Ugly Hedgehog - Photography Forum
Home Active Topics Newest Pictures Search Login Register
Printers and Color Printing Forum
Printer not in use for extended period-What Do You Do?
Apr 20, 2021 14:39:37   #
StevenG Loc: Long Island, NY
 
My Epson 3880 requires fairly frequent use to function properly and keep the ink flowing freely. What do you do when your printer will not be in use for several weeks?

Reply
Apr 20, 2021 15:20:55   #
big-guy Loc: Peterborough Ontario Canada
 
Well, I had the same problem but fixed it by using the QImage Ultimate program. As a print program it does wonders BUT it has a little tool that can be set up to do a scheduled test print using all colour shades every X days so the print heads remain clean. I have been using it on all my printers every 3 days for almost 3 years and have not had a problem other than watching for the roll to end. At $70 it is well worth it just for this tool itself. On my iPF 8400 each ink is running over $100 and the print heads are close to $500. I certainly can't afford to be replacing heads every few months and it cost me the loss of my previous iPF8100. It also has plug ins that work with LR and PS that replaces the print utilities in both programs. It will also auto adjust all your prints to use the least amount of paper just like a RIP program but no where near as expensive. It did take a bit to get the hang of it but there are so many YouTube videos out there to help. You will not be disappointed. No I don't work for the company, just a very satisfied customer.

Reply
Apr 20, 2021 16:02:35   #
StevenG Loc: Long Island, NY
 
big-guy wrote:
Well, I had the same problem but fixed it by using the QImage Ultimate program. As a print program it does wonders BUT it has a little tool that can be set up to do a scheduled test print using all colour shades every X days so the print heads remain clean. I have been using it on all my printers every 3 days for almost 3 years and have not had a problem other than watching for the roll to end. At $70 it is well worth it just for this tool itself. On my iPF 8400 each ink is running over $100 and the print heads are close to $500. I certainly can't afford to be replacing heads every few months and it cost me the loss of my previous iPF8100. It also has plug ins that work with LR and PS that replaces the print utilities in both programs. It will also auto adjust all your prints to use the least amount of paper just like a RIP program but no where near as expensive. It did take a bit to get the hang of it but there are so many YouTube videos out there to help. You will not be disappointed. No I don't work for the company, just a very satisfied customer.
Well, I had the same problem but fixed it by using... (show quote)


Thank you Peter. I’m not familiar with this program, but will definitely check it out.

Reply
 
 
Apr 21, 2021 08:55:01   #
dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida
 
At one time I had a free program that ran a print test at boot up. It was from one of the 3party ink companies. Does anyone know of the source?? So easy to forget to run the ink jet printer when for non photo color needs one uses the color-laser printer.

Reply
Apr 21, 2021 09:47:16   #
dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida
 
The old saying "Who Killed Cockrobin" where Cockrobin is your printer, must be changed to "how do we prevent killing [our printer] Cockrobin in the future." This requires a weekly print of a doc with color... this can be accomplished by going into the search at the bottom left of the windows bar and typing in "Task Scheduler".

I will work out the details and "hopefully" give a 1,2,3 series of simple steps... "hopefully" and will make this in the print section of UHH in the "hopefully" near future.

Mr. Neri Llosa, a Software Engineer is here to help us... "The weather is very dry in the South West. I have found that if I don't use my printer for a while, the ink cartridges become useless, and/or I get clogged/dried-out print heads which are a pain in the neck and render printing impossible when you most need it. The solution to this is to create an automatic windows task that wakes up once a week and prints a page (with colors if you have a color printer). This way your printer will be ready to print at any moment's notice. I haven't found much information on google about this, much of it misleading. Here is how I did it utilizing a simple Powershell script. "

The directions for this are given here:
https://www.nllosa.com/WeeklyPrint.html

Reply
Apr 21, 2021 10:33:36   #
StevenG Loc: Long Island, NY
 
dpullum wrote:
The old saying "Who Killed Cockrobin" where Cockrobin is your printer, must be changed to "how do we prevent killing [our printer] Cockrobin in the future." This requires a weekly print of a doc with color... this can be accomplished by going into the search at the bottom left of the windows bar and typing in "Task Scheduler".

I will work out the details and "hopefully" give a 1,2,3 series of simple steps... "hopefully" and will make this in the print section of UHH in the "hopefully" near future.

Mr. Neri Llosa, a Software Engineer is here to help us... "The weather is very dry in the South West. I have found that if I don't use my printer for a while, the ink cartridges become useless, and/or I get clogged/dried-out print heads which are a pain in the neck and render printing impossible when you most need it. The solution to this is to create an automatic windows task that wakes up once a week and prints a page (with colors if you have a color printer). This way your printer will be ready to print at any moment's notice. I haven't found much information on google about this, much of it misleading. Here is how I did it utilizing a simple Powershell script. "

The directions for this are given here:
https://www.nllosa.com/WeeklyPrint.html
The old saying "Who Killed Cockrobin" wh... (show quote)


Thanks. This looks great, but seems to be for Windows. I’m using a Mac.

Reply
Apr 22, 2021 08:29:42   #
dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida
 
StevenG wrote:
Thanks. This looks great, but seems to be for Windows. I’m using a Mac.


Take a look and have Mr. Google help you search... here is a start:
https://www.addictivetips.com/mac-os/how-to-schedule-tasks-on-macos/

Reply
 
 
Apr 22, 2021 09:34:35   #
StevenG Loc: Long Island, NY
 
dpullum wrote:
Take a look and have Mr. Google help you search... here is a start:
https://www.addictivetips.com/mac-os/how-to-schedule-tasks-on-macos/


Thanks! As I’m not particularly computer literate, it sounds complicated. (I just glanced at it). However, I will check it out further.

Reply
Nov 12, 2021 22:43:35   #
CTTonymm Loc: Connecticut
 
Another vote for Qimage - the best print manager software and the purge print scheduler to keep printer heads from drying/clogging is a key part of benefits. Qimageone for the mac.

Reply
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.
Printers and Color Printing Forum
UglyHedgehog.com - Forum
Copyright 2011-2024 Ugly Hedgehog, Inc.