With the price of ink out pacing the price of printers in many cases, it is very important to print
With the price of ink out pacing the price of printers in many cases, it is very important to print wisely and properly maintain your printer AND cartridges. Wasting ink is no simple matter; it can end up quite a time waster as well as a money waster. Hopefully the following will help.
Standard printing ti :
* If you are only printing a couple of dozen photos, do not do it yourself it is more economical to drop off your memory card or CD at a shop. Many sho now have self print kiosks where you can edit and print your photos.
* Stick with brand name ink. It will cost more than off brand ink, but it will last longer and produce better quality photos. Cheap ink has been known to dry directly on the printer heads which can cause performance problems and damage the heads.
* To give your prints the profe ional look, and to increase their life, be sure to use premium photo paper.
* Replacement cartridges are a good idea to keep on hand IF you make sure they're in a sealed container so no air can prematurely dry them. NEVER open a cartridge box/bag until you are ready to i tall it in your printer.
* If you're printing information from a web site, look for the 'Print' button on the page as it should reduce the amount of graphics and ba er advertising around the article itself. If it does not have one, select the text you want to print and paste it into a standard word proce or and print from there.
* Practice 'selective printing' decide what you really need on paper and what you can keep in digital format. If you look through your photos, you'll probably realize you didn't need to print them all and might even find some you want to discard. The same can be said of most documents.
* When your printer informs you it's time to replace the cartridge you can ignore the warning for a while. You probably have enough ink for quite a few prints. When you begin to see the black text fading or the color just i 't right in a photo, then change it.
* Before printing anything (e ecially a page from a Web site), select 'Print Preview' from the File tab to see what it will look like when printed so that you can catch mistakes before wasting ink.
Important Tip:
If you are going on a vacation for an extended period ink cartridges left in your printer may dry out. It is similar to leaving the lid off paint ti eventually the ink will thicken and dry blocking the print-heads. Remove ink cartridges before you leave, being sure you follow the i tructio provided in your printer manual. Wrap the cartridges in plastic wrap then place them in a sealed container and leave in a cool dark place. This should help keep them from drying out and they can be re-i talled once you return. Use your maintenance software when you do re-i tall them to clean and prime the heads again. It is a good idea to print in color and black at least once in 2 to 3 weeks (some cartridges will dry out sooner than others). If the cartridge is already dried out, do not use it to print, it can damage the print head.
If you do suffer from Clogged Printer Heads:
In some occasio it is impo ible to avoid clogged inkjet cartridges. On many occasio , those cartridges with built in print heads can be u locked by the following ste :
Water Based Ink Cartridges:
Remove the cartridge; according to the i tructio in your printer manual. Take the cartridge to a work area that will not matter if you ill ink (a utility sink is a good place). Fold a few sheets of paper towel and dampen them with warm bottled water - do not use tap water. Take the blocked printer cartridge and dab the printer heads into the moist paper towel. Let it soak for a few minutes. This should result in the warm water being drawn into the printer heads a isting the clearance of old dried/thick ink. You need to di olve and clean up any old residue and ink before re-i tallation. Once you see all colors showing on the damp paper towel then it should be OK to try the cartridge back in your printer. Make sure you dry the printer heads off with a clean paper towel sheet before re-i talling the cartridge. You may have to repeat this proce a number of times if your cartridge is badly blocked.
Pigment / Oil Based Ink Cartridges:
For oil based inks follow the same i tructio above but use isopropyl alcohol i tead of warm water.
Cleaning your printer:
Most people are unaware that they have to maintain their printers on a regular basis to e ure co istent print quality. On many printers you will notice that when you change ink cartridges or even when you first turn the printer on the printer goes through what is known as a Print Head Cleaning and Alignment Procedure. For the life of your printer this will ha en hundreds of times. You may not have noticed that while this automatic head cleaning and alignment is taking place that old ink and paper residue is being dumped into a holding bin - usually a small plastic container located on the right hand side of the printer under the lid. This is where your printer head sits when the printer is not in use. If this Ink Dump Area gets over loaded, i tead of cleaning your printer cartridges it can clog them with old ink and paper dust. This sticky residue can damage the print heads and result poor quality prints or even completely block the print heads.
Please remember to regularly maintain your printer by cleaning the Print Dump Container and the Cartridge Parking area. You should have detailed i tructio in your printer manual. Basically you can use a cotton swab and some Isopropyl alcohol. Make sure that you remove as much old ink as you can.
NOTE: before doing this type of maintenance make sure that you disco ect the power and you are working in an environment suitable for the job in hand.
The article is refered from http://www.bbcok.com, http://www.worldloanpro.com, please go to read more.
Standard printing ti :
* If you are only printing a couple of dozen photos, do not do it yourself it is more economical to drop off your memory card or CD at a shop. Many sho now have self print kiosks where you can edit and print your photos.
* Stick with brand name ink. It will cost more than off brand ink, but it will last longer and produce better quality photos. Cheap ink has been known to dry directly on the printer heads which can cause performance problems and damage the heads.
* To give your prints the profe ional look, and to increase their life, be sure to use premium photo paper.
* Replacement cartridges are a good idea to keep on hand IF you make sure they're in a sealed container so no air can prematurely dry them. NEVER open a cartridge box/bag until you are ready to i tall it in your printer.
* If you're printing information from a web site, look for the 'Print' button on the page as it should reduce the amount of graphics and ba er advertising around the article itself. If it does not have one, select the text you want to print and paste it into a standard word proce or and print from there.
* Practice 'selective printing' decide what you really need on paper and what you can keep in digital format. If you look through your photos, you'll probably realize you didn't need to print them all and might even find some you want to discard. The same can be said of most documents.
* When your printer informs you it's time to replace the cartridge you can ignore the warning for a while. You probably have enough ink for quite a few prints. When you begin to see the black text fading or the color just i 't right in a photo, then change it.
* Before printing anything (e ecially a page from a Web site), select 'Print Preview' from the File tab to see what it will look like when printed so that you can catch mistakes before wasting ink.
Important Tip:
If you are going on a vacation for an extended period ink cartridges left in your printer may dry out. It is similar to leaving the lid off paint ti eventually the ink will thicken and dry blocking the print-heads. Remove ink cartridges before you leave, being sure you follow the i tructio provided in your printer manual. Wrap the cartridges in plastic wrap then place them in a sealed container and leave in a cool dark place. This should help keep them from drying out and they can be re-i talled once you return. Use your maintenance software when you do re-i tall them to clean and prime the heads again. It is a good idea to print in color and black at least once in 2 to 3 weeks (some cartridges will dry out sooner than others). If the cartridge is already dried out, do not use it to print, it can damage the print head.
If you do suffer from Clogged Printer Heads:
In some occasio it is impo ible to avoid clogged inkjet cartridges. On many occasio , those cartridges with built in print heads can be u locked by the following ste :
Water Based Ink Cartridges:
Remove the cartridge; according to the i tructio in your printer manual. Take the cartridge to a work area that will not matter if you ill ink (a utility sink is a good place). Fold a few sheets of paper towel and dampen them with warm bottled water - do not use tap water. Take the blocked printer cartridge and dab the printer heads into the moist paper towel. Let it soak for a few minutes. This should result in the warm water being drawn into the printer heads a isting the clearance of old dried/thick ink. You need to di olve and clean up any old residue and ink before re-i tallation. Once you see all colors showing on the damp paper towel then it should be OK to try the cartridge back in your printer. Make sure you dry the printer heads off with a clean paper towel sheet before re-i talling the cartridge. You may have to repeat this proce a number of times if your cartridge is badly blocked.
Pigment / Oil Based Ink Cartridges:
For oil based inks follow the same i tructio above but use isopropyl alcohol i tead of warm water.
Cleaning your printer:
Most people are unaware that they have to maintain their printers on a regular basis to e ure co istent print quality. On many printers you will notice that when you change ink cartridges or even when you first turn the printer on the printer goes through what is known as a Print Head Cleaning and Alignment Procedure. For the life of your printer this will ha en hundreds of times. You may not have noticed that while this automatic head cleaning and alignment is taking place that old ink and paper residue is being dumped into a holding bin - usually a small plastic container located on the right hand side of the printer under the lid. This is where your printer head sits when the printer is not in use. If this Ink Dump Area gets over loaded, i tead of cleaning your printer cartridges it can clog them with old ink and paper dust. This sticky residue can damage the print heads and result poor quality prints or even completely block the print heads.
Please remember to regularly maintain your printer by cleaning the Print Dump Container and the Cartridge Parking area. You should have detailed i tructio in your printer manual. Basically you can use a cotton swab and some Isopropyl alcohol. Make sure that you remove as much old ink as you can.
NOTE: before doing this type of maintenance make sure that you disco ect the power and you are working in an environment suitable for the job in hand.
The article is refered from http://www.bbcok.com, http://www.worldloanpro.com, please go to read more.
