This may work with your Designjet 500 or 800 if the install of the latest firmware now makes your plotter aware of expired inks --- I haven't tested it. Let me know if it works. Thanks!

If you cannot print is not because the ink is expired.

Try this.

1- delete all the pending jobs at the printer panel
2- reset the ink cartridges and acknowledge the warnings
3- print the Image Quality Print to check the status of the nozzles ant the printheads.
4- replace any bad printheads
5- do the printhead alignment and paper advance calibration
6- print an internal demo to test the hardware

From HP: 
Access the settings window in Devices and Printers to select settings that apply to all your print jobs.

1. Search Windows for 'printers', then click Devices and Printers in the search results.
2. Right-click the icon for your printer, then click Printer properties.
   ​

3. Click the Advanced tab, then click Printing Defaults.
Figure : Click Printing Defaults on the Advanced tab in Printer Properties
​4. Change any settings you want as defaults in the Printing Defaults window, then click OK.

 I was working on getting a 450c Designjet refurbished today. New belt, cleaned up inside and out, fresh spittoon and oiled the rail. Thinking all was ok, I put the covers back on and got ready to print. BOOGERS! The LOAD + ALIGN + MEDIA lights were on and I wasn't sure what it was that was causing this.

​Looking in the service manual I found a number of things it could be. I decided to try the easiest thing and wiped down the encoder strip with a soft damp paper towel. Don't Use Alcohol If You Try This - just warm water! Wiped it all the way across from far left to far right. As I was wiping I noticed a couple of ink smudges on the encoder strip. They came right up on the paper towel.

Then with the plotter turned off I moved the carriage to the middle of the machine and restarted it. This lets the carriage "refind" itself with the clean encoder strip which is the GPS of the plotter. It tells the carriage where to be from left to right. IT WORKED!

​Below you can see the suggestions from the service manual.

I'm often asked if a certain Designjet model can have a memory upgrade. Off the top of my head, I can't always remember. I'm a princess, but an OLD princess, just like your Designjet! I found this chart today from the UK where they freakin' love their old HP Designjet plotters! Check it out here!

Jerry called from Pottstown PA and needed a few parts to put his old Designjet back together. He'd been lucky enough to get his hands on a cheap machine that was missing a spindle and hubs for the paper rolls. I was happy to sell him these things and popped them in the mail the next time I went to town.. Jerry also replaced the belt, cleaned up the inside and oiled the rails to make this classic wide format printer ready to print.

He even bought the correct USB to Parallel BI-DIRECTIONAL cable from my SUPPLIES page.


​He called me the next day and paid me to turn off the driver signing requirement in Windows 10, download the correct driver,  choose the port and we finished the printer install.

I talked him through putting the paper roll on the spindle -- making sure it was TIGHT up against the right stationery hub. He pulled out enough paper to come to his nose as he stood in front of the plotter. Feeding it into the plotter, he lined up the right side of the paper with the perforated holes on the plotter. The printer grabbed the paper and fed it until it came back out the front of the machine. "What does align the paper mean?," he asked me. I told him to flip up the blue lever (also known to me as the clutch lever.) Next I told him to pull the paper by the two corners while looking at the right side and making it as tight to match on the right as possible. This guarantees it will be seen by the plotter as square on and could even print a 10 foot banner without the print skewing by the end. It seemed fine. He put the lever back and we tried a print. Watching it in the queue it didn't error, but Jerry yelled "Oh dang it!" and told me the carriage had caught the right side of the paper on its return from the trip to the right and bunched the paper up. We re-loaded the paper about 10 more times that afternoon. I asked him to look at the star wheels and see if they all rotated properly. He said he couldn't figure out what I was talking about. We finally took a break before Jerry gave up and threw the darned thing out of his house. 

Once he'd recovered from the trauma of all this "learning" he  sent me a photo of the printer with the lid up. I laughed and laughed. Then I picked up my phone and called him to tell him he had no bail. A bail is a black bar that automatically lifts up when the paper is loaded so the paper can slip under and then the bail drops onto the paper to hold it down while printing. Along the bail are about 10 small black plastic pieces with little wheels that have tiny needles on the points of the stars that help keep the paper moving straight forward. 

Of course I found a bail for his printer and mailed it immediately! When it came he called and I talked him through installing it. He kept saying "Now that makes sense!" as he looked at how the bail works. We don't often think about the bail since it is a non-electronic part, but without it your paper won't load properly and your carriage will crash into the paper and you just can't print!

Thus ends the story of how Jerry got bailed out!

​The BAIL on this printer is shown in YELLOW highlight above.

The display panels or menus on HP Designjets in the 600, 650, 700, 750 series are dimming with age and many have totally blown, especially for those not using good surge protectors! I'm on a quest to find a replacement for these. I save front panels from every machine I junk out, but there's got to be a better way! 

In researching this I've found that the actual display is a Futaba Vacuum Fluorescent Display Module 2 Lines/20 Characters -- With each character using 5 dots wide and 7 tall.

The Futaba part was ​M202SD01HA and/or 202SD01B

Here's a link to the actual manual of the actual part: http://docs-europe.electrocomponents.com/webdocs/0031/0900766b800319eb.pdf
Those of you who are more electronically inclined may be able to figure out a replacement for this display OR may be able to find an actual distributor of these displays. If you can make in progress on this, please email me through the email form on the ASK QUESTIONS page. 

Ron called this morning. He has a Designjet 500 giving him a 22:10 error code. The key to finding the solution came when he said he'd just replaced an empty cartridge. 

I asked Ron if he'd tried turning it off and on and/or disconnecting the electric cord from the wall for 15 minutes. He humored me and said yes they had without sounding disdainful of the question! Really, it is important to ask this, so don't be offended...there are hundreds of problems that can be quickly and easily solved with just turning the darned thing off!!!

I told Ron to turn off the printer, take all the cartridges out. Turn the printer back on and make the printer ask for ink. It asked, he reinstalled the ink cartridges. That solved the problem. The printer came quickly to READY. 

​HOORAY!!!

So my old buddy Aaron in Phoenix had just replaced the carriage belt on his Designjet 430 and suddenly ALL the lights on his control panel were lit and neither he nor I could find a reason for it. After trying about 30 different potential fixes, Aaron found that the reason was that the parallel to USB cable wasn't fully seated on the parallel connection. Problem solved! 

Many people called this week to say they went to print with their Windows 10 and their plotter which had always worked well in the past and now the Designjet wasn't on the list anymore. Further, when they tried to reinstall they found that as they followed the wizard and all the steps it still didn't show up. Here's what I've learned and what I THINK may be the cause:
1. Reboot your computer.
2. Pull up Printers and Devices from SETTINGS
3. If your plotter still isn't showing ADD A PRINTER
4. Choose all the things you chose last time and then when it asks if you want a new driver or use the already installed driver (which is recommended) - USE THE ALREADY INSTALLED DRIVER
5. If you still can't get printing call me at 651-247-3022 and I'll charge you $50 to reload your printer remotely.

WHY HAS THIS HAPPENED? I think it may have been a Microsoft update or another update like Adobe which updates every 22 minutes...or so it seems...and it somehow interfered and threw these printers off the list. I'm sure that they will send out another update soon and we'll think we just dreamed this...

Occasionally I get a call from someone who just can't get the darned cover off the Designjet 650 or 600.  John Hamill was one of those folks and after he found the HIDDEN SCREW for the Designjet 650C he decided that he could help others by making a video. Some machines I encounter already have these screws removed, but this one didn't and John was stumped. Thanks for sharing JOHN!!! 

HP DesignJet 500 Plus - Error is reported:The printer memory runs out, and the print file data is lost

​ISSUE:The DesignJet 500 Plus reports the following error in the print process:The printer memory runs out, and the print file data is lost.The job print fails.

SOLUTION:Enter the printer window via the Control Panel. Right click on the printer icon and select Printer Preference in the pop-up menu, and then enter the Service tab.Click the Fix Software Problem button, and select the options in the pop-up window according to the following figure.
Click <OK>.


 

If the problem persists, try extending the printer memory to fix the problem if practical.
If your printer still does not return to normal, record the problem in detail, and contact the HP technical support hotline or the nearest gold-level service center.

Don't you just love it when you trip across something that's delightfully unexpected and will make your life easier? I did that today. I found a page on HP.com/UK that has all the drivers for all the Designjets...I hope.

​Check It Out!

HP DesignJet 3D Printer series
HP DesignJet 30 Printer series
HP DesignJet 70 Printer series
HP DesignJet 90 Printer series
HP DesignJet 100 Printer series
HP DesignJet 100plus Printer series
HP DesignJet 110 Color Printer
HP DesignJet 110plus Printer series
HP DesignJet 111 Printer series
HP DesignJet 120 Printer series
HP DesignJet 130 Printer series
HP DesignJet 200 Printer series
HP DesignJet 300 Printer series
HP DesignJet 400 Printer series
HP DesignJet 500 Mono Printer series
HP DesignJet 500 Printer series
HP DesignJet 510 Printer series
HP DesignJet 600 Printer series
HP DesignJet 700 Printer series
HP DesignJet 800 Printer series
HP DesignJet 815mfp series
HP DesignJet 820 MFP series
HP DesignJet 1000 Printer series
HP DesignJet 4000 Printer series
HP DesignJet 4020 Printer series
HP DesignJet 4200 Scanner
HP DesignJet 4500 mfp series
HP DesignJet 4500 Printer series
HP DesignJet 4500 Scanner series
HP DesignJet 4520 Multifunction Printer series
HP DesignJet 4520 Printer series
HP DesignJet 4520 Scanner series
HP DesignJet 5000 Printer series
HP DesignJet 5100 Printer series
HP DesignJet 5500 Printer series
HP DesignJet 8000 Printer series
HP DesignJet 9000s Printer series
HP DesignJet 10000s Printer series
HP DesignJet A3+/B+ Graphic Printer series
HP DesignJet Colorpro Printer series
HP DesignJet Copier series
HP DesignJet cp Printer series
HP DesignJet D5800 Production Printer series
HP DesignJet H35000 Commercial Printer series
HP DesignJet H45000 Commercial Printer series
HP DesignJet HD Pro MFP
HP DesignJet HD Pro Scanner series
HP DesignJet HD Scanner series
HP DesignJet L25500 Printer series
HP DesignJet L65000 Printer series
HP DesignJet SD Pro MFP
HP DesignJet SD Pro Scanner series
HP DesignJet T120 ePrinter series
HP DesignJet T520 Printer series
HP DesignJet T610 Printer series
HP DesignJet T620 Printer series
HP DesignJet T730 Printer
HP DesignJet T770 Printer series
HP DesignJet T790 Printer series
HP DesignJet T795 Printer series
HP DesignJet T830 Multifunction Printer
HP DesignJet T920 Printer series
HP DesignJet T930 Printer series
HP DesignJet T1100 MFP series
HP DesignJet T1100 Printer series
HP DesignJet T1120 HD Multifunction Printer series
HP DesignJet T1120 Printer series
HP DesignJet T1120 SD Multifunction Printer series
HP DesignJet T1200 HD Multifunction Printer series
HP DesignJet T1200 Printer series
HP DesignJet T1300 Printer series
HP DesignJet T1500 Printer series
HP DesignJet T1530 Printer series
HP DesignJet T2300 Multifunction Printer
HP DesignJet T2500 Multifunction Printer series
HP DesignJet T2530 Multifunction Printer series
HP DesignJet T3500 Production Multifunction Printer
HP DesignJet T7100 Printer series
HP DesignJet T7200 Production Printer series
HP DesignJet Z2100 Photo Printer series
HP DesignJet Z2600 PostScript Printer
HP DesignJet Z3100 Photo Printer series
HP DesignJet Z3200 Photo Printer series
HP DesignJet Z5200 Photo Printer
HP DesignJet Z5400 PostScript Printer
HP DesignJet Z5600 PostScript Printer
HP DesignJet Z6100 Printer series
HP DesignJet Z6200 Photo Production Printer
HP DesignJet Z6600 Production Printer series
HP DesignJet Z6800 Photo Production Printer series
HP HD Pro Scanner
HP Original DesignJet Printer series
HP PageWide XL 4000 Printer series
HP PageWide XL 4500 Printer series
HP PageWide XL 5000 Printer series
HP PageWide XL 8000 Printer
HP SD Pro Scanner

To use the ethernet port on the back of the printer, you will need a router. Run ethernet cable from router to back of printer. your printer will have to be configured through the front panel of the printer with an IP address that your router will see. You can then send print files from your laptop to the printer wireless. 

Here's an excellent article with step by step directions for most HP Designjets  

Note: When you get to the step about IP Bytes you just hold down the up arrow or down arrow to quickly get to the number.

kToday I was loading drivers on Windows 10 for a very nice gentleman in New Jersey. When doing this I always ask the question, "Can you verify for me that you don't have any extensions, hubs, adapters connected to your Parallel to USB Cable, because that almost always messes with the bi-directionality that these plotters need." 

The customer responded, "Well, my USB cable is a USB to DB25 Female Parallel adapter cable connected to the old type of printer cable that is gray and has the twenty-five pin head on both ends."

I told him that it probably would not work. My experience has been that anything connected except for the parallel to usb cable won't work. He explained to me that he had the old gray printer cable but it wasn't long enough to let him reach the plotter that was in the next room from his computer.

I said we'd try it. I was sure it would be for naught. The print came right through...even faster than normal for a Designjet 430. I thanked him and now I'm sharing the info with you! I love these tips. If you want to buy one, it is posted above with the UGREEN label from Amazon, just click on the photo!

This week I received two calls from HP Designjet 430 and 450c owners telling me that their trusty old machine was giving them a cartridge + data error and the initialization was very, very slow. Both told me that the error could be cancelled. This means that their sweet little plotters had line sensors that were bad. These are very easy to replace and cost less than $50. I've created a link below for you to buy line sensors for these plotters. When they come you just need to remove the two screws from the right side of the carriage, snap off the black plastic housing and pull out the old one and plug in the new one. Replace the black housing, it pretty much snaps into place. Replace the screws and your plotter will live for another 20 years -- except for belt replacements every 4-5 years. I've also included a link below to the new belts.

The present my adult children and their spouses  seem to like the most, whether for birthdays or Christmas is a year of paid for AMAZON PRIME! They love it cuz they can get free 2 day priority shipping, stream free movies and tv shows and hundreds of other premium free goodies. So if you are stumped and don't know what will fit and whether they already have one or not...just give them the gift of a year of AMAZON PRIME!

And if the kids are home from college over the holidays...of course they are, where else can they sleep til noon and eat for free??? Give them the gift of AMAZON STUDENT!

Or...if someone comes home and tells you that you are going to be a Grandpa or Grandma...sign them up for the baby registry!

Christmas is coming so I am quite busy refurbishing plotters between answering the door for packages and wrapping the presents for the family! I need to have a fully ready inventory because that week after Christmas lots of businesses realize that they just have a week to buy that wide format printer they've been thinking about and the phone starts to ring like crazy! 

This is the first Christmas with the darling twin grandbabies and I've been ordering cute musical toys because at 10 months they both love to dance, clap their hands and sing. 

I'll be making some favorite photos into canvas wall hangings with wooden frames for most of the family. I have plenty of plotters to do this with so I think it is time to make some for us...the customers always ask me about it and with the Designjet 500 and 800 I get amazing results! 

I'm also thinking about some vinyl printing to do some lettering on an old mirror.  I'll make the quote with vinyl and then cut out the letters and use the adhesive vinyl for a stencil. I'll let you all know how it turns out!

​Here's my favorite baby photo that's going to be placed on canvas -- we call it "BABY FIGHT CLUB" and the first rule of fight club is...

I've often been asked if we sell supplies for HP Designjets. The answer was no, until now when my partner website:www.ThePlotter Princess.com
came online to sell through Amazon the parts and supplies that are most requested.

Find them on the SUPPLIES PAGE.  You'll get the same great prices that Amazon normally charges and we'll get a small % of the sale.

If you can't find what you want, put a search in the Amazon search bar on any page in the Supplies page and you'll get what you want and we'll still get our rebate! 

​So, I am thanking you in advance for your purchases. If there is something you'd like to see on the supplies section just shoot me an email at susanlapakko@gmail.com. Thanks!

Through my 6+ years of refurbishing Designjets I've learned one thing for sure....don't believe anything until you try it yourself. 

I knew that if I printed a sign on adhesive vinyl it instantly became waterproof due to the way the ink permeates the vinyl and a chemical reaction that occurs. So why shouldn't I give it a try outside and see if it would hold up under bright summer sunlight at a busy intersection where there are no trees.

It didn't...the fade was dramatic and traumatic to say the least. 

So onto the next thing....I'm going to try a spray called Frog Spit.  I've been told it works great and sprays a UV proofing coat over a printed item.

I'll let you know how it turns out!

​If you are thinking about buying a wide format graphics printer so you can print your own blueprints, there are a few things you should know and think about.

I'm known as "The Plotter Princess" - not because I'm royalty, but because I know all about HP Designjet printers - also known as PLOTTERS - and how to use them for printing your own blueprints and graphics. I have a website filled with tips and tricks for users at www.MyOldDesignjet.com 

1. There's a difference between USED and REFURBISHED - Used is just that - used! No one has taken the covers off and cleaned out the years of ink and gunk. No one has replaced the parts that are worn, like the belt. You need to know that even if it is not being used, the belts are deteriorating with each passing day. Refurbished means it has been stripped down, cleaned out, essential parts replaced and/or serviced, everything lubricated, recalibrated and tested, tested, tested!

2. Don't buy from anyone who can't show you how well it prints - If they don't have paper and ink, if it is missing some essential component you may be very, very sorry. I get calls every day from people who did buy without testing and now want me to help them by repairing their newly purchased USED printer plotter.

3. Don't buy more machine than you need - If you are just printing blueprints buy an older refurbished HP Designjet. Buying a $10,000 plotter that will sit around 6 out of 7 days is a waste of money! Like cars, the moment you first use them they depreciate considerably.

4. Don't buy a printer that can't use expired cartridges and/or printheads - You can always find "expired" ink bargains online for these older HP Designjets, but buying the fancy machine will lock you into a system that will shut down if you use and expired ink or printhead. Really? Ink doesn't EXPIRE! Just like most drugs don't!! I routinely use inks from 2004, 2007, etc. - but that's because I use an older plotter from the days before they figured out how to put chips on the cartridges that have dates of expiration.

5. Don't buy from someone who won't take your call tomorrow! I will take your calls! Heck, I even take calls from people who didn't buy from me! If you buy my refurbished plotter, I will take your calls for years to come!

6. Don't buy from someone who can't show you how to make it work with your computer. If you have a Windows 8 or 10 operating system we can connect an older plotter, but you'll need someone with my years of experience to help you get it done. If you bring your laptop to an appointment, we will connect it before you leave. If you have a desktop we can connect remotely after you get the printer home and make everything work.

I have many plotters available today. Call me to discuss what you need to accomplish and we'll figure out together which plotter will work for you. If I don't have the right one, I will even refer you to a competitor if he has the model you need.

The neighborhood kids have gone back to school and the whine of jetski races is no longer heard on weekdays! Soon the whole landscape will be changing colors
and I will have to work to pull myself out of the chair where I can sit by the hour and watch the leaves gently fall!  

​We were so lucky when we found this spot on the lake in Lindstrom Minnesota! It is everything we wanted for our retirement home....
Lake, single level, handicap accessible and 100 different varieties of perennial flowers for the gardener husband! Oh, and last but not least -- An attached heated garage for my workshop!! Speaking of the workshop, I'll be out there today working on a Designjet 500, 800, 750c, and a 450c.
​ If I can save them and make them be good candidates for adoption I'm very happy. If I can't they still serve a great purpose by providing parts for those of you who need to keep your old plotters running. I work through the machine and verify function in each part before listing it on eBay.  

See my links to the eBay and Craigslist pages where I sell plotters and plotter parts:
EBAY
CRAIGSLIST