Computer printer made in USA (i.e. don't throw out your junk)

[pipsters]

I put an ad on CL for a free old laser jet printer. It was made in the USA, which I liked, and worked 100% perfect and even came with a new laser cartridge, but we had actually found (also on the curb while walking our dog) another more modern laser printer that works better so we decided to keep it instead.

Anyway got a call from someone across the country asking if I'd ship it if they sent a label. 2 days go by and no label so I look on eBay...$40-$80 for these things PLUS shipping!

This is a 20 year old printer...I don't get it...but to think I almost threw it out! Up it goes on eBay...

Moral of the story, before you throw something out, ALWAYS check eBay

 

[Professur]

I've got 3 HP 5l/6l sitting idle right now. All three need the separation pad/pick roller kit ($20). Frankly, it's not worth my effort to get them. If anyone around me wants a laser printer, there's one for the taking, and I'll give them the name of the shop and the part number and phone number of where to order it. If they ask nicely, I'll even do the install for them.

 

[FunkyfullWidth]

So you listed it for free, someone offered to take it but you realized it was worth something and listed it on ebay instead... Kinda sounds douchy... I mean that in the nicest of ways, but you should of looked at value before listing it. Either way, good luck with a sale.

 

[91bronc300]

He said he waited a couple days for the label.

 

[honcho]

The value of old printers can surprise you at times. A common reason is that some specialized "vertical" applications were built around a specific type of hardware. Another reason is that some types of printers have exceptionally low cost of operation and surprisingly high quality output (Canon ip3000, 4000.5000, 6000 models come to mind). I'm very fond of the the laserjet 1012.1015.1018, 1020, 1022 series though since the release of windows 7 I've pretty much settled on 1020 / 1022 models for all my family members. Another reason is that some people just don't want to change the type of printer they use because their stuck in their ways.....

 

[Stuart in MN]

Old printers may or may not have a communication port that works with your new computer, so check that before you buy.

 

[LEVE]

I've been using a HP 1012 since Noah came over on the Ark. Yep, it's a pain with Win7 and Win8, but I found a driver that I can live with. It's going to be a cold day in heck before I get rid of this workhorse.

 

[hifi_hokie]

Old printers may or may not have a communication port that works with your new computer, so check that before you buy.

SCSI comes to mind...my first platen scanner was a beast that was designed before USB was a twinkle in anyone's eye.

I guess there'll always be adapters, but keeping these things running is a losing battle...

 

[pipsters]

So you listed it for free, someone offered to take it but you realized it was worth something and listed it on ebay instead... Kinda sounds douchy... I mean that in the nicest of ways, but you should of looked at value before listing it. Either way, good luck with a sale.

Waited 2 business days, they never called me back (I'm on East Coast they are in Cali) and so I gave up...honestly 2 days was more than enough IMO. They called Wed morning I listed it on Sunday.

Anyone know anything about HP's? This is a 4L.

 

[Alchymist]

Anyone know anything about HP's? This is a 4L.

All I know about HP is that they make their money on ink cartridges. Wife's printer ran out of black ink the same day mine did, and I had some letters I wanted to get out. So, off to Walmart (Sunday, only place open) for cartridges. Ouch. Black for hers was $36, color was $48. (Black for mine was $14). New printer was $38, with black and color cartridges included. Looked up the cartridge prices for it, $14. Bought the new one for the wife. When the color cartridge on her old one is empty, SCRAP.

Not upset either, because I grab every old printer and copier I can get my hands on. They yield a lot of steel shafts, some pretty precision, plus gears and other hardware. Ideal stuff to the home machinist & tinkerer.

 

[kythri]

Cartridges that come with the printer have far less capacity than the more expensive replacements that you buy.

 

[Alchymist]

Cartridges that come with the printer have far less capacity than the more expensive replacements that you buy.

The point was that the new printer used much less expensive cartridges, and the new printer cost less than a single cartridge for the old one.

 

[rlitman]

Anyone know anything about HP's? This is a 4L.

Sure, I used to have one. The horizontal paper tray was way better than that vertical **** in the 5l. It was a bit slow, but printed very nicely. I don't think anything in that printer was domestic though.

That was one of (or perhaps it was) the earliest HP's to have an energy saving mode where it automatically went into sleep, and it had no on/off button, IIRC.

I cannot imagine why someone would buy one of those though, unless they were sitting on a warehouse of toner cartridges.

I have a few Laserjet 2100's now. The print about 4 times as fast as a 4L, and take a Jetdirect card, so I can network them, and can even accept an external tray. On eBay, they're no more expensive than a 4L, but are 3 generations newer, and one series better.

 

[pipsters]

All I know about HP is that they make their money on ink cartridges. Wife's printer ran out of black ink the same day mine did, and I had some letters I wanted to get out. So, off to Walmart (Sunday, only place open) for cartridges. Ouch. Black for hers was $36, color was $48. (Black for mine was $14). New printer was $38, with black and color cartridges included. Looked up the cartridge prices for it, $14. Bought the new one for the wife. When the color cartridge on her old one is empty, SCRAP.

Not upset either, because I grab every old printer and copier I can get my hands on. They yield a lot of steel shafts, some pretty precision, plus gears and other hardware. Ideal stuff to the home machinist & tinkerer.

Inkjets aren't a good choice for printing most things (ie b&w), laser is the way to go. $40 for toner for the 4L yields 2000 pages.

 

[pipsters]

Sure, I used to have one. The horizontal paper tray was way better than that vertical **** in the 5l. It was a bit slow, but printed very nicely. I don't think anything in that printer was domestic though.

That was one of (or perhaps it was) the earliest HP's to have an energy saving mode where it automatically went into sleep, and it had no on/off button, IIRC.

I cannot imagine why someone would buy one of those though, unless they were sitting on a warehouse of toner cartridges.

I have a few Laserjet 2100's now. The print about 4 times as fast as a 4L, and take a Jetdirect card, so I can network them, and can even accept an external tray. On eBay, they're no more expensive than a 4L, but are 3 generations newer, and one series better.

We found an HP 1320 on the side of the road, 4x the resolution (1200 dpi) and quick to print. Can't argue with the price, I plug it into my router w/ the USB plug so it's networked that way, pretty neat. A big improvement over the 4L we had before.

Just found out you could get total page count off of it, 20,509 so kinda high, but way less than the ones on eBay, and 61% left on the toner...not bad for free!

 

[Alchymist]

Inkjets aren't a good choice for printing most things (ie b&w), laser is the way to go. $40 for toner for the 4L yields 2000 pages.

Show me a laser printer for $39. The HP inkjets do everything we need.

 

[pipsters]

Show me a laser printer for $39. The HP inkjets do everything we need.

I suppose if you just buy a new printer every time the toner goes out or expires. My HP inkjet all-in-one has expired ink cartridges and we have to replace them to use it. All-in-one's are expensive I'm getting a laser one next.

But I got that 4L in 2003, 10 years later still going strong. With those ink cartridges expiring I like staying with laser so you don't have to keep buying them. Over time buying a new $40 printer adds up, they expire it seems about every 12 months or so...

 

[zuk123]

I buy pallets of printers at surplus auctions.

I tear the inkjets down for motors and shafts since they almost never work.

The lasers almost always work if they have toner. I have a stack of perfectly good lasers. If I ever run out of toner in the one I'm using, I'll just move on to the next one.

I usually pay about 50c each for them.

And, now I have a lifetime supply so I've stopped--- unless I see a nice color laser....

zuk

 

[Alan Douglas]

I started with HP 2s, then 3s, and now 4s, anywhere from free to $30 at the flea market, a toner cartridge lasts for thousands of pages. So they're big and heavy; they're not going anywhere.

 

[honcho]

Of course the printer manufacturers make their money from selling ink & toner cartridges. As other folks have noted, a laser has much lower toner cost per page than ink jet printers and a laser can sit for months / years unused and will work fine when needed. Most inkjets will not work properly or at all if left unused for long periods of time. At best they will require new ink cartridge and at worst even new printhead if the printhead isn't part of the cartridge.

I finally retired a Laserjet 4 from 1995 when I spilled a soda into it. It had printed over 500k pages before it joined my household. In over 15 years I only put about 9k pages and there was still plenty of toner left in the second cartridge I had purchased. What a great printer, however, I have 4 different printers in the house and I recently put one in the garage so I could print out schematics and such for repair work.

 

[cbracer]

I've got an original Epson FX286 wide dot matrix printer in EXCELLENT condition with 3 ribbons..... anyone wanna make me an offer???

 

[jmauld]

Show me a laser printer for $39. The HP inkjets do everything we need.

I purchased a laser printer 6yrs ago for $89 and just recently had to replace the toner cartridge in it.

Add up your ink cost over 5yrs and tell me how it compares.

 

[andywander]

When you compare the costs of ink cartridges from different printers, keep in mind that one cartridge may do a heck of a lot more pages than the other one.

 

[Engineer61]

All this talk about old printers - and it's HP 4L & 5L???? I miss my old Citizen daisywheel wide carriage printer - yes the same company that makes the watches. SCSI interface? It had an old Centronics parallel port with the full 36 pin implementation. I still have a couple of computers that could drive it, but I loaned it to my sister for her newsletter and she tossed it when she got a laserprinter - which was an old IBM (NOT Lexmark) 4019e.
That old daisywheel printed better than any laserjet and could handle the old wide greenbar computer paper as well as the 20lb stationary stock I used for my resume's.

 

[blarf]

I put an ad on CL for a free old laser jet printer. It was made in the USA, which I liked, and worked 100% perfect and even came with a new laser cartridge, but we had actually found (also on the curb while walking our dog) another more modern laser printer that works better so we decided to keep it instead.

Anyway got a call from someone across the country asking if I'd ship it if they sent a label. 2 days go by and no label so I look on eBay...$40-$80 for these things PLUS shipping!

This is a 20 year old printer...I don't get it...but to think I almost threw it out! Up it goes on eBay...

Moral of the story, before you throw something out, ALWAYS check eBay

None of that is too surprising. Let's hope you don't check out

http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/

Old printers may or may not have a communication port that works with your new computer, so check that before you buy.

Most of these printers can accept a network interface card (JetDirect is the HP term for them). It's worth keeping in mind that there were a few bad batches of the JetDirect cards (the 610, I think).

Waited 2 business days, they never called me back (I'm on East Coast they are in Cali) and so I gave up...honestly 2 days was more than enough IMO. They called Wed morning I listed it on Sunday.

Anyone know anything about HP's? This is a 4L.

IMO the L and P lines aren't worth the bother. The regular (and M versions) of the 4/4+/5 were great (I've got a few, most I got for free), and their eventual replacements the 4000 series are pretty nice too. They're medium duty printers, designed to be used and serviced (unlike the lower-end ones). In that group, I think the 4100 or 4200 series were the first to 'require' genuine HP toner cartridges.

As expensive as toner cartridges are, they typically last significantly longer than an ink cartridge (and typically won't dry out or clog up... and the one part that doesn't age well — the rubber wiper —*@#$can usually be replaced separately). Or you can check out the Kodak inkjets. Cheaper ink (supposedly) and unsubsidized printers.

 

[danski0224]

I also moved away from inkjet a long time ago. The cartridges never lasted or they dried up.

Nothing beats a plain old B&W laser for low cost printing.

Not all color lasers have a "black" cartridge- some use multiple colors to make black instead. That could get expensive.

I would like to print pictures, but they don't look so good from a laser printer.

 

[bsaint]

eh, I think Id rather have an older Japanese printer than an American printer. Japanese electronics seem to hold up better.

 

[danski0224]

I would like to get a color laser that can do 11 x 17, but I can't justify a new one.

It would have to have true postscript, not an emulation.

Any ideas?

 

[byoungblood]

Show me a laser printer for $39. The HP inkjets do everything we need.

I finally retired a HP LJ4+ last year that was 17 years old. I got it for free 7 years ago, and maybe spent $40 on a fuser. Frankly, that's the only reason why I gave up on it. It started nickel and diming me to death for parts, and folks want too much money for refurbished parts when I could buy another used laser printer for $60 that will probably last another 7-10 years.

If you print more than a few pages a week a laser printer makes better sense simply because of how expensive ink is. Toner cartridges aren't exactly cheap either, but have a much better cost per page and don't dry out and require cleaning that wastes a ton of ink.

 

[blarf]

eh, I think Id rather have an older Japanese printer than an American printer. Japanese electronics seem to hold up better.

AFAIK HP has an exclusive contract with Canon for the print engines.

 

[itguy08]

If you print more than a few pages a week a laser printer makes better sense simply because of how expensive ink is. Toner cartridges aren't exactly cheap either, but have a much better cost per page and don't dry out and require cleaning that wastes a ton of ink.

Depends on the inkjet. Move up to a "Business Class" inkjet and the costs are comparable, especially for Color. I've got an OfficeJet Pro 8500a and the ink costs are quite reasonable for high volume work.
$39 for 2200 pages Black
$28 for the colors (CMY) for 1400 pages
The print is really good and it's got an awesome scanner/copier.

Contrast that with my previous color laser, an HP2500dn
$85 for 2500 pages Black
$94 for the colors (CMY) for 2000 pages.

Stop buying cheap inkjets and watch your cost per page go down!

 

[78Bird]

I got fatally sick and tired of $35 each carts for the inkjet, that are TINY (and need a black and color).

I snagged a business class LAserjet 4600 (color), $200, came with a full set of new toners (about loaf bread sized each)

A full toner refill would be ~155, but that's less than 3 refills of that tiny **** the inkjet had. Estimated yield for these is 8-9 thousand pages depending on coverage.... I swear the inkjet was 8-9 pages. If they didnt dry up....

Also, I have serviced these for years, so I know how to work on them. I see plenty with well over 1 million pages printed and still going strong.

As soon as I replace the scanner, that little inkjet POS is getting the Office Space treatment.

 

[ChevyEFI]

We're still chugging along with a 15yo inkjet. Newer stuff seems to need costlier ink.

So you listed it for free, someone offered to take it but you realized it was worth something and listed it on ebay instead... Kinda sounds douchy... I mean that in the nicest of ways, but you should of looked at value before listing it. Either way, good luck with a sale.

Think of it in terms of Craigslist. I last listed a box of free stuff 2 weeks ago. Lots of "hey, I can come by shortly" but over 10 flakes.

Now ask yourself why this is. Because they're trying to get as much stuff for free as possible to flip. And, when they find a deal they feel is better, you're off their list to care about. And it's not like someone who thinks flipping free stuff as a career is going to be the most organized in the world.

See, douching can be bi-directional. I bet you didn't know that.

 

[pipsters]

I sold it for $80 on eBay minus $15 in shipping minus the few $$ in fees. I'm blown away it sold for that much. Who would buy a 19 year old printer for $80?


WHY??

 

[Vvmvbb]

.

Anyone know anything about HP's? This is a 4L.

Yeah, I know a little about the 4L. Bought mine new and it still works perfectly. It was HP's low cost printer (slower and less memory than the business printers).
Centronics parallel port, so I used a USB to Centronics cable for a while years ago. Desktops are long gone in my house, and everyone needs wireless printing, so I suppose I will stack it on my betamax...
Loved the 4L. I don't know if it had a Canon engine in it like other early HPs.

 

[cide1]

Hp 4050 here . Got it for free, replaced a roller, good to go. It's page count is somewhere around 250,000. We used it for 3 years on the "low toner" cartridge it came with before replacing

 

[a990dna]

I would like to get a color laser that can do 11 x 17, but I can't justify a new one.

It would have to have true postscript, not an emulation.

Any ideas?

HP 5550 color laserjet.... here's a photo of mine.

Actually you can feed a 12x18 through this monster... I had three of these at work, this one wasn't being used so I bought it from the company and brought it home.

The HP 5550 runs forever like the HP 4M/5M B&W laser printers...

.