Cheap printers... Short life?

[Lucas28]

Again one of my printers broke down. This time it's the paper transport that simply stopped working.
Again it's an Epson, the R245. It's useless to repair a printer in that price class.
I dumped it in the garbage container.

Maybe we just can't expect much of cheap printers and should we go for the more costly PRO printers.

 

[PeterBJ]

Is the failed printer an Epson Stylus Photo R245? If so, it looks to me like you had many years of service from it. This page lists Windows 2000 and Windows XP as compatible operating systems. So did the printer last as long as Windows XP? If so, I think that is impressive if the printer was not very expensive.

 

[Lucas28]

Printer was bought in 2007. It may seem old, but it's not used much, my other printers are the working horses.

Other printers that gave up the battle:
-Epson D120 after two years. Printer stopped recognizing OEM cartridges
-Epson B40W after three years. Faulty print head.
My other previous printers were still healthy when they retired.

I don't think the Epson brand is the problem. Other brands show similar problems.

 

[turbguy]

"You get what you pay for"

 

[The Hat]

I hate to say this but did you never consider it might be PEBKAC ?

 

[Lucas28]

PEBKAC ?
Well, I was printing merrily and suddenly the paper wasn't picked up and led into the printer.
The problem is mechanical. It must be a stepping motor or maybe only a broken belt.

 

[PeterBJ]

I have a Canon iP3600 that suddenly refused to pick up paper from the cassette, it attempts to do so and then gives the out of paper message. Feeding paper from the rear tray still works. I removed the printer chassis from the case and inspected all rubber rollers and looked for broken parts, but I couldn't find the cause of the problem. I have one more iP3600 that I accidentally killed by too aggressive print head cleaning, but I think it is mechanically OK. I consider building one working printer from the two.

If you look at number of print head nozzles then the iP3600 is comparable to the iP4000 and the iP4200, but the older printers are of a much higher build quality than the iP3600. They were also more expensive.

I think this this confirms that printers for home use are now "Disposable ink vending machines" and so shouldn't be too expensive to manufacture. I think they are also intended to last only a couple of years, so you will have to buy a new printer of a new generation of cartridges and chips, to make refilling more difficult. If this is true Canon might continue to use the PGI-x50/CLI-x51 cartridges, as no resetter has yet been developed and possibly never will be, as the chips might be of the single use type. If the 3'rd party refillable cartridges with intelligent ARC chips become too popular, I think we might soon see a new generation of Canon printers.

The Canon Pro series of printers are still the same high build quality as the older Canon printers, I think. Could owners of these printers confirm this?

 

[The Hat]

The Pro series of Canon printers are certainly a cut above their desktop cousins for build quality, in fact there built like a Panzer and made to last just as long, but from what I can see the Achilles heel for their unsuspecting owner is in their newer electronics.

The older models had a lot of manual micro switches that could be seen and manipulated easily enough but the newer breed of Pro printers have the hidden type of switch sensors (Electronic) that are easily missed by the unwary.

When you went inside the older models you just had to figure out where the darn release clips for the top cover were and you were in, and there weren’t to many surprises to watch out for after that, not so on the new models equipped with battery back-up.

I disassembled several of my Pro printers but only one of them caught me out big time, I followed the Service Manual step by step religiously and stupidly removed the section holding the battery which turned out to be my biggest mistake, DON’T DO THAT despite what it says.

This caused an error on the logic board somehow which can only reset by an Authorised Service Agent, then this same Service Agent deliberate locked me out of the Service mode and to this day I can’t find the key to unlock it, so please be aware not to join my PEBKAC club..

 

[turbguy]

Which PRO printer has a back-up battery? And what type of battery is it? (Lithium, lead acid, ??)

 

[nowhere]

I have a Canon iP3600 that suddenly refused to pick up paper from the cassette, it attempts to do so and then gives the out of paper message. Feeding paper from the rear tray still works. I removed the printer chassis from the case and inspected all rubber rollers and looked for broken parts, but I couldn't find the cause of the problem. ...

If it's not mechanical, look at the rollers. I use rubber rejuvenator every year or so to keep feed rollers working well. It's kept many friends and clients from trashing printers and only takes a few minutes. The results can amaze. Apply it outdoors or a well ventilated area. Two examples below -

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008O9X3KS/ref=oh_details_o09_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00363M0TC/ref=oh_details_o09_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1