Desk top Publishing For Zinesters -Advice On Why Printing Yourself Might Not Be A Good Idea

Many years ago I purchased a Canon FC220 Desk Top photocopier.  Total cost was £110. At the time printers for computers were very expensive and, when I started, only commercially available to companies because of the cost.  So a nice, compact copier seemed ideal.

Above: The FC220

I used the copier to put together a few of the zines I put together (around 2000 to 2004) as well as advisory leaflets and Exotic Animals Register (f. 1977) and Vale Wildlife Group newsletters.

At the time you could pick up a toner cartridge for £50, though I found two office supply stores who sold them for £35.  Now, next time it was £65...then £75. As each store explained to me (and I tried others) "The copier is nothing. It does not make money.  The money is made through the consumables because without those you cannot use the machine."

About 5 years ago I went into the local Staples as I had repaired a roller problem with the FC220 and wanted to use it again. E30 Toner Cartridge -£130.  I blinked.  Over came the sales assistant and asked whether he could help me?  I pointed at the cartridge box and told him someone had put the wrong price under it.  I was told it was the right price.  "How does that help someone with the copier if to replace the toner cartridge will cost more than the copier?" I asked. He just smirked and actually walked off!

Here is the thing you have to remember when you think of purchasing something like this: the cost of the "consumables".  There are a lot of bigger photocopiers out there that are cheap.  You think "I can get that and just start printing my own books!"  I have known a few people who have done this and then discovered they are left with a useless copier.  Why?  Because they never looked at the price of "drums and cartridges"  and if you are going to spend £90+ (depending on copier model) every time you need a new toner cartridge -and they do not last long- you might as well take your zine to a printer and get 80(?) copies for that price.

It is a con.  The prices should get lower because of stores vying for business as well as the cost of production of the cartridges (mainly now produced in China or the Far East).  Even "refills" -where a company refills an old cartridge with toner is near extortionate. Because this is how companies make their money -including Canon.

Looking at an E30 toner cartridge today and I see Amazon have them starting from £75 while Staples want £117.  There are a lot of people selling off FC220 copiers so do not just jump in and buy! There is a reason why they are selling them.

The same thing applies to good quality PC printers. You can pick up printers so cheap it is unbelievable...until you find out what the Colour and Black ink cartridges will cost.  Ink jets are a con.  As I pointed out in posts before: you need three colour cartridges and a black cartridge -as soon as one is lower than the rest the printers are designed to stop working -you have to buy a cartridge to replace the low one and it goes on and on.

This is what I publisher on Comic Bits Online on 7th September, 2014 and it seems I was not alone in having these problems!

Review (well an Angry diatribe) Epson Stylus SX130 -Why NEVER To Buy One!

Right, firstly, when I got this machine it seemed to be a gods send. A scanner and copier all in one -fast.  Yes, I had been warned that "it is a bitch when it comes to ink!"  In fact, I never realised how bad it was. This is the machine -Sleek. Smooth. Look at those curves....ohhh, yeah.  They always say that evil hides behind beauty.

As I've written, this is a quick scanner and the copier is a bit slower but since my old desktop Canon FC220 is now beyond repair (and, unbelievably, twenty years on the toner cartridges have increased so much in price (I could buy one for £35-50 back in 2000 and now Staples and Office World want £100-150!!! THAT is far more than the machine cost) its a good deal.

One thing I noticed is that the copier will NOT copy in colour.  Now if I put a colour image on the plate to scan I get a colour image to save.  If I put a colour image on the plate to photocopy I get...black and white and to be honest not that good a quality.  Something Mr Stransky can probably verify!

But so what -its okay for copying a letter.  If I want a good copy of an image I HAVE to scan, save and print it from there.

Look at the SX130....begging to be used....

But here is the BIG problem.  No, not "big" as that under-states it.  The major problem comes with the ink cartridges.  Take a look at the bottom right of that photo above.

And here is your close-up.

You see that absolutely moronically designed piece of plastic over the cartridges?  Yes, that is molded in place. It cannot be move. You'll note they show the cayan cartridge removed and this is so you think its easy. It is not.

Run out of ink and an orange light flashes above that tear shaped symbol. Your ink is running low.  That makes me laugh.  The tear-drop is there to indicate the huge amount of grief you are in for.

The slider is supposed to move the cartridge that needs replacing to the point you see above -where the cyan cartridge has been removed. You pop it out and replace it then press that button above the tear drop and the yellow cartridge moves along to be replaced.  My ass.

The machine runs through the whole 20-30 second roll action after each cartridge is replaced...IF you can replace them. The cartridges tend not to move into place. After minutes of trying to get the bloody cartridges to move into place you think "if I take out the first one then I can get to the second one to replace it!" No. Just no.

Now, I've used HP and canon printers in the past and when cartridges need replacing you lift up the panel and the cartridges tend to move into place for removal. NEVER ever had a problem with that in...over twenty years of using printers.  Not this one.  No. That piece of shit plastic shaping means that you cannot -cannot- get to the cartridges.

You DO have options. One is to try to slide the cartridges along but this takes quite a bit of effort and I would NOT recommend that.  The best option, sadly I do not have the tools for this, is to cut out that piece of shit plastic.  Am I angry? Yes.  There is absolutely no reason for that plastic to be there other than to cause the user major problems.  The designer is a complete ass-head.

But there is more.  If you manage the approximately ten minutes or more it can take to replace the cartridges (my record is 45 minutes) the machine itself...well, it tries to screw you up.  Runs through the motions....yes, cartridges replaced.  Good.  Now to print!

"Cartridge not recognised"....whaat?  Run it all through again to print "Cartridge not recognised" and then you are told to use Epsom only cartridges.  Yes, I have put in an Epson cartridge.  So, you remove the cartridge again...replace it.  Run through okay...."Cartridge not recognised"....I have, before now, spent over an hour trying to sort this problem out.  Suddenly...the cartridge is okay.  Phew. Three copies into your printing "Cartridges not recognised"....yes, now all three -Cayan, magenta and yellow are not recognised and you "need Epson cartridges"....but they ARE Epson cartridges!!!!

Some times you only need to remove one cartridge, some times all three and then two will be recognised but not the third.  More hassle then....success! Continue print.....black cartridge not recognised. Here we go again.

And here is a thing. This week I have printed off some black and white illoes.  Not a large number -I have, in three days, used 18 cartridges.  I have them here in front of me and if I shake them they have a good deal of ink in them...but the printer says no.  It is why I now use Epson Compatible cartridges -same end results, cheaper but still all the replacement problems....I just save money.

So, I asked the fella who works in PC World about the Epson SX130 and...he laughed.  Apparently I had NOT purchased a damaged machine as I'd thought.  "I've not met anyone with the SX130 that hasn't had a problem" he told me.  That plastic crap over the cartridges?  "If it was me I'd cut the ***** out. There isn't any reason for it to be there."   A customer standing three feet away joined in. "The SX130?  They are utter crap. My boss had one for each office because he thought scanner, copier and printer all in one -brill! So in total five offices each had one.  In six months they were thrown into the waste skip!"

WHY do you never meet these people BEFORE you buy?  And the PC World man?  "People want one we sell it."  Good customer service there!

So, yes, I am going to look for a new scanner/copier/printer and it will not be an Epson. Oh, did I mention your print outs can be ejected by the printer half done because the ink has run out even though it says you have enough?

  Epson UK, incidentally -in two phone calls-  tried every single excuse including that I probably buggered the machine up in some way.

There, Epson, a blog that has had over 2 million views has called out your awful printer.  Hey, send me a free

machine that does all the SX130 is supposed to do and we'll see how that goes.

                              *********************

Of course, Epson never sent the free printer! I currently have a Canon Pixma MG25505 and it prints good...but each cartridge costs £21 each.  Now work that out.  Even if you had someone supplying you with free copier paper or you buy a ream @£2.50 you need to be able to print and sell enough copies to cover your £42 ink cartridge costs. So let's say total cost with paper is £45. 

You print 50 zines.  Say you sell each copy @£3.00 you will make £150 so your cartridge costs are covered and you get a big profit.

Suppose you sell only 30 at £3.00....£90.  Not bad.

20 copies?  That would be £60 and that would have to be your bare minimum number of sales to make back your cartridge costs and have a meagre "fun publishing" profit.

When you consider these things (I am not touching on electric costs nor postage costs if you sell mail order) It is far easier if you can find a cheap printer somewhere and get them to print off the copies you need.  Even Print On Demand is cheaper.

So although getting your own photocopier or state of the art printer seems like a good idea always -always- check what the consumables are going to cost you.