses. If DMS wants a large format printer, a Designjet is better suited to our environment.
It was the model donated at the time and won by default. Art prints and canvas prints were certainly done but I doubt any of the membership was concerned about archival or giclee applications. They just wanted cool living room art. If you can come to the SIG meeting we would certainly love some expert feedback. I know at one point the plan was to sell them but now being offsite for so long it’s not even clear what they would be worth if anything. Mostly we want to stop spending money on storage or having the printer always be broken. I agree she was a finicky beast under the best of circumstances and getting something more robust or at least one with a service plan like the PolyPrinters is a good route. At the same time we gotta build the piggy bank back up before any major purchase since expansion is the priority.
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I signed up for your SIG meet on June 22.
Did you know that DMS also has an HP5500 Designjet out in the expansion garage? The donor disassembled it and brought it in pieces, most of them appear to be there. The thing that makes that HP special is that it’s a UV printer. It can print vinyl banners and signs, or car wraps that are weather proof. Putting it back together would certainly be challenging, it hasn’t been handled very well, but it might have some parts that we could use.
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I have a bead on another HP as well…but those are super early negotiations and cannot be counted on. I have no idea what we have in off site storage right now. I’ve been on medical leave for several months
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Does anybody know anything about this HP 5500 Designjet printer? Is available for parts, I could possibly use some parts to get these 2 printers up and running.
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It’s not listed on the wiki but only one large format printer is, and I know we had two and should still. @BarkingChicken or @Edenblue do you guys know the model of the extra wide one? I bet that’s the HP
I know nothing about the wide format printers.
@PearceDunlap is there a way for either of these gentlemen to get access to off site to take a peep at them?
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It’s unit 0015 for the printers but the key is currently not in the lockbox due to breaking off in the lock. I will try to get it swapped Monday.
Gate code and lockbox combo are posted at the RFID kiosk for storage
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After spending 1-1/2 days working on the HP Designjet T610, the 44 inch printer, it is now operational printing out a test plot. I still have to check out the computer interfaces and get the software from the HP website. Parts from the smaller unit were used for some repairs and the ink system has been entirely cleaned out.
This printer uses 6 ink cartridges, HP number 72 in the following colors; Grey, Photo Black, Matte Black, Yellow, Magenta, and Cyan. I see that on eBay you can get all 6 cartridges (re-fills) for around $85 from one supplier. Local computer supply stores sell each brand new HP brand cartridge for around $80 each.
I have several rolls of 44 inch wide paper that will go with it. You will need to immediately purchase a new set of 6 ink cartridges for the unit. The cartridges in this unit are almost empty after flushing the ink system.
At the SIG meeting you can discuss whether you want to accept this printer or not. By the time you have your meeting I should have the rest of the system checked out. Let me know the results of your meeting. This is a very nice and clean machine.
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Thanks Rich! I’ve been looking into it myself and it appears the maintenance on this one is much more manageable than the old Epson. Those ink prices are definitely better. I’ll add it to the agenda for the SIG. I bow before your repair skills.
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If it works with this system, I would highly recommend getting a set of empty refillable cartridges and fill them with cleaning solution, and also getting an external waste ink tank.
Edit: Found them…
Cartridges:
https://www.inkowl.com/wide-format/wide-format-refilling/hp/refillable-cartridge-pack-for-hp-designjet-t-series-72-cartridges/P5943/
Ink:
https://www.inkowl.com/wide-format/wide-format-refilling/hp/500ml-bulk-kit-for-hp-designjet-t-series-72-cartridges/P5945/
Cleaning Solution:
https://www.inkowl.com/inkjet/ink-refill-tools//120ml-of-print-head-cleaning-solution/P2286/
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I can’t find where an external tank was put in one, but I am able to find refillable cartridges being sold for it with mixed reviews. If we go that route we should budget for at least 2 if not 3. One for ink rotation and one for periodic cleaning. It has pretty low memory so we should also assume that we will need a dedicated PC, which honestly can be a value add and make lockouts of unauthorized users easier.
Nice work Rich!
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@Team_Logistics do any of the unused rooms in the expansion side have network connections? Or would @Team_Digital_Media let it live in old electronics for a little while since the CA move is delayed?
The small conf room right off of the new commons has 2 live jacks