Could it really be possible to print 100,000 pages on a single inkjet printer?

Certainly in the past we’ve had problems with getting almost any printer past the 50,000 page mark. We’ve tried a lot of HP models, some Canon and even Epson but none have ever gone the distance for us. It can be rather annoying to assume it will work… only to find out it doesn’t.

Finally however, we’ve hit the big time. Using an HP 452dw, we achieved 100,000 pages of trouble free printing. Then it broke. But more on that later.

Our pagewide prints extremely fast. The print head is the width of the entire page so the paper moves under the head, instead of the head moving. 30 pages a minute in color is commonplace. The only time it slows down is when there is a lot of ink on a single page. It also does duplex quickly.

We’ve been using the printer to print pages in one side color. Then we move the paper to an HP 9050 and print the black side with toner. Finally, we fold the pages to make our little newsletters.

About a week ago, our pagewide hit the 100,000 page mark. We were ecstatic. Then… at about 102,000 pages it started to white band the black layer. That, is rather annoying. We are working on print head cleaning and such now. It appears to be the same problem that plagued the 452’s predecessor. We’re still hopeful to coax another few thousand pages out of this printer. But chances are… if it is the same problem as the original pagewides, it won’t be fixable.

In the meantime though… we are still celebrating 100,000 pages.