I had sort of the same experience when I first tried to print on canvas! I thought I had damaged something, the tool light came on and the orange light blinked. My printer was out of warranty and a call to HP was one of the most frustrating experiences I've ever had. I could hardly understand the person on the other end and it was pretty evident they less about the machine than I did.
I printed a couple of letter sized prints then turned the machine off and back on and went about loading the paper as I always had, mostly expecting it not to work. It loaded! The jam was originally caused by the built-in cutter trying to cut the canvas but not being able to even make a dent in it. I went through another roll or two of the good paper then came across a new canvas product. It loaded first try and I have been through two, almost three, 40' rolls in the last month or so. The prints are very nice, some are so-so, but others are outstanding. I am using the printer set for matte paper and have not gotten a custom profile yet. I plan to do so soon, but wanted to figure out what it could do without a custom profile. I am very happy with the canvas. The only problem I have now is that a new roll of canvas is just a bit too fat to fit the roller at first. I got around this by moving the printer all the way to the back of the table where it's sitting and letting the roll of paper be off the table. It only takes a few 30' prints for the roll to be small enough to return the printer to its usual place on the table. The 40' roll of canvas, 24' wide, is just over $100.00 with shipping. This canvas has a special coating and is tough as nails. You can order a single roll of the canvas on a 25' roll for $15.00 to try it out. If you are still interested doing canvas I would certainly recommend this product. I also had to disable the auto cutter so as to keep it from trying to cut the canvas which is way to thick for it. The product comes from BF Inkjet Media in Atlanta. They have been ever so helpful and great to work with. The link to the canvas is: http://www.bfinkjet.com/docs/products/products_detail.asp?p_id=4 I work with Tammy Morningstar and she has been very dependable. I would not hesitate to recommend you call her order up a trial roll. Thanks! John Parker PS I reiterate, I thought my printer was dead too, but after a few tries it took the paper again. ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 1:55 PM Subject: [HPDesignJet_Printers] If you're considering a Design Jet 130 read this first. I've owned a DJ 130 for almost two years. My present unit is the second unit as the first was replaced under warranty. While I agree the 130 can do a wonderful job, it is problematic and now with recent changes within HP, it would be a non-starter for me if I were making the purchase decision at this time. Last week I foolishly tried to print on canvas with a resultant jam. In the process of freeing the jam I apparently misaligned something internally causing my 130 to refuse to load paper. The Tool Icon illuminated along with the amber warning light. Being unable to resolve the situation I called HP customer support. I was told that HP no longer supported the 130 with factory repair and that all repairs were now being performed by independent repair services. I asked where/whom I might call for service and I was told West Jordan, Utah (Salt Lake City) or Las Vegas. I opted for Las Vegas as it is much closer. Last Friday I drove my 130 to Holman's, an authorized HP retailer and service center. After a half hour inspection the technician was unable to locate any obvious problem that would have created the failure mode of my machine. He called HP and described the problem and was told the unit would have to come back to HP. The Homan's technician was given a case number, phone numbers, etc., and was quoted a $289.00 repair fee for 3-5 day turnaround; $320 for next day. A bit steep but I agreed and drove 120 miles back to my home after assuring Homan's that I would return on Monday AM with the shipping carton to enable the unit to be returned to the factory. This morning I returned to Homan's and their technician called HP to obtain information, etc., as to where to return the 130. This time he was told that the unit would have to be field repaired and again the same repair costs were quoted. The Holman's technician then asked why they could not affect a repair and was told, in spite of the fact that they've worked on 130s previously and are an authorized repair station for HP, that they weren't authorized to work on 130s. HP is now sending someone from Salt Lake City to repair my machine. It's pretty obvious, as the Holman's technician told me, that HP is in turmoil internally..the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing or to put it a bit more bluntly, they couldn't find their butt with both hands. I was also told by the technician the 130s have been extremely problematic (no surprise to me!) and that HP treats them as throwaway products. I was also told that HP technical support basically now has staff with limited, if any, hands on experience with HP printers, simply quoting from repair manuals/scripts. On the other hand, my experience with Canon support has been exemplary. I've been planning the purchase of a 44" wide machine. Guess which brand it won't be! Charles Wood
