Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: What is my printer doing?

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-05-2010, 03:22 AM:

I have a couple of HP color inkjets. I just finished printing a page on the newest one (B8500). After the page came out, the printer continued clicking and rattling for about a minute. It also does similar clicking, whirring, banging, and just generally sounding like it's playing with itself, for a minute or so when it's powered up, and occasionally just at random it'll all of a sudden wake up, click and bang for a while and then settle down again. Also, when this printer was new it probably clanked and rattled for at least 10 minutes while it was "setting up."

At the store we have a Pitney Bowes postage meter. Sometimes during the day without warning it will go "beeeeep," then sit there clicking, rattling and so on, for no particular reason.

What the hell are these printers doing with all of this racket? Are they lonely and just wanting somebody to come and visit? I have a feeling I'm not using ink fast enough so they're somehow purging ink from their cartridges.

There's nothing wrong with all of this, I'm just curious what the purpose is for all the mayhem. My trusty old laser printer (HP 5P) will just sit there in silence for months until I print something.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 05-05-2010, 03:41 AM:

I can't offer any advice for you, all I know is that inkjet printers are WEIRD. Someday I will go laser.

Posted by Kyle Butler (Member # 5601) on 05-05-2010, 06:10 AM:

I'm not sure exactly what HP printers do during this period, but its basically what HP calls "PRINTER MAINTENANCE"
I absolutely never shut mine off unless i want to wait 5 minutes for it to click and whir like crazy before i can actually print something.

Not sure what model I have, but it has a countdown to the maintenance periods, and there's an option to reduced the number of times it does it.

Posted by Alan Plester (Member # 852) on 05-05-2010, 10:18 AM:

Mike, all my hp printers have done this,drives ya crazy dosn`t it, but talking to an expert, found out that they are going through a cleaning process.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 05-05-2010, 10:26 AM:

I have an HP Laserjet 2550 and periodically, it too will just wake itself up and cycle through the toner (it is a color printer) cartridges...etc.

Steve

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-05-2010, 10:46 AM:

Most inkjet printers have to run through a noisy cleaning process at startup, shut down and periodically before they print something. The printer's lines and heads would clog badly otherwise.

The Roland VersaCAMM VP540 in my office makes quite a bit of racket at start up, particularly with fan noise. It usually stays in a kind of stand-by mode when not in use. The fans and heaters fire up every once in while when the printer is idle. The printer requires a more robust cleaning and ink heating system since it uses 440cc eco-solvent ink cartridges. And that merely prevents clogs from happening inside the lines and heads. After every several hours or so of printing you have to open the machine and manually clean excess ink off a number of parts. It's not difficult to do and thankfully far easier than Roland's previous generation of large format printers.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 05-05-2010, 10:46 AM:

With color laser printers, there is some sort of alignment that needs to be done when the toner or drum is changed. This is supposd to ensure that the four colors all line up properly.

I don't know much about inkjet printers, but maybe the process is designed to keep the ink from drying out? I know that an inkjet printer that is allowed to sit for several weeks or months without being used will often need its ink cartridges replaced before it will print again.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-05-2010, 12:01 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
Most inkjet printers have to run through a noisy cleaning process at startup, shut down and periodically before they print something. The printer's lines and heads would clog badly otherwise.

So how does this cleaning process work? What is being cleaned and how? (Where is that HP guy who used to post here sometimes?)

Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 05-05-2010, 12:25 PM:

With ink jets it usually involves a small amount of the ink being ejected through the head to keep it from getting dried out and clogged. There's a small tray with a sponge that the ink is sprayed in to. Over time this sponge will also need to be removed and rinsed out, but most people don't usually keep a printer that long. Some models also have a small roller brush built in to physically clean the head. HP software also contains a "Toolbox" feature to initiate the cleaning and maintenance process.