My printer is killing my zine making vibes
Just call it Bob Marley 'cause it be jammin'
Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been in the process of compiling some of my fiction on Substack and turning it into a zine!
It’s been a very fun process and reminds me of the last time I made zines for Stuck in the Middle, a project my wife and I put together aaaaages ago. It collected art & writing from some great Midwesterners but, sadly, was not something we could keep up with due to burnout from both our jobs and the publication itself.
That’s a story for another time though; the most important thing to know is that I’m making a zine now. It’s basically done… except for one small problem: my printer keeps jamming.
It behaved nicely enough to print a test page or two, but it jams 90% of the time. I’ve tried cleaning the rollers with isopropyl alcohol, looking for jams in every part I can think of, and have done everything short of hiring a wizard to see if they can ponder their orb and figure out what the hell is going on.
I have been patient with my printer, slowly tinkering with it for several days, but have not come to a solution. I’ve been losing my mind over it and have finally come to the conclusion that it’s time to take it out to a random field and destroy it, Office Space style.
Just kidding, I’m going to try to find a way to recycle it out of respect for the planet and the printer itself for churning out tons of stuff over the six or so years I’ve owned it.
In the meantime, I’ll find a replacement soon so I actually can start printing everything. I’m still looking around, but this printer seems like the winner from reviews I’ve read.
Hopefully, I’ll be starting to print some zines by the time my next rundown is out, but if not that’s OK too. I’m just excited to have my words in a physical format!
Until then, may your days be pleasant and your printer jamless.
Have any printer recommendations? Let me know in the comments!
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Tara Y
Alright...I've been using my ink tank epson for 6 years and it served well until recently. Can't get printheads cleaned anymore. I'm not wanting to give it R.I.P. yet but seems it'd be cheaper to buy a new one. Have one laser but it's grayscale only...
What printer you have? Ink or laser?