I have been thinking about getting an edible printer but have some concerns I hope someone can answer. I am a hobby baker who is working on turn this into a business since my state now has cottage food laws ( already have my permit). So my concern is that I probably won't use it often, at least at first, and I am concerned that this will lead to clogged ink jets. Can anyone give me an idea if this is a problem and if there something I can do to prevent it if it is? Oh and if anyone could recommend a good printer for this use I would be grateful. TIA

<shrug> I outsource.

The key to prevent clogging is to remove the cartridges when not using them. It is suggested if you don't use them more often than about 1 week.  I remove mine from Sun to Wed/Thurs depending when people start coming to get sheets.

Run printer head cleaning tools often as well.  I do it daily during the busy time of the week.  Keeps the image coming out crisp without streaks.

Canon, Canon and Canon.  I have worked with HP and Epson as well and I return to Canon because most of their printers are picture quality.  What I see on my monitor is usually what comes out from the printer.

HTH, Be glad to answer any more questions if I can.

Thanks Auntgin! Can I ask how you store them when you have them out of the printer? And where you get your cartidges?

Put them in the fridge.  I buy ink and edible sheets from Kopykake because their somewhat local to me.  Icing Images is in Illinois and the shipping kills you.  I'm in Los Angeles.  Where are you at?

At first I bought the cartridges from KK but now I buy from Amazon.  Empty of course and fill and refill.  Works out great.  I can use any printer of my choice that way.  If you buy the cartridges from KK or II you will have to use the recommended printers and you may not be happy with them.

Just remember the two rules of edible printing:

1. The printer must never have been used with conventional ink.
2. The printer must never have been used with conventional ink.

(and you still don't talk about Fight Club.)

Any cleaning method that would render a printer that's had conventional ink in it food-safe (I've been known to suggest a high-pressure steam hose), and wouldn't cost more than a brand-new printer, would almost certainly turn the printer into a warped, half-melted, lump of afunctional metal and plastic, that might pass as modern-art sculpture, but would never print anything, edible or otherwise, again.

lol That's funny James.  Yes, the printer you use must be dedicated solely to edible ink.

Hi

Everything you all said is correct, however you must understand a few things, different edible ink companys have different recommendations regarding removing the cartrdiges between use.  While that may work with KK, we find that more people end up with clogs with our inks. As long as you are using your printer at least once per week, you should be fine with leaving the ink in the printer. If you are not using it within that week, print something out on regular paper.  If you do not think you will be averaging printing once ever week to two weeks, then you shouldnt have an edible printer, its not really worth it. It would be much better and less expensive if you have someone print for you. Auntgin, we do have other distributors such as AJWinbeckler and Pheil & Holing who do carry our product as well plus it is also sold on Amazon. Unfortunately shipping charges are effected by the gas market and go up and down with the fluctuation so I would recommend if you would like to order our ink, order paper and other things too so that the shipping costs are watered down over several different products and everything becomes cheaper overall. If you are on our mailing list, we also offer specials periodically.

Thanks

Debbie, thank you for that information.  I print on an average 10 sheets per week, many other local cakers come to get their sheets from me.  I recently purchased sheets from you because I changed from a pc to a mac and your systems allows me to use it and KK does not.  Normally I would purchase frosting sheets from my bakery distributor so as I am stocking up on my ingredients for the month I add that to the list.

The rates are competitive for your products, but my distributor is very local to me so gas (where it is a premium everywhere) prices does not make it all that bad.  If I continue to buy outside of CA, then obviously I have to pass this on to the others and you can take it from there.  As any business owner, we continue to look for good products, prices and service.  I am pleased with the icing sheets I purchased and will make purchases from your company.  

Hi

Please PM your distributors information, perhaps we can work with them to carry our products!

Thank you so much for your kind words!

AOh I wish I had read this. I'm having an awful time with my printer. I ran the clean heads & something terrible happened. Ink went everywhere!! It was a huge mess. I cleaned it all up, ordered a new large blk, & it won't print at all. I suspect something is clogged, but I have no idea how to clean it. My test paper shows all prints but that large blk. It's lit so the printer recognizes it but nothing gets through. It's full if ink & ink comes out when I squeeze the cartridge. I suspect it's the ink holder & I will have to replace it? Shame. Printer is only about a year old & I haven't use it very much.

Any suggestions? It's the canon pixma ix6520

I sometimes go weeks and weeks between use of my edible printer.  I do not remove the cartridges. I don't stand on my head or do anything unduly taxing.  I have a Canon 3600.  It's real name might be IP3600 or something like that, but I don't have my glasses on!  Anyway, the printer driver on this (and probably most) printers comes with a set of maintenance operations, including head cleaning.  I will print a test image of magenta, cyan, yellow and black dots using plain paper.  If any of the four colors isn't bright and clean, I will do the head cleaning.  Try again  Sometimes I have to do it two or three times.  But, it always comes back.  Once my test images are clean, I know I can print on the edible sheet.  Works every time!  I use Icing Images inks and use the refill bottles.  It's easy and very, very affordable.  I wouldn't give up my edible image printer for anything.  With this particular printer, there doesn't seem to be any problem with sporadic use.  I know from experience that isn't the case with other printers.  But, the ones that gave me clogging issues in the past can't even be bought nowadays.  I'm attaching the color dots file I use for testing the printer heads. (I couldn't get it to embed.)

I find it very useful.

AYes, I tried all of the cleaning options several times, bu that one cartridge still won't print on the test page. Must be some reason it isn't making it through?

Delicious, sorry your going thru that, some of that ink must have seeped into other places.  Do you hear the rollers turning?  You may want to have it checked out.  But of course it depends on the value of the printer.  May or may not be worth repairing.  

Try doing this.  Take your cartridges out. Remove the print head and  place it in a small bowl of warm water with the iodes facing down in the water.  Not too deep tho.  Allow the water to loosen the ink.  If it is clogged it will come loose, repeat this step until the water is clear.  Dry off thoroghly before replacing and run another print cleaning.

If that doesn't help you probably need to have it cleaned out professionally.

AThanks so much for the advice!

I saw a tutorial about pouring water into it o clean but didn't think of soaking. Ill try that!

I'm researching replacing the heads. Printer only cost me $50 on clearance but now over $200. It's a nice wide version that prints up to 13" wide. Hate to loose it.

AAfter yu try soaking it, if that doesnt work, give us a call. We may be able to help you further. 540-869-5511

AIcing Images, y'all are always so awesome!

HI Delicious Deserts,

There are other ways to clean your printhead. Give us a call tomorrow, let us try to help you. 540-869-5511

Thanks
 

Thanks! Were we able to help you?

AWe are moving so I packed the printer the day before the advice. Should be able to get soaking by Thursday.

Hi Martha,

Currently we do not, however if you order from Pheil and Holing they are a distributor so that way you can combine products to save on shipping. We do have a large amount of customers in Canada. We are usually able to get decent shipping rates from FedEx and believe it or not we are able to ship via FedEx Express service and it saves on some fees and is usually lower then the price of ground shipping.

OMG!! ICING IMAGES!!!! You saved my printer!

I did just what you said.  I was skeptical...I had already cleaned it out.  I cleaned it some more, and more, and more.  Then, I it for a few hours.  I kept thinking the water was going to kill it (my son dropped my phone in water this week so all I can think about is water damage).

It worked!!  My printer is working like new.

Thank you, Thank you so much.

WOW, So glad to hear that.

I am so glad it worked for you...sorry about your phone.  They say if you put your phone in a bag of uncooked rice for a few days, it drys it out!  Happy Printing!

AYes, I'm trying that. I have 14 days to return the new phone. It's been sitting for 2. I true it yesterday with no luck. Going to give it a few more before trying ...never know & it's worth a shot.