Digital BW, The Print

This may seem like a stupid question... but as I've heard before "there
are no dumb questions".  (Some of you might even wonder about this too
and have just never asked)
I have an Epson 1280 with a continuous flow system and pigment inks.  Is
it a bad or good idea to leave the printer on when not in use?
Suggestions...  thoughts?


Best Regards,

Forrest MaCormack
Arlington, VA

> This may seem like a stupid question... but as I've heard before "there
> are no dumb questions".  (Some of you might even wonder about this too
> and have just never asked)
> I have an Epson 1280 with a continuous flow system and pigment inks.  Is
> it a bad or good idea to leave the printer on when not in use?
> Suggestions...  thoughts?

Not sure if it's true for all printer models but the general rule is to turn
the printer off, with the switch, don't pull the power supply, to resist
clogs. When you turn it off the heads are put in contact with a capping
station that keeps them from drying out. Furthermore, upon startup a little
head cleaning action is part of the startup routine.

You will spill a little more ink this way but it's probably less than if you
are performing several full cleaning cycles to clear major clogs.

Todd Flashner

> > This may seem like a stupid question... but as I've heard before "there
> > are no dumb questions".  (Some of you might even wonder about this too
> > and have just never asked)
> > I have an Epson 1280 with a continuous flow system and pigment inks.  Is
> > it a bad or good idea to leave the printer on when not in use?
> > Suggestions...  thoughts?
>
> Not sure if it's true for all printer models but the general rule
> is to turn
> the printer off, with the switch...

I know that the 1160, 3000 and 1270 don't care.  The capping pad is raised
on all three when the print head is all the way to the right, whether it's
on or off.  It's mechanical, not electronic.

I think this may be an urban myth...kind of like "magic resolution" ;-)

Austin

>>> This may seem like a stupid question... but as I've heard before "there
>>> are no dumb questions".  (Some of you might even wonder about this too
>>> and have just never asked)
>>> I have an Epson 1280 with a continuous flow system and pigment inks.  Is
>>> it a bad or good idea to leave the printer on when not in use?
>>> Suggestions...  thoughts?
>> 
>> Not sure if it's true for all printer models but the general rule
>> is to turn
>> the printer off, with the switch...
> 
> I know that the 1160, 3000 and 1270 don't care.  The capping pad is raised
> on all three when the print head is all the way to the right, whether it's
> on or off.  It's mechanical, not electronic.
> 
> I think this may be an urban myth...kind of like "magic resolution" ;-)

You may be right for all I know. I always assumed it to be true due to that
last little mechanical "ehn" sound I hear when I hit the shut-off button. I
always assumed that to be the capping pad snuggling into place. How do you
know that it's otherwise?

Todd

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., Todd Flashner <tflash@e...> 
wrote:
> 
> You may be right for all I know. I always assumed it to be true due 
to that
> last little mechanical "ehn" sound I hear when I hit the shut-off 
button. I
> always assumed that to be the capping pad snuggling into place. How 
do you
> know that it's otherwise?


Todd:  I thought as you did that the last little mechanical "ehn" was 
the capping pad raising into position.  However, after Austin 
responded to an earlier post of mine regarding capping pad cleaning 
that the cap was in place before power off, I decided to check it out 
for myself.  I got a flash light and looked as I turned off both my 
1160 and 1270.  The only thing I saw move is the cartridge locking 
arm or pin (or what ever) raising into position.  It's not at all 
easy to see beneath the cartridge, but I think I am now convinced.

Thanks.

Jeff Randall

On my 785EPX, I've found that making sure, when the printer is idle or off,
that the paper thickness lever is set to the "0" setting, rather than the
"+" setting has greatly reduced the number of clogs. I turn it off at night,
and that seems sufficient. I, too, was unable to see any movement of the cap
or printhead when it went from "parked" to "off."

- David

-----Original Message-----
From: jrandall1149 [mailto:jrandall@...]
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2002 10:46 AM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Leaving your Epson left on/off


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., Todd Flashner <tflash@e...>
wrote:
>
> You may be right for all I know. I always assumed it to be true due
to that
> last little mechanical "ehn" sound I hear when I hit the shut-off
button. I
> always assumed that to be the capping pad snuggling into place. How
do you
> know that it's otherwise?


Todd:  I thought as you did that the last little mechanical "ehn" was
the capping pad raising into position.  However, after Austin
responded to an earlier post of mine regarding capping pad cleaning
that the cap was in place before power off, I decided to check it out
for myself.  I got a flash light and looked as I turned off both my
1160 and 1270.  The only thing I saw move is the cartridge locking
arm or pin (or what ever) raising into position.  It's not at all
easy to see beneath the cartridge, but I think I am now convinced.

Thanks.

Jeff Randall


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--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "David J. Bookbinder" 
<david_bookbinder@s...> wrote:
> On my 785EPX, I've found that making sure, when the printer is idle 
or off,
> that the paper thickness lever is set to the "0" setting, rather 
than the
> "+" setting has greatly reduced the number of clogs. I turn it off 
at night,
> and that seems sufficient. I, too, was unable to see any movement of 
the cap
> or printhead when it went from "parked" to "off."
> 
> - David
> 

This is an interesting theory. I have some questions:

1) Is this something you have observed and recorded in some way, 
removing other variables such as time interval between prints, 
humidity changes, etc? If so, can you give a rough percentage of 
getting a clear nozzle in both "+" and "0" positions, that is, can you 
say that if left in "0" position, you tend to get clogs only "x % of 
time" vs "y%" of time in "+" position? You may also have to account 
for alignment operations, which whatever position the lever is in, 
move the head up and down relative to it's old position. For example, 
a good test might be to align the printer with very thin paper on "0" 
and compare with the printer aligned to a thick paper on "0". Then 
repeat on "+" , yada, yada.

2) How then would you account for the large amount of travel possible 
in the parking pad, being spring loaded to the large extent that it 
is (I'm going by the 1160 and the 1280)? My guess (based on my ex-HP 
mech eng experience) is that Epson engineers would design the printer 
to take up head height variation due to lever position with this 
design, as they could not guarentee where customers would leave the 
lever or paper thickness alignment, and they wouldn't want warranty 
problems. And it looks to me as if one function of the springs may be 
to do exactly this.

I'm not saying you're wrong, I would just like to carry the 
supposition further. I often leave the lever at "+", and would like 
some clarification before I go off and design experiments around this 
idea.
Thanks for the notion,
Jim H.

Jim,

I didn't do a definitive study. The 785 is a much cheaper printer, and
perhaps the springs are less effective, if the head is further from the pad.
I was getting clogs every day or so, and they'd take multiple cleaning
cycles or sometimes Windex treatments to unclog, when I had the lever in the
"+" position. Now, with the lever on "0" except when I'm printing on thick
paper, I get a clog every week or so. In both cases, I'm doing the same
amount of printing, on average.

I don't account for it. I'm just saying that on my particular machine,
moving the lever to "0" (which is where the manual recommends I leave it)
solved the clogging problem. Your mileage may vary.

As for warranty problems, in my very limited experience Epson seems much
more willing to swap out machines than it does to spend time solving a
problem. Maybe it's cheaper for them, in the long run.

- David

-----Original Message-----
From: jimhayes361 [mailto:jimhayes@...]
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2002 7:09 PM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Digital BW] Re: +/0 lever, Leaving your Epson left on/off

This is an interesting theory. I have some questions:

1) Is this something you have observed and recorded in some way,
removing other variables such as time interval between prints,
humidity changes, etc? If so, can you give a rough percentage of
getting a clear nozzle in both "+" and "0" positions, that is, can you
say that if left in "0" position, you tend to get clogs only "x % of
time" vs "y%" of time in "+" position? You may also have to account
for alignment operations, which whatever position the lever is in,
move the head up and down relative to it's old position. For example,
a good test might be to align the printer with very thin paper on "0"
and compare with the printer aligned to a thick paper on "0". Then
repeat on "+" , yada, yada.

2) How then would you account for the large amount of travel possible
in the parking pad, being spring loaded to the large extent that it
is (I'm going by the 1160 and the 1280)? My guess (based on my ex-HP
mech eng experience) is that Epson engineers would design the printer
to take up head height variation due to lever position with this
design, as they could not guarentee where customers would leave the
lever or paper thickness alignment, and they wouldn't want warranty
problems. And it looks to me as if one function of the springs may be
to do exactly this.

I'm not saying you're wrong, I would just like to carry the
supposition further. I often leave the lever at "+", and would like
some clarification before I go off and design experiments around this
idea.
Thanks for the notion,
Jim H.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "David J. Bookbinder" 
<david_bookbinder@s...> wrote:
> Jim,
> 
> I didn't do a definitive study. The 785 is a much cheaper printer, 
and
> perhaps the springs are less effective, if the head is further from 
the pad.

I supose this is something we can only guess at.

> I was getting clogs every day or so, and they'd take multiple 
cleaning
> cycles or sometimes Windex treatments to unclog, when I had the 
lever in the
> "+" position. Now, with the lever on "0" except when I'm printing on 
thick
> paper, I get a clog every week or so. In both cases, I'm doing the 
same
> amount of printing, on average.

Well, then I'd say you don't have a precisely controlled situation, 
but it sounds like it makes enough of a difference to suspect you are 
right in what you're experiencing. I base this on your having clogs 
every day with cleaning cycles vs getting one each week...that's a BIG 
difference. You also mention that you get lower clogs at "0" except 
when using thicker paper, which is also telling.

> 
> I don't account for it. I'm just saying that on my particular 
machine,
> moving the lever to "0" (which is where the manual recommends I 
leave it)

The 1280 manual is vague- it says to return lever to "0" when finished 
printing envelopes. I think I will call Epson on this.

> solved the clogging problem. Your mileage may vary.
> 
> As for warranty problems, in my very limited experience Epson seems 
much
> more willing to swap out machines than it does to spend time solving 
a
> problem. Maybe it's cheaper for them, in the long run.

No, what I meant was as an engineer, I would not design in a feature 
that would allow customers to mess up the cap sealing with the flick 
of a lever. They'd get a lot more returned printers, whatever their 
policy on replacement was.

Thanks again,
Jim H.
> 
> - David
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: jimhayes361 [mailto:jimhayes@j...]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2002 7:09 PM
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y...
> Subject: [Digital BW] Re: +/0 lever, Leaving your Epson left on/off
> 
> This is an interesting theory. I have some questions:
> 
> 1) Is this something you have observed and recorded in some way,
> removing other variables such as time interval between prints,
> humidity changes, etc? If so, can you give a rough percentage of
> getting a clear nozzle in both "+" and "0" positions, that is, can 
you
> say that if left in "0" position, you tend to get clogs only "x % of
> time" vs "y%" of time in "+" position? You may also have to account
> for alignment operations, which whatever position the lever is in,
> move the head up and down relative to it's old position. For 
example,
> a good test might be to align the printer with very thin paper on 
"0"
> and compare with the printer aligned to a thick paper on "0". Then
> repeat on "+" , yada, yada.
> 
> 2) How then would you account for the large amount of travel 
possible
> in the parking pad, being spring loaded to the large extent that it
> is (I'm going by the 1160 and the 1280)? My guess (based on my ex-HP
> mech eng experience) is that Epson engineers would design the 
printer
> to take up head height variation due to lever position with this
> design, as they could not guarentee where customers would leave the
> lever or paper thickness alignment, and they wouldn't want warranty
> problems. And it looks to me as if one function of the springs may 
be
> to do exactly this.
> 
> I'm not saying you're wrong, I would just like to carry the
> supposition further. I often leave the lever at "+", and would like
> some clarification before I go off and design experiments around 
this

> idea.
> Thanks for the notion,
> Jim H.