RE: Digital negatives for gum printing

[Keith Gerling <kgerling@ameritech.net>]

Judy says:

>In my printer, once cartridges are inserted they're out of sight... unless
>you send them to left by some strategy I forget.... What if you drilled
>before inserting?

I think the different models don't all behave the same, but to move the
print heads over to the left, you can try holding down the paper feed button
for 4 seconds, or pressing both the paper feed and the head cleaning button
simultaneously.  You'll need to be able to do this anyway, in order to
access the cartridges for refilling.

>Some 3rd party inks are supposed to be incompatible with various of the
>Epson inks & make godawful mess. Will MIS tell you if OK???

That's news to me, but yes, the people at MIS are pretty helpful.

>In 1160 as far as I know cartridges don't come forward, but only, as
>noted, go left.

I'm not familiar with the 1160, but there is usually some kind of
spring-loaded switch that detects whether the cartridge is present.  What I
meant here, was that you have to briefly "unseat" the cartridge and then
"seat" it again.  On my Photo EX I had to modify the spring slightly in
order to make this process easier.  It's kind of hard to explain without a
diagram (and the diagram won't be appropriate for your printer anyway), but
the gist of this is you have to cheat the printer into thinking the
cartridge has been removed.

>Doesn't the hole in the cartridge let the sponge dry out?  Do you plug it
>with anything, or is it so small doesn't matter?  And when you drill,
>doesn't junk fall into the ink?

I suppose you could put tape over the holes between printing sessions.  The
sponge will prevent any debris from actually causing problems in the print
nozzles.

>They talked about syringes on the Epson list, but didn't make clear that
>this was the (so to speak) drill. Is there a website shows how to do this
>or gives more details?

You might ask the Epson list.  I don't know of any websites, though.  I
started using this process after learning about the various proprietary
"continuous feed systems" that were being offered.  Come to think of it, why
don't you investigate a continuous feed system for your 1160?  You get the
advantage of cheap ink, with the added advantage of customer support from
the supplier.






Judy