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Author Topic: Qimage automatic purge printing- any thoughts?  (Read 4196 times)

gchappel

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Qimage automatic purge printing- any thoughts?
« on: March 13, 2017, 11:13:19 pm »

I presently am running 3 photoprinters- ipf8400, epson 3880, canon pro-100.
Canon used for quick test prints and give aways- this prints a lot.  (A lot for me is 50+prints a month, 8x10-18x12)
The 3880 and 8400 are used sporadically, and not enough.   I print in batches, and may go for 2 weeks without printing, then print 20 images.
I just had to replace one of the ipf8400 heads.
I was looking at auto printing a small sheet every few days- hopefully to save ink and heads from constant cleaning.
Several Questions:
Has anyone used the qimage purge sheets?  I already print with qimage so it would be easy to set up.
Is the unclog pattern safe with canon heads- internet has stories of overheating canon heads??
Is there a better image and software to use to auto print every couple of days?  I thought 1/2 an 8x10 on the sheet printers, and about 5" on a 17" roll on the ipf8400 would keep them happy.
Does anyone know the time interval I would need to print to keep the heads happy, and stop the auto cleaning cycles on the 3880 and 8400?
Sorry for all the questions- I hope it is obvious what I am trying to do- but I was hoping others had successfully done this already and could guide me along.
I was looking at writing a script to print every 3-5 days, but since I already used qimage thought that might be easiest.
Thanks for you help
Gary
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Qimage automatic purge printing- any thoughts?
« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2017, 05:35:28 am »

I presently am running 3 photoprinters- ipf8400, epson 3880, canon pro-100.
Canon used for quick test prints and give aways- this prints a lot.  (A lot for me is 50+prints a month, 8x10-18x12)
The 3880 and 8400 are used sporadically, and not enough.   I print in batches, and may go for 2 weeks without printing, then print 20 images.
I just had to replace one of the ipf8400 heads.
I was looking at auto printing a small sheet every few days- hopefully to save ink and heads from constant cleaning.
Several Questions:
Has anyone used the qimage purge sheets?  I already print with qimage so it would be easy to set up.
Is the unclog pattern safe with canon heads- internet has stories of overheating canon heads??

Hi Gary,

The unclog pattern isn't that large, so I wouldn't worry about overheating. It basically pulses the ink delivery to potentially dislodge obstructions that a more steady flow would not affect enough. And one can choose selected channels should e.g. only one channel need maintenance, or if your regular images use predominantly other channels.

The best automatic frequency depends on climatological conditions and how infrequent the printer is used at a given time.

The printer itself also does some maintenance, so it's not obvious that you'd need to purge in addition to that. Canon printheads are using a different technology compared to Epson heads. The Canon design means that the heads need a replacement after a certain period of use, but that's why they are easy to replace and much cheaper than other designs.

Cheers,
Bart
« Last Edit: March 14, 2017, 12:05:18 pm by BartvanderWolf »
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alain

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Re: Qimage automatic purge printing- any thoughts?
« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2017, 05:04:53 pm »


A downside is that -as far as I can find- the unclog pattern isn't a small strip, but about 1 by 1.4.

Why not move some prints from the small printer to the ipf8400 using a 17" roll with a cheaper canon paper?
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hugowolf

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Re: Qimage automatic purge printing- any thoughts?
« Reply #3 on: March 14, 2017, 08:40:33 pm »

Forget the 3880, it should be able to deal with itself. The Canon, just print any image once a week.

The purge prints from Qimage aren't guarantied to fire every nozzle, only a RIP or hacking the driver would make that happen.

Brian A
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Qimage automatic purge printing- any thoughts?
« Reply #4 on: March 15, 2017, 08:16:20 am »

The purge prints from Qimage aren't guarantied to fire every nozzle, only a RIP or hacking the driver would make that happen.

Hi Brian,

About the firing of every nozzle. Qimage's procedure is unlikely to miss an individual cartridge's color. But if it were, then Mike Chaney would be happy to modify his code to address that. Do make sure that one uses the correct media settings to allow the use of certain cartridges!

Here's an instructional video about Qimage Ultimate's unclog pattern feature, that addresses some of the questions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcmmyYroPOQ&feature=youtu.be

07:19 Use the proper media settings to exercise certain inks, cheap media can be used, but the driver settings should allow the use of specific inks.

12:30 Is a RIP is really required? No.

14:59 Is it safe? Yes, the design will only pulse the inks to be on/off half of the time at most, less than in an ordinary print of a uniform colored area.

Cheers,
Bart

P.S. The current pattern that is printed is more sophisticated than the initial version shown in the video link.
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gchappel

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Re: Qimage automatic purge printing- any thoughts?
« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2017, 01:25:22 pm »

Thanks.  I had watched that video- I was just seeing if anyone had experience in using it over time for auto printing.  I think I will give it a try for a few months, and see if my cleaning cycles decrease.
If I learn anything during the trial, I will post it here for others.
Gary
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Qimage automatic purge printing- any thoughts?
« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2017, 01:35:00 pm »

Thanks.  I had watched that video- I was just seeing if anyone had experience in using it over time for auto printing.  I think I will give it a try for a few months, and see if my cleaning cycles decrease.
If I learn anything during the trial, I will post it here for others.

Hi Gary,

Please do share your findings, we all can benefit.

In the mean time I've raised a similar question on the Qimage Techtalk forum, in the hope of drawing Mike Chaney's attention.

Cheers,
Bart

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alain

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Re: Qimage automatic purge printing- any thoughts?
« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2017, 03:08:22 pm »

Forget the 3880, it should be able to deal with itself. The Canon, just print any image once a week.

The purge prints from Qimage aren't guarantied to fire every nozzle, only a RIP or hacking the driver would make that happen.

Brian A
Hi

Printing the unclog pattern on plain clearly registers used ink on all cartridges for the iPF6400.
Using all nozzles is very difficult to check, but I'm quite certain that it uses a lot of nozzles given the vertical nature of the pattern.
Ideally it would be a bit higher than the print head size for each color. 
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Qimage automatic purge printing- any thoughts?
« Reply #8 on: March 15, 2017, 05:45:43 pm »

Printing the unclog pattern on plain clearly registers used ink on all cartridges for the iPF6400.
Using all nozzles is very difficult to check, but I'm quite certain that it uses a lot of nozzles given the vertical nature of the pattern.

Yes, that's my take on it as well. Mike Chaney has already responded on his forum, that switching off color management in the driver settings, as instructed, will use all cartridges to achieve the various levels of saturation.

Quote
Ideally it would be a bit higher than the print head size for each color.

Maybe, although the weaving of subsequent lines may already achieve that. Also, for a forced purge with fewer colors, the height of the individual patches increases.

Cheers,
Bart
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alain

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Re: Qimage automatic purge printing- any thoughts?
« Reply #9 on: March 15, 2017, 06:22:34 pm »

Yes, that's my take on it as well. Mike Chaney has already responded on his forum, that switching off color management in the driver settings, as instructed, will use all cartridges to achieve the various levels of saturation.

Maybe, although the weaving of subsequent lines may already achieve that. Also, for a forced purge with fewer colors, the height of the individual patches increases.

Cheers,
Bart
Bart

I've read that the newest Canon heads use 1.28" for the nozzle's.  I would be more comfortable if the vertical patches are about 1.5".  Now I see a repeat of 6 colors horizontal repeated 16 times, I wouldn't mind if those went up to about 20 colors  repeated 5 times on every larger row.

But off course I'm using it as a purge/maintenance print not as an unclog print.  I can image that the current pattern has higher unclog power.

I also would like it to have an aspect ratio that's wider, it's easy to repeat the image several times on one page.

Alain
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Qimage automatic purge printing- any thoughts?
« Reply #10 on: March 15, 2017, 07:10:37 pm »

Bart

I've read that the newest Canon heads use 1.28" for the nozzle's.  I would be more comfortable if the vertical patches are about 1.5".  Now I see a repeat of 6 colors horizontal repeated 16 times, I wouldn't mind if those went up to about 20 colors  repeated 5 times on every larger row.

Yes, I understand that, but that doesn't mean that the top (or bottom) of the nozzle strips doesn't get used, because what's not used on one line, will be used on the next line, and vice versa. And by using fewer colors, the patterns grow vertically.

Quote
But off course I'm using it as a purge/maintenance print not as an unclog print.  I can image that the current pattern has higher unclog power.

That could be the case.

Quote
I also would like it to have an aspect ratio that's wider, it's easy to repeat the image several times on one page.

Well, the pattern adapts to the selected output/paper size, so one could select a wider page, or queue/schedule multiple pages.

Also, feel free to add feature requests on the TechTalk forum. I know that Mike is not the easiest person to convince, but I have in the past been able to get some enhancements accepted, because he got to see the benefits and then added some twists of his own.

Cheers,
Bart
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