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Removed "Tabs" for emergency prpinting
Hiya,
I’d heard about this but have never done it before. On Friday afternoon I had a low ink warning from versaworks for Magenta. Ok I thought I’ve got a spare cartridge. I changed out the magenta once it ran out and then five minutes later horror struck. The other Magenta ran out as well. I’d been printing 20 large prints for some glass signage I’m going.
So I’m on the last of 20 large prints, on a Friday afternoon with no chance of getting a replacement Magenta.
So What I did was to cut off the little plastic tab that pokes out of the side of the cartridge. I’d heard that you get a LOT more ink available if you did that but you ran the risk of totally going dry.
I kept a close eye on it as I finished printing the 1340mm x 3600mm print which was basically solid red coverage.
That’s right, I managed to get the whole print finished.
Well chuffed 🙂
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21 Replies
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Thats a good tip to get you out of a hole Lee, i should cut a spent cart open to see how much is left inside 😕
John
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have you a photo of which tab to cut?
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George I guess its the large tab near the bottom on the side with no label
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got ya 😀
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quote George Elsmore:have you a photo of which tab to cut?Not 100%, but i think it’s this one G….. 😉
NICE TIP, btw Lee :thumbsup:
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very good 😀
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best I could do for a Monday morning George 🙁
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I don’t have a printer so this issue does not directly affect me but if it did I would feel a bit aggreived that the ink I had bought was not available for me to use. Somebody less generous than me may suggest that manufacturers are taking the pi$$ out of their customers yet again. Maybe the cartridges should be labelled with the amount of ink that is available to use rather than the ink they contain.
Alan D -
Well this evening I had one final print to do and half way through the good ol Magenta ran out.
I cancelled the print and called it a day as I had no spare. Sitting having a cuppa and remembered this thread so I went back, removed the cartridge cut the tab off gave it a shake and wamo, it printed the whole 2000 x 900 print about 50per cent coverage.It’s shocking that there is still usable ink in the cartridge and the chip is telling us its empty 👿
But over the moon as can laminate and get signs out for tomorrow now.
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Good result Martin 😀
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That’s a handy little tip that makes perfect sense. Thanks for sharing 😉
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there is a command in the roland menu that allows the print to continue when the cart says empty. and not stop mid print, it will continue for around 1-2 mts. or the end of that print and will not start another until the cart is changed.
even if there is no ink apparently but never got that far yet.that would have saved martins first print.
i think its fair to say that the bit of ink lost in each cart is probably better than air in the main pipes
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there is a command in the roland menu that allows the print to continue when the cart says empty. and not stop mid print, it will continue for around 1-2 mts. or the end of that print and will not start another until the cart is changed.
even if there is no ink apparently but never got that far yet.where?
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quote Chris Wool:there is a command in the roland menu that allows the print to continue when the cart says empty. and not stop mid print, it will continue for around 1-2 mts. or the end of that print and will not start another until the cart is changed.
even if there is no ink apparently but never got that far yet.that would have saved martins first print.
i think its fair to say that the bit of ink lost in each cart is probably better than air in the main pipes
As G Says ‘Where Chris’ This shouldn’t be something you have to stumble across or hear about, if its available it should be set as a default.
valid point about air in the system -so only to be used as I guess a ‘get out of jail card’ or as Lee says emergencies..but helped me out big time last night
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My little tease
Ink control
Empty – stop
Change to continueOn your own head be it
Note if a cart says empty it will not print as before
If you start print ing andcthe cart comes up as empty it will beep and continue to print for around one square Mt even if the ink runs dry.
It always has finished a print for me with no problems furthest so far around two mts not full coverage.
If it finishes the print it will not print the reg marks at the end if you’re despite now cut the tag.
It will not start another print until the cart is changed.
Mine has been set like this for about 6 year’s and no horror stories.
Manufacturers really have vto set the machine to help safe guard its self
And all in the user manual -
Interesting Chris Thank you.
I’m going to get George to try it for six months and if he doesn’t F**** his printer up, I may give it a go 😀
Nope, I’m going to set mine as you have yours Chris, I cant bear where it runs out of ink mid way through a solid colour – you replace the cartridge and you get a slight banding 👿
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quote :I cant bear where it runs out of ink mid way through a solid colour – you replace the cartridge and you get a slight banding
thats exactly what it is for but a bit of thought required thats why its not the default
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quote Chris Wool:quote :thats exactly what it is for but a bit of thought required thats why its not the default
I get where your coming from…thanks Chris
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This has just saved my skin…
1500x1500mm PVC banner needed printing, SOLID red! Got about 300mm in and the magenta ran out.
Shaved down the tab and it’s back printing.
Just finished printing it now! Awesome tip!
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this would of saved my bacon so many times!
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On the Mimaki cartridges there is a little tab that pops out at the back when the cartridge starts to become empty and this stops the machine from printing but if you block it and stop it coming out fully then you can get a few more metres out of the print depending how much of that colour your using but like chris says it can damage the machine if the ink pipes dry out.
The other one is where the chip date runs out but you still have lots of ink left, that can be a pain. The fix for that is to turn the clock back on the machine so as to fool the chip into thinking it still has a few months left…..dont ask how you do it as i forgot.
The last time i did this i managed to get the cartridge working again but putting the clock forward again was not easy. 😳
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