For quite some time now I’ve wanted a color printer, especially one that can handle B-size paper (11 x 17 inches), and one that can print onto printable CD-R and DVD-R media. Traditionally CD-R printers have been very expensive, even though most of them are just modified consumer inkjet printers. I haven’t found any that do both, but I’ve finally got separate printers for the tasks, without spending too much money.
Recently it came to my attention that some Epson inkjet printers such as the Stylus R200 and Stylus R300 series can print on discs, using a supplied carrier you run through the printer. They aren’t very expensive, and I got a really good deal on a factory-refurbished R300. That should take care of my disc-printing requirements. Which leaves me wanting to print B-size.
Some time back I was interested in the HP 2500CM, which at the time was HP’s high-end color inkjet with Postscript, or the HP DeskJet 1120C, which was a more consumer-oriented printer. Both handle B-size paper. The former is faster and uses four separate ink reservoirs and four printheads; the latter is slower and doesn’t have Postscript but only needs two print cartirdges. If I had the money to buy a new B-size inkjet printer, I’d probably get the HP Business Inkjet 2800. But they cost around $500 or more.
Last weekend I found two HP 2500CM printers at Weird Stuff for an attractive price. Both seemed to work, so I bought them, expecting that I could use one as a source of spare parts for the other. As it turns out, between the two there is one set of four good printheads, and one each full yellow and cyan ink cartridge. I had to buy new black and magenta cartridges. Also the internal JetDirect card which was a standard feature of the HP 2500CM had been removed, so I bought a used JetDirect as well. Now one of them is working quite nicely, and the other just needs new ink cartridges and printheads.
I also purchased a HP DeskJet 1120C, which was available for $30 as is. It had no ink cartridges; I bought aftermarket remanufactured cartridges at Fry’s for $18 (black) and $22 (color). People on the PDP-1 Project at the Computer History Museum have been whining about not having a printer in the restoration lab, so I took this printer over, installed it, and it works fine. Not bad for a $70 investment.