TIP: avoiding dried up/blocked ink-jet carts

[pfjw@aol.com]

We have an Epson eco-tank unit. It reminds us to print something on the first of each month. So far, so good. Not the cheapest printer in the pack, but it meets our modest needs. The double-sided print feature is also appealing.

We do about 80 pages per month to various ends.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

 

"Unless you have a heavy duty printer, it is often better just to get a
new one."

1. I got time on my hands.

2. I am sick of this "You can buy" shit, all of which sends our borrowed money overseas. And if you think YOU don't use credit, the dollars are on credit. Anytime I can keep money from foreigners I think that is good.

I do have a LASER printer, but this one avoids a trip to the basement. It's also the only FAX machine in the house and while it would send it wouldn't print so... Also could not print the confirmation of a sent FAX.

I am also going through stuff to work on, I got time. I haven't been able to work for awhile so I need to get my legs back so to speak. Next is a microwave bought in 1992. When they were $ 89 this one was $ 150 wholesale. A new one will not outlast it. It has a burned out light, a bad connection, I think to the gate of the triac, and I am going to trow a capacitor in it whether it is good or not. (seems like it used to have more power.

New and improved means improved profits for the manufacturer, cheaper to produce and as a result harder to work on usually.

>"For what they pay for that conract, they could probalby buy everyone a new printer every year. "

Well, a local grocery store has 8 oz. cans of sauce or 20 cents or a 15.5 ox can of he same thing for 69 cents. A bag boy didn't set those prices. Don't expect brains from anyone.

And now, if this printer ever needs cleaning agian it will be a 15 minute job.

 

>"We do about 80 pages per month to various ends. "

I do even less than that, except for now because I have a court case and am going pro se. But because I print less I have to buy a more expensive printer - a LASER. I also like that the prints are waterproof, and a few other things proof. Seems like an inkjet print bleeds from looking at it and thinking about water. But get that ink on your hands and...

 

[pfjw@aol.com]

On Monday, April 23, 2018 at 11:43:47 AM UTC-4, jurb...@gmail.com wrote:

"Unless you have a heavy duty printer, it is often better just to get a
new one."

1. I got time on my hands.

Idle hands are the Devil's workshop.

2. I am sick of this "You can buy" shit, all of which sends our borrowed money overseas. And if you think YOU don't use credit, the dollars are on credit. Anytime I can keep money from foreigners I think that is good.

At one level, true. At another, the more of our dollars that are in foreign hands, the more interest those foreigners have in our continued survival. If our dollars become useless, theirs are no more than fire-starters.

I do have a LASER printer, but this one avoids a trip to the basement. It's also the only FAX machine in the house and while it would send it wouldn't print so... Also could not print the confirmation of a sent FAX.

Cleaning a printer-head is, typically, not a huge job unless that printer has been sitting for a very long time, or in extreme conditions. Keeping in mind that the alternative is landfill, using unusual means and methods is fair game. Back when we did have an HP inkjet device - one that clogged every couple-of-days, 99% alcohol was my go-to cleaner. Get an old ink cartridge, fill it with alcohol - off you go. Got tired of that and went to the Epsom. No regrets so far.

I am also going through stuff to work on, I got time. I haven't been able to work for awhile so I need to get my legs back so to speak. Next is a microwave bought in 1992. When they were $ 89 this one was $ 150 wholesale. A new one will not outlast it. It has a burned out light, a bad connection, I think to the gate of the triac, and I am going to trow a capacitor in it whether it is good or not. (seems like it used to have more power.

With all due respect, a little research is mandated on this one. "New" microwaves from legitimate manufacturers are lighter, more powerful, and far more refined that those from the Amana Radarange days. Our present three units are 12, 8 and 6 years old respectively. The oldest gets the heaviest use. But the newest one knows the difference between three different kinds of popcorn, knows how to actually 'bake' a potato, or even three of them, and will also defrost without parboiling.

New and improved means improved profits for the manufacturer, cheaper to produce and as a result harder to work on usually.

There is that. But it is entirely possible to purchase a good, serviceable, well-made and well designed product in about every category. Won't be the cheapest, however. I keep speakers made in Minnesota over 40 years ago. The company is still in business, and still sells parts for every speaker they have ever made. I can't even write that about my AR speakers.

"For what they pay for that conract, they could probalby buy everyone a new printer every year. "

Well, a local grocery store has 8 oz. cans of sauce or 20 cents or a 15.5 ox can of he same thing for 69 cents. A bag boy didn't set those prices. Don't expect brains from anyone.

Same thing (same manufacturer, same ingredients list), or generic same thing? Just curious.

And now, if this printer ever needs cleaning agian it will be a 15 minute job.

Sure,and as it should be.

BTW, as most of what we do requires color, and what business printing I do at home requires heavy color-coding, a color laser printer would be prohibitively expensive, not to mention supplies and service.

The issue on water reminds me of my college days. Penn and Princeton are huge Ivy League rivals, usually alternating at each other's location for Homecoming. Public restroom - Penn student walks in, uses the urinal and walks out. Princeton student says: "At Princeton, we are taught to wash our hands after using the urinal.". Penn Student: "At Penn, we are taught not to piss on our fingers."

About covers it.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

 

[Fox's Mercantile]

On 4/23/18 10:46 AM, jurb6006@gmail.com wrote:
> I have a court case and am going pro se.

A lawyer that represents himself has a fool for his client.



--
"I am a river to my people."
Jeff-1.0
WA6FWi
http:foxsmercantile.com

 

On Monday, 23 April 2018 20:03:33 UTC+1, Fox's Mercantile wrote:

On 4/23/18 10:46 AM, jurb6006@gmail.com wrote:

I have a court case and am going pro se.

A lawyer that represents himself has a fool for his client.

I've done that for small claims. The other side was the fool, paying a lawyer more than the claim amount for a case they couldn't win.


NT

 

[John-Del]

On Monday, April 23, 2018 at 1:44:11 PM UTC-4, pf...@aol.com wrote:

With all due respect, a little research is mandated on this one. "New" microwaves from legitimate manufacturers are lighter, more powerful, and far more refined that those from the Amana Radarange days.

My brother had an Amana from the mid 70s, back when Amana had a distribution deal with Zenith. Aaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnd he still has it. In his kitchen. Heats stuff in it. Every day. Never quit... It went from new, to old fashioned, to retro. I think the door weighs 15 lbs.

IIRC our wholesale price was over $500; righteous bucks in them days, but this had an unique for the time feature - a true digital soft touch capacitance keypad.

In 1985 when I got married, the same brother gave me a microwave for a gift.. This was a Litton that was also bullet proof. About 15 years ago when it was already over 20 years old my buddy stopped by one Saturday afternoon when I had the whole thing torn down to clean the beejeezus out of it after my bride entered one extra zero when making popped corn. The smell of badly burned popped corn is only a little less offensive than skunk and lasts about as long. My buddy asked me why I didn't just go buy a new one rather than take the time to clean it, and I told him that this one would last longer than if I did replace it.

Fast forward to three years ago and the computer on the Litton started getting wonky. I finally retired it and bought an Emerson, that lasted a year. I know have a Frigidaire.. We'll see how long this one goes.

 

[The Real Bev]

On 04/23/2018 01:54 PM, tabbypurr@gmail.com wrote:

On Monday, 23 April 2018 20:03:33 UTC+1, Fox's Mercantile wrote:
On 4/23/18 10:46 AM, jurb6006@gmail.com wrote:

I have a court case and am going pro se.

A lawyer that represents himself has a fool for his client.

I've done that for small claims. The other side was the fool, paying
a lawyer more than the claim amount for a case they couldn't win.

No lawyers allowed in local Small Claims Court, but they're allowed in
appeals.

I won one where I had to explain the defendant's viewpoint to the judge
as well as my own. I also explained to the defendant that if he refused
to pay I would have the marshals seize his car and auction it off. I
had to explain it twice.

Hint: you can't blame God for your own faulty maintenance.

--
Cheers, Bev
HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays
is used as a kind of divining rod to locate expensive bike parts not
far from the object we are trying to hit.

 

[Fox's Mercantile]

On 4/23/18 4:32 PM, John-Del wrote:

Fast forward to three years ago and the computer on the Litton
started getting wonky. I finally retired it and bought an
Emerson, that lasted a year.

You're doing it wrong, for the past 15 years, every microwave
I've bought was $10-15 at a thrift store.

Everyone I've bought is still working.

An excellent ROI.


--
"I am a river to my people."
Jeff-1.0
WA6FWi
http:foxsmercantile.com

 

On Tuesday, 24 April 2018 00:16:39 UTC+1, Fox's Mercantile wrote:

On 4/23/18 4:32 PM, John-Del wrote:

Fast forward to three years ago and the computer on the Litton
started getting wonky. I finally retired it and bought an
Emerson, that lasted a year.

You're doing it wrong, for the past 15 years, every microwave
I've bought was $10-15 at a thrift store.

Everyone I've bought is still working.

An excellent ROI.

The upside to that approach is that the ones that died young are weeded out. The downside is there's often something wrong with them or they'll annoying in some odd way.


NT

 

On Monday, 23 April 2018 22:32:51 UTC+1, John-Del wrote:

On Monday, April 23, 2018 at 1:44:11 PM UTC-4, pf...@aol.com wrote:

With all due respect, a little research is mandated on this one. "New" microwaves from legitimate manufacturers are lighter, more powerful, and far more refined that those from the Amana Radarange days.

Lighter, yes the cases are thinner. I don't see a significant upside to that, and it makes them noisier.
More powerful? Sometimes, sometimes not. I don't see a significant upside to it though.
More refined? 5 or 10 power levels does beat 2. Other than that I don't think controls have improved any. The old mechanical timers are still common on new machines and quicker to use than digital. One of my digitals is plastered with utterly useless buttons, with the few useful ones buried in among them. Designed by an idiot or someone from the marketing dept.
One thing that does beat the old Amanas is modern interlock safety, in other respects I don't think new ones are a significant improvement.

Oh, yes there is an exception. If an old microwave has no turntable, forget it, those ones are hopeless and a food poisoning risk.
And another... I once encountered one so ancient (pre-Amana) that it continued cooking until the door was a long way open. Not good.


NT

 

[Ralph Mowery]

In article <pbm7gb$311$1@dont-email.me>, bashley101@gmail.com says...

My mom didn't want one, so we forced a yard-sale microwave on her -- if
she didn't like it she could give or throw it away. She, of course,
loved it until it stopped working. Hubby took it apart and found a
dried mouse deep inside -- it must have gotten in during factory
assembly, there was no other way. He removed it and did something else,
and it worked fine.

My mom was an excellent cook for everyday southern meals. She never
wanted a MW. Dad bought her one for Christmas around 1980. After she
used it a few time, she would not give it up for warming things over.

After her and dad passed away out MW gave out after about 20 years, the
mechanical timer wore out. We got her old one and still use it.

 

[The Real Bev]

On 04/23/2018 06:59 PM, tabbypurr@gmail.com wrote:

On Tuesday, 24 April 2018 00:16:39 UTC+1, Fox's Mercantile wrote:
On 4/23/18 4:32 PM, John-Del wrote:

Fast forward to three years ago and the computer on the Litton
started getting wonky. I finally retired it and bought an
Emerson, that lasted a year.

You're doing it wrong, for the past 15 years, every microwave I've
bought was $10-15 at a thrift store.

Everyone I've bought is still working.

An excellent ROI.

The upside to that approach is that the ones that died young are
weeded out. The downside is there's often something wrong with them
or they'll annoying in some odd way.

My mom didn't want one, so we forced a yard-sale microwave on her -- if
she didn't like it she could give or throw it away. She, of course,
loved it until it stopped working. Hubby took it apart and found a
dried mouse deep inside -- it must have gotten in during factory
assembly, there was no other way. He removed it and did something else,
and it worked fine.

To her credit, she continued to use it until her boss gave her a new one
for Xmas. Women were tougher in those days.

The cheap ($90?) Panasonic we bought at Costco in 2012 is still working
fine.

--
Cheers, Bev
"I don't trust carry-out food. When you find hair in my cooking
you don't hafta worry about where it came from!" -- Dinette Set

 

>"Oh, yes there is an exception. If an old microwave has no turntable, forget it, those ones are hopeless and a food poisoning risk. "

The turntable is actually a cheap way out of real engineering. Microwaves without them "stir" the waves with a reflector at the top which is motor driven, usually off the fan and some of them just use the air flow to blow them into turning.

Now if you have a microwave with both, there's a good one and I believe that's what we have here. Remember that $ 150 was wholesale because I worked there, AND I was told it was a special price at that. he bought a bunch of them and most went to friends and family. The only thing more expensive in table ovens was a convection microwave which requires a 30 amp dedicated circuit, but could cook a turkey in about a half hour.

 

[John-Del]

On Monday, April 23, 2018 at 10:06:32 PM UTC-4, tabb...@gmail.com wrote:

> Oh, yes there is an exception. If an old microwave has no turntable, forget it, those ones are hopeless and a food poisoning risk.

My last two MWs have turntables, and they *still* require frequent dish movement to keep cooking more or less even. The turntable helps, but I spend as much time moving the dish as I did in my old Litton without a turntable.

Of course, even with a turntable, any thick casserole or soup dish requires constant stirring lest you want a scalding hot dish with an icy cold center (my brother calls that the Katherine Heigl effect....)

 

>"But the newest one knows the difference between three different kinds of popcorn, knows how to actually 'bake' a potato, or even three of them, and will also defrost without parboiling."

I can do that by using it right. I can also adjust the car seats and mirrors myself, turn the courtesy lights on and off myself. I'm just a dinosaur I guess, after all, how many people do you know who can do a longhand square root ? No batteries for the calculator ? No problem.

About the popcorn. I bought a used waterbed from a buddy who came over to help set it up. First he says I'll never be able to fill it with warm water but I did, two hot water heaters So he has his olady and kids over as well and brought microwave popcorn. Did I mention my microwave's nickname was Chernobyl ? So it says 5 minutes and it got stuck in for 5 minutes. Opening the door we discovered that it was literally on fire. I said "I think it's done".

And then the shop microwave from years before, you know a 12 cut 16" pizza ? Extra large ? Well I could slide a whole one in there including the box. Talk about designing a microwave ? It is not the easiest thing in the world to make those waves spread over that much area, and yes I said area. Notice the bigger ones are also higher, while a wider and deeper interior would be more useful. Easier to design. They are rated in cubic ft., so the numbers look marvelous, but how often do you stack stuff on top of each other in the microwave ? "Oh, but it takes up so much counter spacer !", whine and bitch, whine and bitch. Look, when you figure out how to build a TARDIS like Dr Who, we will use that technology so that in the space of a coffeepot you can nuke a moose, OK ?

 

>"I keep speakers made in Minnesota over 40 years ago. The company is still in business, and still sells parts for every speaker they have ever made. I can't even write that about my AR speakers. "

What brand. I might be interested in some one day.

I have a pair of AR93Qs that need all the foams and tweeters, I am considering fixing them up. I've heard some good things about them. I DO like the idea of 4 ohms. If an amp can't handle 4 ohms I consider it junk. I used to run a newer Pioneer into 2.3 ohms with a window fan on it for cooling. If you forgot to turn the fan on it smelled like a clothes iron left on too high. Obviously it has no current limiting but surprisingly it still works. It is integrated but has the shittiest preamp section I have ever seen.

Anyway, AR was affiliated with Olson's right ? They have been out of business long enough for a military pension. The 93Qs seem pretty nice, side firing 8" woofers and 8" midrange, and the midrange is open back but in a section of the cabinet that is sequestered from the rear woofer radiation. They can use a lower crossover frequency from woofers to mid, which is usually good. And they are a sealed system which I like. Even if they have less bass it is better bass. They are also much heavier than they look.

 

[pfjw@aol.com]

On Tuesday, April 24, 2018 at 10:49:43 AM UTC-4, jurb...@gmail.com wrote:

"I keep speakers made in Minnesota over 40 years ago. The company is still in business, and still sells parts for every speaker they have ever made. I can't even write that about my AR speakers. "

What brand. I might be interested in some one day.

Magnepan. Great Bear Lake, MN

Magnepan MG-IIIa, 6' x 2' x 2" planar speakers. Nothing else like them on earth.

The 93Q is well worth fixing. I would estimate about 2 hours per, then overnight curing. I have done enough surrounds as I would be a bit faster than that, but not by much.

I keep 3a, 4ax, 28, M5 and Athenas from AR. As well as a pair of TSW-110s at the summer house.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

 

On Tuesday, 24 April 2018 15:23:15 UTC+1, jurb...@gmail.com wrote:
NT:

"Oh, yes there is an exception. If an old microwave has no turntable, forget it, those ones are hopeless and a food poisoning risk. "

The turntable is actually a cheap way out of real engineering.

it's sound engineering

> Microwaves without them "stir" the waves with a reflector at the top which is motor driven, usually off the fan and some of them just use the air flow to blow them into turning.

yes, with abysmally uneven cooking as the result.


> Now if you have a microwave with both, there's a good one and I believe

yes, those are best for cooking evenness. Of course it still doesn't counter the tendency for things to be boiling on the outside & ice in the centre.


NT

 

On Tuesday, 24 April 2018 15:37:05 UTC+1, jurb...@gmail.com wrote:

"But the newest one knows the difference between three different kinds of popcorn, knows how to actually 'bake' a potato, or even three of them, and will also defrost without parboiling."

I can do that by using it right. I can also adjust the car seats and mirrors myself, turn the courtesy lights on and off myself. I'm just a dinosaur I guess,

probably a great feature for the truly stupid, and certainly there are such folk. To me all that is just junk, bad design.


NT