Why do problems always happen when you're busy!

Hi everyone,

New to the forum. I think it's the law of the sods but why is it that things only ever seem to go wrong or you run into problems when you have a lot of work on and are working to tight timelines!?

We use an Epson B1100 for dye sub printing and have 125 mugs to make for a client for Monday morning and the yellow nozzles decided to never produce a full nozzle check today. Of course, yesterday it was fine! Have tried some head cleans, power off/on, leaving it for a few hours and it is still being stubborn. Any suggestions (other than throw it out the window!)?!?!

As well as any suggestions for the problem above does anyone know of any more 'industrial' type dye sub printers? I've gone through 3 or 4 Epson printers over the years as at the end of the day they are home printers, or office printers at best. Does anyone use anything a little more 'substantial' ?

Cheers,
Steve

I've got a SuperA3 Ricoh 7700 which has only ever moaned once in two years, which needed it's belt cleaning. I've got a B1100 with standard ink as well and that's been going solid for 3/4 years. :s
Maybe try printing a few pages of yellow and see if it clears up. If nothing comes out you've not wasted anything. Or swap out a cartridge and see if it's ink-level-reporting-chip-thing is nakered.

Thank Johnny, tried printing a load of yellow until it said it needed replacing, which usually works - but still hasn't! Have resorted (at the moment) to power off/mains out and leave it in the hands of the gods for a few hours, which in the past has worked! Who knows?!?
Will definitely look into the Ricohs as I like the idea of the GEL cartridges that don't clog.

The B1100's have four cartridges right?

From an error checking point of view (I'm not trying to make you look silly!):
Tab's off cartridge heads?
Shaken the cartridges?
Cartridges in the right slots?
Anything clogged in between the cartridge and the dock?
Any torn paper or clogs between the paper and bottom of the head?
Re-install your printer drivers / Try a different computer with the standard printer drivers?
Different USB cable cus of damage/age?
Different USB port?
Turn it upside down and rest it on it's head for half an hour, might help loosen a clogged up something somewhere!

I know half of these might not seen relevant but as a matter of elimination it might tighten up the possibilities.
J.

It's just a certain area of yellow not working - have taken out and shaken. Will turn upside down and see what happens. I have a spare B1100 just in case so if I cannot get it sorted later I will swap them over to get the job done! Many thanks :)

if you fancy a drive to Wisbech I am more than happy to print your artwork and then you can dye sub it ready for Monday. There are probably members here that are closer who might be able to do the same with less driving involved and am just trying to help you get out of the problem you are currently in.

PM me if you want mate.

Hi Socialgiraffe, many thanks I appreciate that! I will see how I get on a little later and whether the second printer works first though :)

No worries.

I am out this evening so will PM my email and mobile number. Text me if you need me to run something and when I get home (about 2am) I will run the sheets ready for the morning. If you want to come up this evening I will get my wife to drag herself away from BGT or The Voice or anything else that is crap and on TV tonight and she will print them :wink:

Hopefuly it will not come to that and your second printer will work, but the back up is there if you need it.

I used the B1100 for a while and came to the conclusion it just wasn't suited to sublimation, for me at least. The 1500W on the other hand has been superb. I recently got a Ricoh 7100 and this appears very good as well but you're paying a premium.

The idea that the gel-ink in the Ricoh printers does not clog is not true, although it was certainly an idea banded around at the time of their initial release. What stops the Ricoh printers from clogging is the automatic head cleans that they do.
If you're seriously considering something more substantial/industrial as a printer, then you're into wide format - take a look at Epson's Stylus Pro models, which start at 17 inch (a2) and go up to aroundt 1.5m wide! We haven't looked back since moving away from the home/office type printers to these, which were obviously made for commercial printing. The Ricohs are still in the home/office category.

Not sure that's entirely accurate pisquee. The Ricohs fire the ink out of the head with a greater force which helps to stop then from clogging. One of the biggest benefits to them is that they can be left switched off for quite some time, they don't head clean whilst they're switched off.

They look good! Do they work with a Bulk Ink System or cartridges?

The Stylus Pro models have refillable cart options (rather than bulk ink system with tubes) - but the refillable carts are around 250ml each (with 100ml ones, and 400ml available but not so common) there are also systems which your printer sucks ink directly from the litre bottles. Having wide format bulk inks will certainly give you the most economic option on ink pricing and give you more options of whose ink you want to use.
Also, they're not limited to only 4 colours, if you want the better colour quality this can give your prints.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by remlap3

They look good! Do they work with a Bulk Ink System or cartridges?

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Ricoh's work on cartridges - 75ml in the black and 68ml in the colours - 4 colour printing (SG7100 model). The Epson 7890 also works on cartridges which hold 350ml of ink per cartridge and are available in 8 colours. Closed cartridge systems are the way Sawgrass is focussing on now to better control the delivery of ink to the printer. If you go for either of these models then you also have the warranty of the printer also taken care of via your dealer/ Sawgrass. All supported Sawgrass approved printers have this warranty back up.

For wide format world, you are free to choose whether you want a closed cartridge system or refillable cartridges from Sawgrass or a number of other ink manufacturers.
Some other ink manufacturers also offer warranty options too

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pisquee

For wide format world, you are free to choose whether you want a closed cartridge system or refillable cartridges from Sawgrass or a number of other ink manufacturers.
Some other ink manufacturers also offer warranty options too

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True, but you need also to clarify that wide format is for a print width of 42" or wider. The A2 models are not wide format as you allude to in your previous post.

In terms of the original post of wanting a more robust/industrial printer, then the A2 models, as defined by Epson are the start of their wide format range, and in terms of build/print quality and reliability they are the same as their larger Stylus Pros. They share the same technology, print heads, and ink carts.

In terms of Sawgrass, and their point of view, they only view 42" and above printer carriage width as being wide format, although some Sawgrass dealers also seem to see the 24" models as wide format, and allow them to also be supplied with their wide format Sublim ink.

The Sawgrass patent itself makes no reference to printer carriage width, and the idea of 42" width (and above) printers having ink made by other manufactures which is 'licensed' by Sawgrass came about after a legal battle between Sawgrass and BASF in 2003, which was settled out of court, this 42" thing coming as part of that settlement.

I really think you're sending the OP way of on a tangent here. From the original post Steve is indicating that the B1100 whilst sufficient for his needs but he needs something more robust and reliable. There are many factors that would need taking into account if going down the large format route, initial purchase price and possible ongoing maintenance for example.

I feel that the thread is better served by offering good advice on small format printers which would suit the needs of 99% of members quite sufficiently.

I don't know the OP's level of experience but feel that we can offer him better advice here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by remlap3

As well as any suggestions for the problem above does anyone know of any more 'industrial' type dye sub printers? I've gone through 3 or 4 Epson printers over the years as at the end of the day they are home printers, or office printers at best. Does anyone use anything a little more 'substantial' ?

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OP stated he wanted something "more 'industrial'" and 'substantial' than "home printers, or office printers at best"

This rules out the Ricohs, are they are also printers aimed at the home/office markets. If he wants an "industrial" level printer, which is "more substatial" than his current A4, then he is seeming to want something from Epson's Stylus Pro range,which when starting with the A2 models, are not "large" format in terms of footprint.

Maybe we can ask Steve to come back in here, let us know what he is looking at achieving, what his budget is and does he have a need for wide format?

Quote:

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OP stated he wanted something "more 'industrial'" and 'substantial' than "home printers, or office printers at best"

This rules out the Ricohs, are they are also printers aimed at the home/office markets. If he wants an "industrial" level printer, which is "more substatial" than his current A4, then he is seeming to want something from Epson's Stylus Pro range,which when starting with the A2 models, are not "large" format in terms of footprint.

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Sorry Pisquee, but this is total rubbish. It does not rule out the Ricoh's at all. My 7000 is one of the originals back from 2007 and I have never had a problem with it and do not expect to. It does not cycle through cleaning and subsequently waste ink as you suggest and is one of the best sublimation printers on the market. Likewise I have a back up 3300 which until an hour ago was covered in a layer of dust. As a test I plugged it in and printed a sample out. Perfect print as I expected. The comments about wide format are valid, but they do not suit everyone and you do not take into consideration things like maintenance and footprint cost (the A2 Epson is considerably bigger than the A3 Ricoh). Plus if the guy is looking for an A4 does he really need a wide format and the associated hassle of having to cut everything down before sublimating?

When remlap is asking for industrial or substantial you and everyone else knows what he is asking for is a printer that is reliable which the Ricoh's are and not one person can deny that. You only have to ask Martin or any other trusted supplier of Ricohs to find out how many are returned versus how many are sold.

Getting back on topic, Remlap, get yourself one of the Ricoh A4s and you will never look back. Purchase from a reputable dye sub supplier and you will be a happy man.

Epson Stylus Pro about £1000.00 including VAT plus ink
Ricoh SG3110 (with full set of inks) £312.00

Yes, ink is considerably cheaper on the wide formats, but then the time it takes to do one print and trim it and presuming you do not mind wasting more paper probably means that it is not that much cheaper.

P.S. I have owned Epson wide formats in the past and while it was an excellent machine it did come with its own set of problems and the maintenance subscription was not cheap.

Ricoh themselves market these printers as "office printers"
http://www.ricoh.co.uk/products/printers/

substantial means "large in size" so, if OP wants something "more substantial" than A4, then this combined with him wanting something more "industrial" led me to a more professional line of printers like the Stylus Pros.

If the OP doesn't actually want something 'more substantial" "industrial" or is actually happy to stick with printers aimed at office printing, then fine, recommend him something along the lines of another Epson or Ricoh small office printer, but I was taking him at his literal words.

I admit large format is not for everyone, but I do think everyone deserves to at least know that it is an option.

You're not giving the OP chance to come back in here, because a printer is described as 'office' doesn't mean it isn't substantial, industrial or even reliable. You need to let Steve tell us what he's looking for.

Hi all, thanks for all your comments - hopefully I haven't started something here!
I need a printer that is at least A3 - I have a Ricoh A4 printer for Chromablast, which I have used once so cannot give an opinion on it. I finally managed to get my second B1100 working to fulfil the order, I assume the print head need replacing in the problematic one.
Will look into both options described and see how I get on.
Cheers,
Steve