by ·0 Comments

I wanted to do a printer test but found that the printer wasn’t properly registering the light light grey cartridge which seemed odd as the printer was about as new as possible.  I checked the technical documentation, ran through the Nintendo fix of remove, blow on the contacts, and replace and decided to call Epson.  Their technical support line is open from 8 AM to midnight six days a week which seemed exceptional and so I called around 11 PM.

Me: *Dial number, rings three times*
Other end: Epson Professional Technical Support, this is Matt how may I help you?
Me: *silence*
Other end: Hello?
Me: Yes, hi.  I was surprised a… person answered.
Other end: Yeah, we answer the phones ourselves except for periods of very high call volume.
Me: Ok, I’m having a problem with my Epson 4900. A cartridge isn’t being recognized.
Other end: I remember working on developing that printer.  Isn’t she a beaut?

He then walked me through the fix.  So, the phone was answered quickly, by a person, who spoke English, who worked on developing the product.  Assuming that policy doesn’t change and the printer neither stabs me nor burns my house down, I think my next printer will also be an Epson.

by ·0 Comments

My 115 lb printer was scheduled to be delivered sometime before 7 PM and as that hour approached my heart dropped thinking that I had taken a day off from work in vain.  I contacted the shipping firm who said they’d just be late and I nearly heal-clicked when the printer delivery fairy called me to ask for directions.  The printer delivery fairy in this case was large Hispanic name who told me to call him Chico.  When he got to my place, mine was the only item on his truck and I asked if mine was the only delivery.  He indicated that this was the fifth of the day and he was glad I helped him get the box out of his truck and into my house.  I picture him being like a ice cream truck but for massive printers as people run to his truck drawn by the sound of the Espon 4900 going through its self-test cycle.  You could identify where the truck had been by the sound of people shouting in glee that is somewhat muffled by the massive box.

The printer is big.  Here is me hiding behind it:

From 2011-08-18 Giant Printer

I look forward to actually printing something on it.

by ·3 Comments

I’ve very enjoyed the process of printing and have spammed the walls of my workplace with prints:

Recently, I’ve had request for prints, and have also wanted to start printing bigger so I looked into a new printer and found that the Epson 4900 is $1000 off of $2500.  This is the largest coupon I’ve ever seen and after spending hours looking for the strings attached to it and checking to see if there was a newer printer queued to replace it I found a blog post somewhere that said “They do this sometimes to dick with HP”.  Sounds reasonable.

The Epson 4900 is a massive printer with a paper cartridge designed for 17″ x 22″ paper and ink cartridges big enough to store the fluids from exsanguinating a horse.  It has 11 ink catridges including two for colors I think Epson  invented (yurple and bleen).  Best of all, the cost per print was cheaper so I did the math on how many prints I’d have to make to break even.  The answer: 1700 13″ x 19″s.  At my current rate of printing, that’d only take 19 years.

On its way.