In Search of ink cart's color bar stripe

[4music]

I have a disc printer (Signature II) that uses 'special' Primera ink cartridges, which are crazy priced! I realize that a Lexmark 80 is just like what I use (but without the color bar label that the red laser see's/reads).
So if someone knows of the way to crack this puppy, it will help save my world (or at least my wallet)!
Grateful for any wisdom you can share.
Joe

 

[The Hat]

Hi Joe and welcome, would something like this be of any help to you...

 

[4music]

The Hat, Thanks for that! It isn't quite what I need. The unit I have (Signature III) so far hasn't responded to those, so I went to a locate Kinko's and had their copier print a capture of my cartridge and the color bars were more vibrant, but still didn't get the unit to see it. I wonder if there is a way to improve my chances.

All help is very much needed.

 

[PeterBJ]

The file for labels posted by The Hat is for Lexmark #16 and #26 cartridges used in the Primera Disc Publisher Pro. Your printer uses Lexmark #80 cartridges which are different.

One would expect your idea of making photo copies should work, but the ink used by the photo copier might not be suitable for the job. In the Disc Publisher the labels on the cartridges are read by infrared light sensors, I think the same applies to your cartridges. The problem is that dye ink is transparent or invisible in infrared light, so the labels must be printed using pigment ink.

I suggest to scan your labels and have them printed on a printer that uses pigment ink. I suggest to use a CCD scanner for this as CCD scanners have a much better depth field than CIS scanners. You can read more about the labels for the 16 and 26 cartridges in this thread.

Other Primera models also use rebranded Lexmark cartridges but instead of coloured code labels these cartridges have RFID chips hidden under the label.

 

[4music]

Gentlemen, I can gladly report I've hit pay dirt! After your advice, I did have Kinko's copy the ink cartridge color bar on a semi-gloss paper, then glued that bar to card stock and placed that in the printers cartridge saddle - BAM!!!! It worked perfect. I now have ordered 5 Lexmark 80 ink cart's for a total of $18.00. Sure the hell beats the regular price of over $70 per Primera unit. So again, a tip of the headphones to my new friends here! To see my operation visit: www.4musicrecording.com
Best, Joe B.

 

[PeterBJ]

Thank you for the feed-back. Congratulations with finding a combination of paper and ink/toner that works.