I am impressed with the Canon TC-21 A1 printer. Don't get me wrong.
But it seems that Canon doing something very stupid! I have had this with many printers before.
It is telling the printer the type of paper!
Please make it simple!
Firstly there seems to be no standard such as what satin or coated actually means, or even terms like heavy/light weight.
But it does seem the printer considers the paper type (and notably the weight, and hence thickness) in deciding when the roll ends, and somehow I must have had it wrong as it ended several metres before it really did with no option to say just bloody print - I know what I am doing.
But there is one standard and that is gsm (grams per square metre), and the paper is marked with it, so why not make the paper settings on the printer also show the gsm - that way I stand some chance. Another idea may be to allow me to set the length of the roll, as that is also printed on it - or at least show the lengths for each option.
Doing the right thing
So, it is a Canon printer, I'll do the right thing and use Canon ink, and Canon rolls of paper, what could go wrong.
This is the paper.
You can see it is Canon, and is 130 gsm, 610mm wide, and 30m long, and described as "Premium Paper FSC". The FCS is just a certificate not related to type of paper though.
I have some options.
There are many more options, but they get quite specific. The only one marked "Premium" (well "Prem") looks like 80gsm perhaps. So not that. I am assuming "Coated Paper" for now, but I really have no clue at all. The options are not clear and none use the exact wording on the roll of paper itself or state 130gsm.
If you sell a printer and it has a list of paper types, and you sell paper and they have specific names for each type, why the hell not use the same terms/names in both places, please, Canon!
Quality product?
But it gets worse. The roll has to be installed with the paper pushed properly to the right hand end stop that fits in the core or the roll. It checks this (good) and even has little diagrams showing you how to fit, and lock the end stop in the core.
Except...
The core sticks out, so no way to push the end stop up to the paper edge. I tried several times, and no joy.
Only fix was a sharp knife, and finally it works.
This is official Canon paper for the printer and does not work in the printer. Really not that impressed.
Reseller?
The reseller has taken this seriously, and has pointed me to some reference information that may help.
Send it back as unfit. If we all did that they MIGHT take notice
ReplyDeleteIt seems obvious enough to me that when you buy paper labelled "premium paper FSC" you should probably pick... one of the premium paper options (it is quite true that it's utterly unclear what the difference between the two is: why do printers suck so much?)
ReplyDeleteBut why would you pick "coated"? Your paper doesn't say it's coated; a wikipedia search for "coated paper" shows that this is paper that's been coated in polyethylene or enamel gloss or something like that -- specialist stuff for outside display, and absolutely not what you've got there.
... I just googled about. "PremPlainPpr 80" is for 80gsm paper, extra-light. I guess the printer has to compensate for the lightness when it's that light. (But oh my god is that label awful.)
The only premium option was clearly 80gsm so wrong. It does not say coated but also does not say "plain", so basically nothing matches.
ReplyDelete