Hi! I'm so glad I found this forum!! I'm faced with possibly replacing my printer, and I was lost as to how to find one that I could easily refill.
First off, about the printer I currently have. It's a Dell A960, and I love it. It's about five years old, and came with a computer we bought (not going that route again, but I digress...). It prints beautifully, scans beautifully, is versatile, and is easily refilled -- no maneuvering tiny stickers on the contacts to fool the printer, just a simple "Is this a new or old cartridge?"
It gets a hard workout every year as I print family calendars on it... about 22 of them, in fact. Full-color, best quality, on heavy cardstock. Everyone loves them, and they come out better on my A960 than they did either of the two times I tried taking it to have it professionally done. And, I did the math, and doing it myself is cheaper anyway... including the cost of cartridges, cardstock, refill ink, and having them bound.
Before starting my calendar print, I buy a new set of Dell cartridges *ouch* which have finer print quality than third-party cartridges. I refill them as I print the calendars, and they are usually pretty worn out by the time I'm done (though this year I only made it to three refills before the blue burned out). For the rest of the year, I normally use third-party cartridges because the Dell ones are hard to afford. I refill those, too, until they die.
I do sometimes use the printer to print photos, which it does nicely.
My problem is that shortly before I started printing calendars this year, the printer started making quiet sqeaking noises as the carriage moves back and forth, mostly when it starts moving from one side or the other. I have no real idea what is squeaking, but I can only assume that, after five years, it's wearing out and something inside may break soon. Thankfully, it made it through printing all the calendars this year.
I have never been able to figure out how to disassemble the printer, so I have no idea how to find out what is wrong with it.
Is it worth trying to save a printer that has been frequently used for some five years? Or do I go ahead and replace it?
And if I replace it, what printers might I look into? I feel I seriously lucked out with this printer, since I didn't know anything about it when I got it. I need a printer that:
* Has good print quality (enough to print pictures on, though not necessarily lab-quality)
* Has ink tanks instead of integrated print heads on the cartridges (the only real downfall of the A960)
* Is easily refilled
* Can take heavy cardstock (which I figure disqualifies front-loaders)
* Has a flatbed scanner (no document feeder needed) - family of 4 in an apartment, I need to save space!
* Preferably has more affordable cartridges/ink tanks (I'd be willing to pay a bit more on the front in order to pay less on the consumables). But if they are as expensive as the Dell's are, I'll live... I'll just handle it as I have with the Dell, only buying the OEM once a year right before calendar printing time.
I just wasn't sure how I was going to find an easily refillable printer before I found this forum, since that feature isn't exactly something they advertise. *sigh* I was introduced to difficult refilling by my mother's HP. Refilling was a long process that involved a series of three stickers per cartridge; a routine with which I am sure y'all are already quite familiar.
Thank you in advance for any help you can give me! Sorry to post a new thread, but the other threads I found about buying a printer were old, so those printers probably aren't sold anymore. Plus, with the situation about my Dell A960... there was no thread on that printer here.
First off, about the printer I currently have. It's a Dell A960, and I love it. It's about five years old, and came with a computer we bought (not going that route again, but I digress...). It prints beautifully, scans beautifully, is versatile, and is easily refilled -- no maneuvering tiny stickers on the contacts to fool the printer, just a simple "Is this a new or old cartridge?"
It gets a hard workout every year as I print family calendars on it... about 22 of them, in fact. Full-color, best quality, on heavy cardstock. Everyone loves them, and they come out better on my A960 than they did either of the two times I tried taking it to have it professionally done. And, I did the math, and doing it myself is cheaper anyway... including the cost of cartridges, cardstock, refill ink, and having them bound.
Before starting my calendar print, I buy a new set of Dell cartridges *ouch* which have finer print quality than third-party cartridges. I refill them as I print the calendars, and they are usually pretty worn out by the time I'm done (though this year I only made it to three refills before the blue burned out). For the rest of the year, I normally use third-party cartridges because the Dell ones are hard to afford. I refill those, too, until they die.
I do sometimes use the printer to print photos, which it does nicely.
My problem is that shortly before I started printing calendars this year, the printer started making quiet sqeaking noises as the carriage moves back and forth, mostly when it starts moving from one side or the other. I have no real idea what is squeaking, but I can only assume that, after five years, it's wearing out and something inside may break soon. Thankfully, it made it through printing all the calendars this year.
I have never been able to figure out how to disassemble the printer, so I have no idea how to find out what is wrong with it.
Is it worth trying to save a printer that has been frequently used for some five years? Or do I go ahead and replace it?
And if I replace it, what printers might I look into? I feel I seriously lucked out with this printer, since I didn't know anything about it when I got it. I need a printer that:
* Has good print quality (enough to print pictures on, though not necessarily lab-quality)
* Has ink tanks instead of integrated print heads on the cartridges (the only real downfall of the A960)
* Is easily refilled
* Can take heavy cardstock (which I figure disqualifies front-loaders)
* Has a flatbed scanner (no document feeder needed) - family of 4 in an apartment, I need to save space!
* Preferably has more affordable cartridges/ink tanks (I'd be willing to pay a bit more on the front in order to pay less on the consumables). But if they are as expensive as the Dell's are, I'll live... I'll just handle it as I have with the Dell, only buying the OEM once a year right before calendar printing time.
I just wasn't sure how I was going to find an easily refillable printer before I found this forum, since that feature isn't exactly something they advertise. *sigh* I was introduced to difficult refilling by my mother's HP. Refilling was a long process that involved a series of three stickers per cartridge; a routine with which I am sure y'all are already quite familiar.
Thank you in advance for any help you can give me! Sorry to post a new thread, but the other threads I found about buying a printer were old, so those printers probably aren't sold anymore. Plus, with the situation about my Dell A960... there was no thread on that printer here.
