I have taken delivery of my new HP Latex L26500 printer this week. All very exciting actually.
I placed the order about 2 weeks ago and paid my deposit. I then had to get an electrician to install 2 dedicated power sockets for it. The electrician finally arrived on Monday and did the installation. I then called the printer company and told them the power was in and they could schedule the delivery and installation of the printer.
Within half an hour they emailed me back scheduling installation and delivery on Tuesday (yesterday).
So a huge crate was delivered yesterday morning. This then started getting a little complicated. You see yesterday was the coldest day we have had in years – in fact it was so cold, it snowed. Snow in Johannesburg – never! But I kid you not.
So the crate had to come indoors for the installation. This meant I had to reorganize my office to make space for the crate and enough space to open and spread the parts out so the technician could build it.
The technician arrived about 15 minutes after the delivery took place so it was all well timed.
He then started with the assembly. By mid-afternoon I had a new presence in my office – it is enormous and definitely overpowers the room – and it looks very impressive! He then asked for my full attention while he went through the procedure of installing the various consumables. He showed me how to put in an ink cartridge. He then asked me to put in the other 5. So I then install them one by one. The machine goes beep once it accepts each cartridge. I installed the black cartridge only to get an error message. So I uninstall it and try again – same thing. The technician then tries and also gets an error. He then spends 15 minutes messing about with various bits and pieces and then decides that the black cartridge is faulty. So he calls his office and asks for them to send another one with a driver ASAP.
While waiting for the driver to arrive, he installs the RIP software and starts showing me how it all works. Very brief introduction as he cannot initialize the printer until it accepts all the cartridges.
Finally the driver arrives, the replacement cartridge installed and Voila! the printer initializes after we install the remaining consumable items (printheads / cleaners / waste bin etc etc).
So he gives me a very basic run down of everything. Not much time to do anything else as it was almost closing time. We manage to print a sample print. Now I am really excited!
He leaves and promises to come back early this morning. I had a sleepless night – kept thinking about my new printer and what I could do with it – I could print on some wallpaper and paste it on the kids bedroom doors which are damaged after years of being abused by slamming it into furniture sitting behind the door when it swings open. I could print posters. I could print ……… and so my mind worked all night.
He arrived bright and early this morning. He sits with me and gives me a lesson on the software and different settings and scenarios and printing profiles to match different media. Eventually I am up to speed. I load my media and am ready to print. I bring in some images and RIP them to print. The printer starts up and you can hear the fans going. And half an hour later, the printer is still heating up – no print yet!
The technician is now beginning to realize that “not all is well in the state of Denmark!”
He then starts fiddling and cleaning this and adjusting that – and still nothing.
He fiddles some more, makes a few phone calls – and still nothing.
I am now rather anxious as all I want to do is PRINT!
He finally gets up the courage to tell me that there is a problem (no Shit!). There is a fault with the curing sensor – so although it is getting hot enough, the sensor is not telling it that it is hot enough.
The bad news is – it is a public holiday tomorrow and of course this means the part will only be dispatched on Friday and I will only have it sometime next week!
I should be a total wreck by next week with no sleep……..
