Phaser 840: Printing only Black & White?

[cosmicp]

I have asked this before... no replies. Is there really no technician here who has some experience or knowledge of this? Or maybe everyone fainted...
I print color quite seldom with this printer. Due to this, the permanently heated ink has lead to badly distorted colors. (It was simply the wrong type of printer for us to buy - but neither Xerox nor the distributor wouldn't tell all the secrets.)
I would like being able to print B&W, without having to load printer with color sticks. Only, the printer won't work at all if no color sticks are loaded. Is there a way to come around this? Since the printhead will require several ink sticks to purge the destroyed color ink sticks, I am even prepared loading all slots with black ink. Is this possible without completely ruining the print head? If it will print black prints and grey scales after this surgery, I would be satisfied.
Any thoughts? Solution?

 

[ifixprinters]

Well, you could load everything with black sticks, but you'd be signing a death warrant for the thing. You can, actually, trick the printer into thinking that it has ink to a certain extent, however: each reservoir has a ink level sensor in it; when the level drops below a certain point, the heater plate corresponding to the lacking color are fired in the ink loader; if the printer doesn't get any ink after a certain point, you'll get a 09,XXX error code.

BUT! If you print a LOT of black and white docs, you could probably get away with leaving the CMY colors to cook in their reservoirs. Just don't expect to be able to get a decent color print out of it.

ifixprinters

 

[cosmicp]

Thanks ifixprinters.
You write "you could load everything with black sticks, but you'd be signing a death warrant for the thing".
Please clarify: does this mean that the printer won't work at all after this, not printing even B&W? Or won't it be able to print color any more in its printer life?
Also, I thought that tricking the ink sensor, leaving the ink reservoirs empty, would ruin the print head due to overheating - not true then?
Last point: just leaving the CMY sticks and continue printing black is not a complete solution, since the printer eats quite an amount of CMY ink anyway both by its regular cleaning, and when restarting in case of a power interrupt. Not too uncommon.

 

[ifixprinters]

The printer will work, but I wouldn't advise doing it because I think that the black ink may destroy the color jets. There's another post on the forum right now from a gent who bought one that is loaded up with black ink.

The great untold secret about these units is that they're expensive to run if your uses don't meet certain guidelines: about 2k pages a month of color. Otherwise, they use a lot of electricity, ink, and develop problems.

The printer only purges ink in the following situations: 1) It's powered on, 2) Exiting Energy Star mode, 3) user intervention, 4) in the case of the 840 - it cleans itself when it's not frequently used (from what I remember).

The printer will fault out with an error code (09,xxx.xx) and then reset itself if the ink reservoirs are not filled with ink after a certain amount of time with the loader heaters firing (what happens when the ink level switches fall below a certain point). You'll probably also get a bunch of "ink sticks jammed" errors. Like I said - it's a pain to do this.

For doing solely B/W prints, you'd be better off with an HP 5M or a newer 4000 series with a duplexer (if needed). Better archival quality, less hassle if you're doing a limited number of prints.

ifixprinters

 

[cosmicp]

ifixprinters wrote:
"You can, actually, trick the printer into thinking that it has ink to a certain extent, however..."
I would be interested in knowing how to fool the printer thinking it is loaded with color sticks this. I have by now bought a color laser printer to use as a primary printer. I plan however to keep the 840 as an emergency B&W printer in case...
But as it eats solid ink worth a fortune each time it starts up I would like to know how to manipulate the ink sticks sensors?

Per

 

[ifixprinters]

You manipulate them by feeding some other kind of ink (in this case, a black ink stick) into the reservoir. It's not a good idea, and I don't recommend doing it. Sell your 840 (if that's what you're using) and get an older HP for your black and white documents - you'll be much better off in the long run.

ifixprinters

 

[gedy]

ifixprinters:

i don't think he will be happy buying that print considering he will have to buy the blank ink/toner whe he can get it for free

just buy a smal pack for each color and that will last for ages since you don't use is

 

[xeroxvendor]

cosmicp,

I see few ways of looking at this,

1.You can call a local service provider to open up the machine to remove the destoyed color sticks, so that you can buy one color set and do the purge. That way it wont cost you a bundle.

2. Buy cheap b/w laser printer. staples, officemax, or a local dealer for xerox, hp, samsung, or okidata. They can range from as little as $150 to $350 depending on how much you need to print.

3. Ask a dealer to do a trade in. There is some obvious valuse in the current printer you own. all the deal can say is no. But you would have nothing to lose.

4. Last but not least, if you are comfortable in taking things apart without breaking the printer. Obtain the printers service / repair manual. see if you can remove the ink sticks your self.



David Drury
Northeast Laser Image

http://www.northeastlaserimage.com