versa works update = scam

[petepaz]

apparently with the latest update to versa works
when you press print to run a job if an ink cart is low it has a pop up that says....
you do not have enough yellow (or what ever color is low) to run the job you have selected. do you want to continue?
so i answered yes since the machine normally tells yu when a cart runs out and you just continue printing.

i was printing a 42" x 36" back lit material so it has an overprint. i printed 4 more sheets after getting that message before i had to change the suggested cart. that could have been a lot of wasted in if i changed the cart when they suggested.

roland running a scam here or what?

 

[Banners Signs Etc.]

more of an annoyance with the hope of selling more ink..It can be turned off in the preferences...

Just like the canned profiles using way to much ink

 

[kanini]

No, I think it just alerts you if you're running long unattended prints for example overnight that you could run out of ink. You can disable the alert if you want...

 

[Banners Signs Etc.]

Hell even with the ink levels in the printer status dialog I'd be throwing out half carts if I went by that...Thank God the machine knows when its out of ink (most of the time lol)

 

[Jack Knight1979]

What Kanini said.

It's a heads up to let you know about the ink levels. I guess on the new rolands (XR), it will have you pull carts if you don't have enough ink for a job. Then you can put the old carts back in and it logs ink usage. Kind of nice on long run jobs. so you don't walk into the shop in the AM with a paused print from the night before.

I've been dealing with this annoying warning for months now. I never checked the prefs to turn it off. thanks for that. I just turned this annoying beep off

 

[Gino]

I just wait for the beeping and then take it over to the worktable, snip the little tab off, go another 50 or 60 square feet or so and then change it out.

We have post-it notes ready in case we do this at the end of the day, so we don't forget the next morning to keep an eye on it. Never failed yet.

 

[Gino]

Yeah, it works with the 440's or the 220's. There's always a small amount left when the beeping goes off.

On the earlier post I left something out. The first time we tried this, I printed until it sucked dry. It was at about 65 or so square feet.

Now you have to do about a five second calculation. The color that just ran out..... are you gonna be using 100% of that cartridge or maybe 50% ?? At 100% you should get almost 60 square. So, I've already printed two 4' x 8' panels before replacing it. If you know how your colors are divied up, you shouldn't have any problem getting another banner or coupla boards out of that cartridge.

 

[petepaz]

i usually wait for the beep also but didn't know about gino's little trick.
what little tab do you snip off to keep using?

 

[petepaz]

also didn't know you could turn that window off. i will be turning that off right now
thanks for the tips

 

[Gino]

i usually wait for the beep also but didn't know about gino's little trick.
what little tab do you snip off to keep using?

Take any spent cartridge and there is a little plastic tab that must shoot out and sets off the beeper. Pull that tab out with a pliers and then cut it off. Don't pull the tab OUT of the CARTRIDGE, or you'll ruin it altogether. Just cut it so it doesn't make contact inside the printer.

 

[Banners Signs Etc.]

Great trick..I'd say just cut it off and print 3-4 more banners then toss it. Beats taking it apart and sucking and combining...Hard times we live in
eh?

 

[Gino]

I'm assuming its the little flat tab that pokes out the rear side of the carts.

Thanks for this info Gino - I've scoffed at stories of people siphoning every last drop before but this is worthwhile as far as I'm concerned!

And good point about determining how much it will use of that color - especially if you check the job log, it will have the breakdown of each ink used.

I guess the only thing is now you'll have to monitor the level yourself, and there is a risk of sucking air into the lines?

Only if you get greedy and try to go too far.

You have to do a little head calculation, but it's really easy. I don't think your job log will help you on 'up coming' jobs. If you are printing a bunch of blue signs and cyan just went out, don't go more than 60 square feet. If your cyan went out and you have a lot of orange coming up, don't sweat a thing.

I would however, advise letting magenta go empty before trying this. For us, we go through more magenta than anything else. So we base it on that. Watch it carefully and as soon as you see the color shift, stop it and you'll need to draw more ink through, but it's worth it in the end.

Also, I can only do it with 4 color set ups. Machines with light cyan and magenta play tricks in how they distribute the ink, so you can't be as exact, except for black and yellow.

Once you start doing it, it becomes second nature to do this and if you think about it...... don't you squeeze the last bit of tooth paste out.... or lick the ice cream cone and try to catch every last drop ?? Well, samating here. You're not scrimping, you're just getting your money's worth.

 

[splizaat]

we snip the tab and finish the job usually, but don't keep printing more and more. I've always said someone needs to come up with a funnel system that allows you to take all the ink in leftover cartridges and combine them.