Help - HP 'Photosmart 6520' 'dead'.

[Skywave]

I have been known to throw them (ink jet printers) away because the ink cartridges are too expensive.

Ditto. And when ink jet printers do fail (and they seem to have a relatively short life) - I've been known to throw them away because . . . they're ink jet printers!

Al.

[Yorkie]

This printer is presently parked in the garage awaiting attention. Just finding a way into it will be an achievement, with all the torx screws etc. Given that the integral (but plug-in & removable) power supply works fine, but the printer is dead with no sign of life at switch-on, it could just be a connection that's come adrift - a plug on a PCB or whatever. Paradoxically, I think there's a better chance of resuscitating it than if it was working after a fashion, but malfunctioning.

Having looked at a lot of printers in recent months, and their claimed media printing capabilities, the Photosmart 6520 does have a transparency setting, which Epson printers such as my SX525 doesn't and is quite hopeless with acetates on any setting. Really, I should have stuck with HP. My aging Photosmart printer that died on me a couple of years ago printed superb acetates for PCB masks - totally opaque and a really thick coating of ink which dried in minutes.

How the 6520 would perform I've no idea, but there is the added advantage with the 6520 in that HP ink cartridges are far cheaper than Epson, so genuine HP carts are an option. A set of four HP 364 carts is just £20.00 (or less) and a genuine HP XL black cart is £13.00. True, a set of four HP compatible carts is only £2.69, but I’d be happy with genuine HP ones at their prices. Genuine Epson carts for my SX535 on the other hand are £39.00, so it’s no surprise that like many others Epson users, I buy compatibles, and it printed no better with the genuine ones anyway, because I was expecting it to do something it wasn't capable of doing, as admitted by Epson - print onto acetates.

Typical Amazon review comments echo my sentiments about Epson compatibles that I buy:

“I was surprised how quickly the original Epson cartridge ran out and when I searched online, I saw that this was a major issue amongst Epson printer buyers.
Not wanting to add to Epson's profits any further, I gave these a go”.

“Always had reservations about 'compatible inks' but these products is excellent, the quality of the print has not been affected at all.
I have recently been printing an awful lot and there are no problems with the amount of ink per cartridge, which I have found in the past. All in all an excellent buy”.

In closing, it’s worth saying that only decent ink-jet printers will print PCB acetates well - acetates printed on laser printers are useless for PCB masks in my experience. I asked my former Secretary recently to print some for me to see how they came out on her office laser printer. She tried all the settings and none of the prints were any good for PCB masks – nothing like the density needed. I guess that’s why so many constructors are using the iron-on magazine paper laser printing technique (albeit I've heard mixed results about that technique). Really, I make so few PCBs these days that it’s not worth losing sleep over. I mostly only use my printer for printing off web pages and word docs, which it does well enough. I have printed the odd snapshot off (I won’t call them ‘photographs’ because that would dignify the pictures I take!) and they're adequate for my needs.

Iron-on laser printing PCB techniques using magazine paper as the print medium:

http://www.riccibitti.com/pcb/pcb.htm

http://fullnet.com/~tomg/gooteepc.htm

When/if I get time to have a furtle around with this HP 6520, I'll see if it's beyond hope. Not worth spending to much time on it given that they're now just under £90 with a 2-yr warranty from JLP.

http://www.johnlewis.com/hp-photosmart-6...=231735224&s_kenid=2e74cbfb-29d9-1308-6a26-0000574f8b58&s_kwcid=128x50620&tmad=c&tmcampid=73

Note the spec, confirming printing onto transparencies:

Paper format Information: Paper (brochure, inkjet, plain), photo paper, envelopes, labels, cards (greeting), transparencies

Maybe the reason that Epson don't support acetate printing is that the use of acetates for presentations (using overhead projectors) is almost extinct, with most presentations these days being via laptops and digital projectors. Can't be many old buffers around like me, faffing about still making PCBs - "You do what? There's no call for that sir". The clock is ticking and I can almost hear the grim reaper erecting the scaffold!.

Prattled, opined and dribbled Yorkie.

[Aerodyne]

I have a Canon MP560 all-in-one cheapo printer, David, and I print acetates with it for PCB work. I also have an elderly Canon iP5200 which prints acetates. I've never found any printer, Epson or Canon, to print transparencies well enough to give me total confidence for PCB masks, so I print at least two transparencies and tape or staple them together in accurate register. This procedure works well for me and I get good results. You can print a laser mask on ordinary paper and make it translucent by lightly spraying the back of the paper with WD40. This always worked for me in my school technology work and it was more economical than using transparencies, especially as I was helping whole classes full of boys with electronics GCSEs - lots and lots of PCB work.
I once tried the iron-on idea, but it was a failure. Obviously I was doing something wrong!
Tony

[Yorkie]

Thanks for reading my diatribe and for your observations Tony.

I used to use two or even three acetates taken at copy shops on laser printers before I got the HP Photosmart, which was superb. It printed so well on acetates that when the ink had dried you could run your finger tips over the sheet and feel the raised lines. This meant that PCB layouts with fine tracks were never a problem. I've attached a (not very good) pic of a couple of small PCBs with narrow tracks in close proximity which were exposed and developed from masks made on the Photosmart, and a pic of two PCBs from masks made on the Epson SX535.

The trouble isn't simply the lack of density of the print, it's striations in the print and when two are printed off to place over each other, the missing print is in the same place. You'll notice that in the second pic - two PCBs made from Epson prints - that I've had to touch up one quite extensively with rub down transfers due to the poor quality mask. Quite frustrating really, because if I print the artwork onto photo-paper on the Epson, it comes out really black and dense, but whatever setting I use for acetates makes no difference, which comes as no surprise because Epson themselves have confirmed to me that their printers won't satisfactorily print onto acetates and they've never claimed that they do - they just keep quiet about it.

That said, I've no idea whether an HP 6520 would be much better, but at least it does have a transparency setting, as did my old HP Photosmart.

I've still got an aerosol can of 'Transparentiser' spray intended for making paper transparent to UV light in the way that WD40 does, but I didn't find it very effective. It's become less of an issue for me as the amount of constructional work I do has declined markedly since I lost interest in amateur radio and I make few PCBs these days, and I have so many other calls upon my time - something I'm sure you'll be familiar with Tony!! (The first pic of PCBs are for an audio filter and a small transmitter which never got built, and never will).

I've heard varying degrees of success/failure using the iron-on laser technique Tony, and it certainly cuts out a lot of the effort in exposing and developing UV boards, but as I don't have a laser printer I can't give it a go. The main issue seems to be the need for a very hot iron, held firmly down for perhaps 15 minutes. I've heard that cheap glossy magazine paper is better for printing on than actual photo paper and is easier to remove when ironed on. Also, it's claimed that if photo paper is used, that 'satin' photo-paper is better than glossy. Scores of videos on youtube of course. EG:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=maki...er+printer&docid=608032760658856378&mid=CC9C098AADC9911661AACC9C098AADC9911661AA&view=detail&FORM=VIRE8#view=detail&mid=C80F2BF91B4E019E91D9C80F2BF91B4E019E91D9

[Joe]

I've never had much luck printing onto magazine paper but have found that Poundland ink-jet photo paper works well. I certainly don't iron it for fifteen minutes; in fact I doubt I do it for five.

- Joe