A3 Inkjet Recommendations

[plexer]

Need to buy an A3 inkjet for the art department and at the moment the favourite is an HP 2800DTN at £550.

We've had some epson 1160's in the past and I've had enormous problems with the ink drying and clogging up the head rendering the thing useless which happens more with the summer break.

Any other suggestions? Would prefer one with an internal nic as the external boxes are just another complication to add to the mix.

Thanks,

Ben

[Ric_]

I've bought 2 HP OfficeJet K850n A3 inkjets for the tech and art departments. These are significantly cheaper and do the job admirably. They als use the #10/#11 consumables

[plexer]

Thanks for that Ric I've just looked at that printer and does seem just as suitable as the 2800.

I'm looking at the DN version as well.

I've just started using the binkini system from datacable for my business inkjets which is a compatible hp 10 and 11 ink replacement and so far no complaints about the quality of anything else.

Ben

[pinemarten]

funny you should say that , Ric, I've just done exactly the same thing

[_Bat_]

Talking of Epson printers...

I had the same trouble (the heads getting blocked), in my case, it had been left idle for eight months but i'm pretty sure that drops of window cleaner (it's all i could find that looked suitable) on the heads and the cleaning sponges unblocked it. I think it has worked, but need to test it properly yet.

[plexer]

I've soaked mine in cleaning fluid and still no joy.

You can replace them but you have to dismantle the printer to do it.

Ben

[contink]

On the printer front a few suggestions to save you some grief or dig you out of it.

1. Print regularly and often.. It saves you a lot of ink if you just get the printer to print something involving all the colours and jets every few days compared to letting the thing sit idle and need to run cleaning cycles because it's clogged regularly.

2. You can use a scheduling utility to setup regular printouts over the summer holidays to achieve the affect of 1.
ref: Autoprint utility

I've used that to great affect a the primary school for all their printers but it does require a machine to be hooked up and on during the whole summer, plus of course the printers to be on and have paper in.

Works though.


3. For clearing up printer heads send an email to e-printerhelp(at)mvps(dot)org (obviously work out the email)

... he can email you a cleaning manual on how to go about cleaning up your printer(s) without having to remove the printhead.



Last tip... You might want to avoid the new crop of Canon printers (A3 or otherwise) as the new chip technology is proving to be incredibly expensive. I've had success with these using CIS systems (but then that's what I do) but the jury is still out on whether the printer will lock up at some point..


Hope that little lot helps... Oh and some good references for printer discussion.. Google for stevesforums, nifty-stuff and continuousink.info..

[ChrisH]

I have two 2800 DTNs and they are ok for the most part. The most annoying thing is the A3 try extends to accept the A3 paper and people assume the paper tray is hanging out and promptly push it back in again, jamming a stack of A3 paper into the printer . I have glued the paper tray now so its stuck on the larger size.
Which reminds me one of them has stopped picking up A3 paper now which is something I must investigate. There is another HP (K850 I think) that we have as well which does A3 duplex at £300 ish but is a little more cheap and cheerful and no LCD display.

[john]

I used to use the 1220Cs when they were made, but going to be looking for a replacement for it, Rics sounds a good one as it uses 10 & 11's so thats good as I already stock them/