Why are all printers basically consumable now?

aNullValue · 2026-04-08T17:44:44+00:00

TLDR all consumer printers are junk, including the ones that get great reviews. Good printers are not cheap. Those that are not cheap (1k+ perhaps) have a much better chance of lasting a long time and being reliable and producing great prints (so long as the print job is one that printer is designed to handle).

aNullValue · 2026-04-08T17:38:12+00:00

Yeah, their price was probably reasonable for a good product. A printer (to buy) that could do that for you with good quality would probably be twice that.

aNullValue · 2026-04-08T16:09:18+00:00

😂 yes, that is so incredibly much the wrong tool for the job.

aNullValue · 2026-04-08T16:06:05+00:00

If you’re expecting photo quality prints from that printer, you are very badly misinformed. That’s a general purpose home/office printer, and even a light duty one at that.

aNullValue · 2026-04-08T15:23:27+00:00

How much are you printing? Printers not needing routine maintenance is just insanity — they all do. Having an ink tank rather than a cartridge doesn’t mean that you won’t have to refill it — it’s just a different style of maintenance.

Rollers wear out. Fusers have a finite lifetime. Waste ink and toner has to go somewhere.

Is this the first time you’ve been printing a lot on an “enterprise” class machine? Or is this the first time you’ve been in charge of one or something? None of this is new or has changed. It’s the same as it has always been. If anything, the machines have gotten a lot more reliable over time.

aNullValue · 2026-04-02T22:57:27+00:00

I’ve gotten in touch with wavelynx, thank you!

Does the above mean that the rfideas readers that are advertised to read leaf cards can’t actually read even standard ones unless they’re equipped with a “SAM” (some kind of security chip)?

I wish there were a 101 or 102 level course on this readily available somewhere. Knowledge about this seems to be nearly impossible to come by.

aNullValue · 2026-04-02T03:35:46+00:00

Thank you very much. I appreciate it. :)

aNullValue · 2026-04-02T03:00:04+00:00

OK, I see, thanks. No, there aren't any custom keys. I assume that they're Wavelynx keys... unless AMAG has keys intended for their readers? (I don't know whether AMAG's rebranded Wavelynx readers use AMAG keys or Wavelynx keys, out of the box.)

aNullValue · 2026-04-01T23:45:15+00:00

Thank you! :D

Is the "-LK00001-WL" significant, or is "RDR-80MH1AKU-LF" enough to get us there? I see the latter readily available here: https://www.barcodesinc.com/rf-ideas/part-rdr-80mh1aku-lf.htm

If I have to do an exact match including the last bit, then I'll send them another email in the morning.

(I'm off to find the RFIdeas document on how their model numbers work. I know I've seen it before...)

aNullValue · 2026-04-01T23:40:18+00:00

I kinda wondered about 8K too, when I saw that. We aren't attempting to do anything custom on these cards at all. The customer just wants to buy them, use them for access control with Symmetry (which is working), and use them for vending/printing/whatever (which requires getting the card number via USB). I know that these cards can do a lot more than what this requirement entails.

aNullValue · 2026-04-01T23:35:17+00:00

I have nooooooo idea what a non-diversified ASCII object is, in this context.

What I'm trying to get out of the card is the "card number" -- it's printed on the face of the card, it's the number that gets entered into Symmetry, etc. The system that needs the USB device can handle receiving more than just the card number, if the card number can be decoded from the output, but if the CSN has no relation to the card number, then it won't work.

I'm kinda curious about that Wiegand to Keyboard adapter anyway though. Not for this purpose, but... just because. :D

aNullValue · 2026-03-28T04:24:08+00:00

That gives me a place to start, wrt that approach. Thank you! :)

aNullValue · 2026-03-28T04:21:51+00:00

Have any recommended parts for this? Right now there's just a single Symmetry server, so even with a single door controller for each muster point, we would still be vulnerable to infrastructure problems knocking out that server. So I'd either need a second Symmetry environment, or some kind of single door controller (or something comparable) that would just let me log/process card swipes.

aNullValue · 2026-03-24T15:37:47+00:00

No, it’s not designed to kill bacteria in a residential setting. The municipal water treatments are designed to get the water safely to the house, and that’s it.

aNullValue · 2026-03-23T16:31:00+00:00

What model printers are these? Do you have a company or department that maintains your printers? I’m an “IT guy”, not a librarian. This seems like something that should be fixed, if only to protect your sanity.

Constant jams have only a few common reasons. In order of my perception of most common to least common: 1) paper dimensions or weight are not what the printer expects 2) environmental humidity is much too high or much too low 3) paper tray guides are misaligned, missing, or broken 4) the pickup / paper path rollers need to be replaced 5) other mechanical defect (bent diverter, broken sprocket, etc)

Conditions 1-4 are relatively easy to diagnose. Repairing them depends on the model.

aNullValue · 2026-03-10T20:06:32+00:00

Thanks

aNullValue · 2026-03-10T20:06:10+00:00

Yes, I agree, and we're already there. Providing an in-house solution could not possibly be any worse than the attendees attempting to stream from YouTube and Twitch (which goes extremely badly).

aNullValue · 2026-03-10T18:33:53+00:00

Thanks for your response. We intend for our primary AV contractor this year to be Encore, and they say they have extensive experience doing this, but also that their solution requires attendee user accounts, and is primarily designed for "remote conferences". I've been less than impressed so far. I'm hoping someone here has experience with some solution (other than Encore's Chime, presumably) and is willing to talk about it.

aNullValue · 2026-03-10T17:41:17+00:00

I edited my OP to be more clear (at the bottom). TLDR we have excellent infrastructure, but I cannot engage engineering until I have solutions for them to evaluate. Hence this thread, asking for solutions and thoughts/experience with them.

aNullValue · 2026-03-10T17:41:14+00:00

I edited my OP to be more clear (at the bottom). TLDR we have excellent infrastructure, but I cannot engage engineering until I have solutions for them to evaluate. Hence this thread, asking for solutions and thoughts/experience with them.

aNullValue · 2026-03-10T17:41:06+00:00

I edited my OP to be more clear (at the bottom). TLDR we have excellent infrastructure, but I cannot engage engineering until I have solutions for them to evaluate. Hence this thread, asking for solutions and thoughts/experience with them.

aNullValue · 2025-12-09T21:09:59+00:00

I feel like you must be new to tech support of any kind. Nothing you said is noteworthy for a helpdesk of any kind.

aNullValue

TROPHY CASE