Tanya is making Christmas (New Years) cards. Masha is coming Saturday but Tanya couldn't wait. She asked me to help her find pictures on line and print them to use as decorations on the cards. Finding was the easy part.
I have a new printer, bought two months ago. My third Canon in a row had the print head pack it in. A new one costs as much as the printer and buying Canon ink cartridges which may make the print head last longer is a shortcut to the poorhouse. So I bought an Epson L355 with large ink reservoirs filled from bottles which are not expensive. So far it has worked great.
Until I went to print on heavy photo stock, which was all I had other than ordinary paper. This was double matte 250 g/m2 and it would not load. My one remaining piece of lighter photo stock loaded and printed but not the heavier.
Go to the manual trouble shooting section: nothing. OK, contact the company. The L355 is a European model so the website refused to allow me to talk to Canada. OK, UK. Go to Live Chat. Nope, my Java is out of date. Download and install new Java. Windows 7 has updates waiting so I had to download and install them too. By the time that was all complete, the UK office was closed so no Live Chat. Send email. BUT you have to have a UK address, so I gave them my daughter's in London. Auto-response says we got it and are open tomorrow.
Today I got a link to their knowledge base which told me that for heavy stock one must use only Epson brand paper. Link to their website. Fifteen sheets of A4 photo stock is 11 Pounds Stirling. Which is roughly $20 CAD. NFW.
Catch 22. Canon prints on anything but ink is like gold. Epson ink is cheap but their paper is gold plated. I will see what I can buy tomorrow in the way of lighter stock.
I have a new printer, bought two months ago. My third Canon in a row had the print head pack it in. A new one costs as much as the printer and buying Canon ink cartridges which may make the print head last longer is a shortcut to the poorhouse. So I bought an Epson L355 with large ink reservoirs filled from bottles which are not expensive. So far it has worked great. Until I went to print on heavy photo stock, which was all I had other than ordinary paper. This was double matte 250 g/m2 and it would not load. My one remaining piece of lighter photo stock loaded and printed but not the heavier.
Go to the manual trouble shooting section: nothing. OK, contact the company. The L355 is a European model so the website refused to allow me to talk to Canada. OK, UK. Go to Live Chat. Nope, my Java is out of date. Download and install new Java. Windows 7 has updates waiting so I had to download and install them too. By the time that was all complete, the UK office was closed so no Live Chat. Send email. BUT you have to have a UK address, so I gave them my daughter's in London. Auto-response says we got it and are open tomorrow.
Today I got a link to their knowledge base which told me that for heavy stock one must use only Epson brand paper. Link to their website. Fifteen sheets of A4 photo stock is 11 Pounds Stirling. Which is roughly $20 CAD. NFW.
Catch 22. Canon prints on anything but ink is like gold. Epson ink is cheap but their paper is gold plated. I will see what I can buy tomorrow in the way of lighter stock.
I have a HP printer/scanner (Deskjet 4140 all in one) and have never had a problem with it. It only cost $60.00 US. Ink cartridges are expensive, but they seem to last a fairly long time.
ReplyDeletethe Ol'Buzzard
I don't want to deal with cartridges anymore. They are VERY expensive here.
DeleteAgh! 'Round and 'round we go! It's been a few years since I had an Epson printer, but you might try checking the paper selection to see if there's a "heavier paper" or "cardstock" option. You won't likely find it directly under the Paper configuration tab, but there might be something under an "Advanced" or "Settings" button somewhere. My Brother printers have settings for heavier paper, but we have laser printers (you can buy cheap toner refill kits for Brother printers, too).
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
The only heavy setting is for "envelope" and that didn't help. But thanks. I had an HP laser B&W years ago when I first went consulting and it was cheap to operate. I went through two cases of paper and two toner refills per year. Not sure if I can find refills here or not. How is it for colour?
DeleteThe colour is great, and it's a fast printer. We buy the toner refill kits on eBay, so as long as you can find a seller who'll ship to the Ukraine you should be okay. We bought our printer a few years ago so I don't know if it's still available, but it's a Brother 3040CN.
DeleteYou are living my motto. "Everything takes longer than you think!"
ReplyDeleteI remember changing a light fixture on the back porch in Kindersley. Figured it would take 30 minutes. Took 2 1/2 days as I had to rewire half the house.
DeleteThe comment from Epson, about having to use their paper, was just their stock answer.
ReplyDeleteHope you have a wonderful Christmas, and a great start into 2015!
Blessings and Bear hugs!
That was a terrible pun but in the Spirit of Christmas, I forgive you. You and your have a Christmas full of peace and love, too, Bear. All the best in 2015.
Delete