Hp DesignJet Printer

Does anyone know what it would take for me to get the HP DesignJet 1055CM 36" Wide Format Printer operational again?

A lot to get it to full functionality, it can be used to make templates and things with single colors but to get full colors out of it I do not think its possible. many people have replaced heads etc on it and it still doesn’t print right.

These kind of high maintenance/consumable tools are not things that work well in the hackerspace/makerspace model.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Eric

Thanks for the update. I’ll think on it. If I do decide to try to make it functional, I’d probably like to take it to my shop where it’s convenient to work on a bit each day. And all my tools are handy. Who would I talk to about that?

You would talk to me about it,
I was actually about to disposition it (give it away or get someone interested in it to host it) so I would be fine with you taking it to your own shop and tinkering with it. @mcmancuso @Joshcross are the ones that have worked on it and used it the most so their knowledge is much better than mine on what its status is.

P.S You probably already know this but we also have a smaller 12-18in ish printer that just needs the base put on and cartridges to be installed to be usable.

Eric

What is the best way to get in touch with @Joshcross or @mcmancuso to get more info?

I tried to catch Josh when his laser time was adjacent to mine but he was late and I ran into another commitment so I couldn’t wait any longer.

Thanks,

Clay

The machine works fine, it just needs a fresh set of heads. I replaced the carriage last year, but it thinks the heads are bad. I thought we had received a newer printer that a member was holding till we hada hosting arrangement, that would be much better. The other issue with the unit we have now is the drivers are a kludge, there’s no modern windows 10 compatible versions available.

I had no follow ups on hosting from the member who took ownership of that printer and he is no longer a member so that is not going to work out.
Eric

Ah, well, that sucks, that was a donation to the space that he was supposed to be just holding while we arranged for a hosting setup on it. I had volunteered to get it and hold it till the space could set up for it, and he INSISTED that he would take care of it. Pretty frustrated about that now…

Hi! What is the status of either of the large format printers now. I’d like to use them for my current project. Would be willing to pay for consumables. Thanks!

Sorry I have not looked in to getting going yet. Got busy on other things. I’ll try to make it a priority to see what I can do in the next week.

I too would really like to see them work at least a bit.

Clay

@Caroline both do work the larger one is a windows 7 driver only which sucks. I would recommend using the smaller one. there are consumables that you can use. If you would like to have a computer dedicated for them @Fmartin and Icould help set up one up from what we have been working on, if not you can just use your laptop.

What would really be helpful for the future is if you helped make a tool sheet for the printer. That would make it easier for people to use these tools with no classes associated with them.

I will DM you a template.

Thanks,
Eric

@caroline, I am looking for a suitable Windows 7 machine. Do you have a laptop running Windows 7? The old CNC computer is still running Windows 7. We could probably get it working with the printer if you don’t have a laptop that would work. We can find a permanent solution down the road. How soon would you like to use it? I am out of town tonight. Will be coming back in town tomorrow. If you need it tomorrow, I can maybe make something work tomorrow night.

Fred Martin

Thanks Fred…no huge hurry. I would just like to use it sometime in the coming weeks. My only computer is a mac laptop with Virtual Box installed but it running windows 8.1.

I am looking into alternate drivers for windows, Mac, Linux For the large format printer.
What year is your mac?
Which Mac OS are you running?
How much ram does your computer have?
And how much ram did you dedicate to your virtual box for windows 8.1
The support of printers was dropped with the printer was discontinued. That doesn’t mean other drivers won’t work. I have an idea for the windows drivers. I have not Started yet on the Mac support, but I think there should still be generic CUPS drivers Which would work with the Mac and with Linux. My require a little tweaking at the terminal. I’ll try with mine first. If it works, we might be able to get it to Work directly from the Mac. Do you have applications on the Mac you want to use? Or do you mean we go to virtual box and run windows for that purpose. If you have an a frame for both your Mac and windows to run well with virtual box that’s probably OK. If it runs super slow under a virtual box and you’re maxed out on Ram, we might be better off running from the mac itself. No promises it Will work, but that’s where my heads at.