HP printers :: any recommendations

[websnail]

Ok... I now seem to have hit a small snag in that I don't know enough about the K550 to be able to tell how easy or hard a CIS should be..

Fenrir.. don't suppose you've ripped one of the old carts to shreds have you or have you simply not had a K550 already?

 

[panos]

I'd like to ask anyone who has a K550 to do the following test:

Feed the printer with as much paper as possible then print a 200 empty page document.

Remove the remaining paper and then feed the 200 empty pages and print the document again.

1) Was there any empty page left on the tray?

2) Did the printer display an empty tray error?

If any of these messages occur it means that HP's feeding system still misfeeds as did ALL my past HP printers, including the expensive predecessor of K550 -- the HP 2000C.

I have printed tens of thousands of manual duplex books on my Canon and I never had a misfeed.

 

[websnail]

I'd like to ask anyone who has a K550 to do the following test:

Feed the printer with as much paper as possible then print a 200 empty page document.

Ran that test for you with fanned paper and managed to drop the stack on the floor so a few pages were a little dog-eared as a result.. Already seen at least one misfeed since then and that was down to the paper being slightly creased. All in all though it does look a lot like there are misfeed issues with this printer but speaking plainly, the fact that it happens only occassionally and I'm not planning on using this model for duplex work (Canon much better and auto anyway at no extra cost) I figure it's something I can live with.

 

[websnail]

Gotta love HP and their support..

I got another K550 off eBay, mainly because it had the duplexer and double paper tray I wanted to test out and also because it contained spare printheads, and was the network version too.. Why not said I... ... "Who oh why?!!" said my other half.. but that's another story.

Anyway, long story short it was clogged in the printhead so I figured I'd do a little printhead cleaning and got so far before the printhead basically decided enough was enough and refuses to print.. I suspect there's air in the printhead nozzles but I opted to swap in a printhead from my other K550 so I could play.

Anyway, the thing decided to start playing silly buggers claiming that the printhead path was blocked.. Quick and then a thorough check revealed that there wasn't anything in the path at all so I started casting around for other possible explanations. Eventually I managed to get it working long enough so that it would report it's status via the configuration printout these printers will do.

Firmware error it says... So I figure ok.. grab the latest firmware and then see if that flashes successfully. It did.. or so it appeared to tell me on the screen. But when the thing went through its power cycle routine I realized we still had a problem.. Figured out that pressing the cancel button would clear the error enough that I could print another configuration status page and yep.. still got a firmware error.


Now at this point I thought, ok.. HP support. and in fairness these guys were pretty fast responding.. but I had to laugh when I realized it was canned response time.

I got 2 canned responses.. the first telling me to update my firmware.. erm.. did you not read my support request?.. and the second was telling me it was a paper jam.. erm.. Do you have head inserted up your backside?.. Finally they came back with the usual "Call tech support" and let me tell you these guys are taking the p*ss... out of warranty you're looking at 60p a minute which is 1p per second.. Put me on hold and I'll scream.. Anyway, haven't called them but I have to say I don't think it's going to be worth the hassle/cost unless they have a very quick way to fix this.

Ho hum..

 

[Inkaholic]

This is a great thread on the HP K550 CISS. It looks like there seems to be one main supplier for this system out of Hong Kong with the auto reset chips. These chips reset by turning off your printer for 30 seconds and then back on.

The CISS installed works like a charm on my K550. I have had no paper feed issues or printer issues mentioned in this thread or other threads on the net. I am not sure if this is pure luck or if the few with issues are just louder than the other 90% of the K550 units on the market that work just fine. I do always buy new, even on eBay, for the one year HP warranty.

I see only a few downsides to this unit:

1. Photo prints leave very, very light "black bars" thoughout the print from the rollers. I do not think this machine was ever intended for photo quality prints, even though it does have a 4800x2400 output option.
2. The CISS itself has a 110 ml black tank. After counting the ink in the printhead, #88 black tank, and the hosing lines, the actual capacity is around 120-140 mls of black. This should be doubled by the factory in Hong Kong on this line of CISS for OfficeJet networked capabilities.
3. The original hosing was WAY too long. I had to spend a few hours modifying the length of the lines and reconnecting. The original instructions were in broken English, and I had to use my secret decoder ring to figure out how to install this puppy.

I plan on commercially leasing these machines with CISS in replacement of laser printers. It is my belief that the sentence "The HP K550 is a color inkjet printer that thinks it's a laser" is right on. This printer may be even a little better than any laser under $500 and comparable to units that are more expensive. They are smaller, faster, full color, ethernet capable, and 500+ paper capacity with the additional tray.

The new line of printers on the market that takes the HP #88 tanks is the L7580, L7680, and L7780. These tanks seem ideal for CISS needs considering the heads are sparated and the tanks do not move. The Rolls Royce of the three models is $500 new, which is very pricey. However, the machine has everything you could possibly want in a printer: http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=303455 If I can ever snag one on eBay for around $200, I will test it and do a review.

Here are a few pics of the unit:

You can see that I attached the CISS to the side of the printer. The CISS could go on the back of the machine, but the K550 I purchased came with a duplexer and also an additional 350 paper tray. I also used an extra set of velcro to stick the unit to the printer. The repercussions of this unit falling off the printer would be severe, so I even used alcohol to wipe down the side of the printer and the CISS unit before attaching.

The hosing is held very professionally against the side of the printer with clips included in the package I purchased. There is no pressure against the lines. I do wish the black tank on the CISS was a double wide capacity, but BLAH.

As for the tanks themselves, the auto reset chips work great. All you have to do is turn off the machine for 30 seconds and then turn it back on. Regardless of the amount of ink left in the CISS, the chips read full on the ink meter.

The original set of instructions ask for you to remove the plastic covering over the ink tanks. Instead, I used a rotary tool to gouge out plastic where the ink lines extend outwards toward the external tanks. I then stuck a piece of Q-Tip into the sensor so that the machine thinks the lid is shut (required in order to print). I can now close my lid 90% of the way and gives the CISS a very professional look.

There was mild cyan leakage for me which was not a factory defect. I removed the air plug on the cyan tank because the CISS instructions were vague. I wondered if this was the ventilation and needed to be removed. It was not and caused a tad of leakage from pressure in the line when I put the cyan plug back in. I do not believe it will continue to leak but am still testing it.

Please let me know if you notice anything wrong with this installation. Are my tanks too high? I tried to make the hosing lines level with the insertion holes on the #88 tanks.

 

[fish]

Are these the same tanks (88) that the new Officejet Pro L7580 uses?

 

[Inkaholic]

Yes, same tanks.

 

[fish]

Then this answers websnail's initial question regarding separate printhead HP printers - the new Officejet L series use the 88 tanks. I am considering it as a replacement for a HP 7210 (or a Canon MP830).

 

[Inkaholic]

If you are in no hurry, Office Max or Office Depot usually have large rebates on their new models every month or so.

 

[websnail]

Then this answers websnail's initial question regarding separate printhead HP printers - the new Officejet L series use the 88 tanks. I am considering it as a replacement for a HP 7210 (or a Canon MP830).

It certainly does but ironically I didn't check the forum before getting an L7780 unit for a school.. We've not kitted it out yet but that's on the cards soon as my new ink arrives.

I should note that I've discovered a few "interesting" quirks when it comes to the K550 so if anyone else has spotted this I'm all ears.

1. You can easily put a 500ml black along with 3x 250 colour reservoirs on a set of these cartridges to expand the capacity considerably past the 110ml cap' on the ebay kits.

2. Resetting with some chips is not overly reliable.. I seem to have gotten two different sets of chips with my cartridges (I got 8+ sets).. Some will reset whenever you turn on/off.. Others refuse to reset until the chip has registered a null ink level which is a pain.

3. The pigment black ink is something of a pig and whilst I've yet to test with another brand (I'm using Image Specialists at present) it seems that the cartridges from Hong Kong can cause some problems due to poor priming/filling.. From what I can tell the issue seems to be air bubbles getting into the printhead... So far the solution I've had some success with is to use a blunt very thin bore needle and syringe to draw ink through the outlet that the printhead plugs directly into. This works in much the same way as drawing ink through the bottom port of an Epson cartridge. Doesn't ALWAYS work but it's worked to a point

4. Also noted some issues with the location of the ink reservoirs, especially with the DTN models (with the extra paper tray).. It seems you do need to raise the ink bottles a little ways to ensure you don't get negative pressure.



All this said I now have 3 units that I'm responsible for, all with K550's and only one has had issues with the pigment black.. Another user I support had pressure issues when they used up over 3/4's of their black ink but that was resolved by raising the ink bottle until new supplies could arrive.

In truth, after all the problems with the Canon printers the K550 is fast becoming my favourite, until of course the K5400 and L7780 units get a test run