Which all in one printer to buy?

[Radio Fixer]

Manuscripts Colin are kept in the dark, usually of a closed book.

Try getting some cheaply printed post cards and put them up near a window, in a year most colours will be gone and they will be predominately blue. Not so with a photo quality print using Epson ink and paper, no deterioration after one year on an east facing window. Print had a strip of black card covering part of it so it was easy to see change. Try it with cheapo cartridges as well, they start off worse and in no time they are useless to me. Do some tests, see for yourself. So the big boys are getting something from their R&D depts. Wish they made paint aerosols: used a cream on a clock repair that was a perfect match, now its bled to almost white in a few years ...

Yes! I have dials on radios printed by me, decals also and had decals done on an Alpes and been the silk screen route. Also now have a dial from Radio Daze from a printer that can print to glass or in my case Paxolin. Its an exciting development and a reasonable price for special radios and restorations.

I hope you are correct and Government and EU sort the home printing problem out and make for cheaper, bigger, as good inks but in the mean time I shall happily carry on with what I have.

I hear on the Jungle Drums, that the Reclamation Centres (tips), in your area, once again are all in a quiver of anticipation waiting for certain models of cheap "All in Ones" to hit the side of the skip with laughter and joy from not happy customers.

No, seriously I hope you and your scanner / printer / copier for about 73 quid (sans postage and VAT) have a long and happy life together.

Gary

[Retired]

Hi,

Many Thanks Gary; yes manuscripts are usually kept covered but I only used these as an example; I've not tried keeping printed postcards in the dark but I do know that whatever medium used whether it be ink or paint will deteriorate in sunshine.

The better quality more expensive inks will last longer which I agree with; this also applies to the quality of the paper.

I'm interested in the screen printing process and a few years ago I experimented using lino blocks to try to stamp radio transfers. I hoped to make a jig then index lino blocks one for each colour allowing me to stamp a transfer but I had trouble transferring the inks. I tried the "Bush" radio logo for my experiments as the design was very simple and only three colours were involved; I then ran out of comfortable working conditions so packed the project in but during my experiments I enjoyed myself.

I'll look forward to you expanding on your printing to glass and Paxolin Gary if you care to add more detail? Glass I can understand but isn't Paxolin oily? I'm always willing to learn.

I too hope the printer manufacturers are taking notice of the problems and will eventually supply cartridges which will give fair service; at the moment they make expensive landfill.

A few years ago a guy posted on a forum explaining he had made some "Alphabet Soup" whilst washing his Ekco A52? dial glass in the sink? I removed the dial from my own A52 and took it along to Staples where I had it copied onto acetate to help out.

Thanks for your good wishes Gary; I do so hope this Canon won't be following the Epson some time soon?

Got to go my brand new; all singing; all dancing; super duper Canon Pixma MG6250 all in one has just arrived; we are going out this afternoon but I'll be playing with it later.

Kind regards, Col.

   

[AlanBeckett]

Young Tedzed has my Alps Printer. He'll get to it one of these days.

Alan

[camallison]

Happy New Printer Col!

No TV for you tonight then?

Colin

[Joe]

How things age is interesting. Have a look at this page from a photo album:-

   

Obviously all the prints have been stored under the same conditions and two have faded and two are still fine.

The whole controversy over PC printing comes down to horses for courses. I don't need the things I print to last two hundred years as usually two hundred hours would be enough as it's of an ephemeral nature.

- Joe

[Radio Fixer]

All the detail I know on printing on glass and Paxolin is here Colin: http://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showt...hp?t=94563

As I understand it and for the costs involved it isn't silk screening.

I hope not to be going there myself as I don't intend buying any radios with poor dials. Done my bit on those.

Gary

[Radio Fixer]

Sorry! For Paxolin substitute Phenolic.

Old terms die hard and it may not be the same thing. The original dials were done on what looks like Paxolin and the paint is as solid as a rock but the material goes very dark with age. Gerry calls them Papadom dials !

When I had some dials silk screened I asked the guy to run a screen across a piece of US phenolic as a test. The bond was very strong and resisted severe abrasion.

Gary

[pwdrive]

Inks aside there is paper and paper, most cheap A4 stuff is acidic and won't stand the test of time, for that you nead archival quality paper, the decent colour fast inks to go with them and an archival environment to store things in.
I did not think that printers/scanners would be so "hot" a subject, I guess you pays yer money for what you want, If I was doing some serious stuff then I would go for a pro set up.
Even so I still think it is marvelous that for under £50 you can scan and print your own documents in the conveinience of your own home instead of having to trawl down to a copy shop with all the incurred costs of that process.

Lawrence.

[Retired]

Hi,

I'm surprised you parted with your Alps printer Big Al; I thought you were bonded to it but it's gone to a good new owner.

Thanks Colin; it's taken about half an hour to fire up my new Canon all in one printing the test page; set up was easy enough but a bit time consuming taking 4 minutes for the print head to adjust itself then another 18 minutes to install the drivers but if I can do it then it must be easy. The test page printed without problem and the touch controls are very smart.

Interesting pictures Joe thanks for adding them; ink and paper selection plays an important part; I'm like you in that I'm not bothered about my printed matter lasting for years.

Thanks for the link Gary; I'll have a look at it shortly. I'm sure Paxolin and Tufnol are similar materials but Phenolic is a lot different which will explain why Phenolic can be printed on? Printing is a huge subject with an equally huge industry.

I agree Lawrence; when I added his thread I didn't expect it to run the way it has but it's been interesting and hopefully informative. As with most things bought the more expensive the better the quality and this applies to both inks and papers. Most of my printing is fine on cheap Morrison's printer paper but if I really wanted to get serious about printing then I would also be into serious money.

My desktop is now crammed with monitor; external hard drive two printers; the beautifully turned burr pencil holder David kindly made for me; phone; keyboard; mouse and of course a pot of tea. My fur toy Timmy has a new home at the moment sitting on the laser printer. I also have a "floating" lead for connecting the digital camera.

One thing I quickly noticed when I installed the Canon is that all six cartridges show as "Full" which is encouraging. Two CD's were supplied; one for Windows the other for Mac. It's a lot of machine and technology for the money and I certainly can't knock that.

Kind regards, Col.

[Radio Fixer]

That's it Lawrence. As they said in My Fair Lady "She's got it !!" in this case you said it.

Even so I still think it is marvelous that for under £50 you can scan and print your own documents in the conveinience of your own home instead of having to trawl down to a copy shop with all the incurred costs of that process.

And you cant keep doing that if making say a radio dial or even a colour decal that gets printed by someone for you on an Alpes printer. It’s a development process and you just gotta have a print facility next to you. You must iterate and keep checking, tweaking colours and even sending off variations on the file to be printed as I did (kept the best ones, closest to an original that is). It may cost a bit but Hey! I'm talking hobby and hobbies cost.

Yeah! We are getting skunked on the cost of ink but it’s just the same with Beluga Caviar, price keeps going up and there’s less in the tins !! Still I guess Boris will put that right when he takes over (unless he gets a better offer from the Harlem Globe Trotters, seen the vid?). As for Truffles well they have been off the menu here for some time. As weight for weight they cost more than gold. Fortunately that’s falling so once again soon we might be able to justify putting Truff. Soup back on the menu.

Yes! Paper is important as well as ink. Here’s a front panel done 6 correction (12) or more years ago and still perfect (hence 200 year life is not daft for some of us). It uses Epson best paper (£2 /sheet) in Panorama (A3 long A4 wide). Took a bit of getting right and affixed to a new, nickel plated mild steel panel (old one kept for reference or fall back!).

   

Oh! and I forgot about the coil boxes I made (end labels as well):

   

How much are funny fags these days … bet they have gone up and are thinner. Never tried one, could be a new Forum topic.

Keep smiling as you print your money away. Remember its safer than boozing it but in good company not so much fun.

Gary