Duplex Printing - Officejet 7610

[andrew91]

I wanted a colour inkjet printer that included A3 and double-sided printing.

I've previously had good experience of HP printers.

So a couple of weeks ago I bought a HP 7610.

Like others on this forum, it was only when I got home that I discovered that double-sided printing requires an extra duplexer accessory costing >£50.

The supplier didn't stock it.

Undeterred, I found a supplier on ebay and bought one there.

But then I hit a more significant issue:

When printing double-sided in booklet mode, the image size is reduced by about 10%.

When you fold the double-spread to form a booklet, the margin nearest the binding (which is part of the print image) is also reduced, whereas the other three margins (which are not part of the print image) are increased.

This leaves a reduced-size image that is off centre.

Is this a bug or a feature?

[andrew91]

Is anyone at HP listening?

[andrew91]

Looks like the answer is No.

Maybe times are hard at HP these days ...

I hope they don't end up going the same way as Sun 😞

[megananne]

I am having the exact problem, but I'm on an Asus. I mean, no matterh what I do, this thing won't print on both sides. Am I ever going to get this problem fixed without having to do a bunch of hacks to try to make something that SHOULD work do it's dang job?

[andrew91]

Have you purchased the optional duplexer accessory and installed it in the printer?

BTW, the 7610 driver "detects" the duplexer even when it isn't actually installed 😞

[rovman]

I just bought an HP7610 and the duplex appears as an option "flip on long side" but does not work. It appears to have a duplexer if that is the thingy with the rollers. It would be nice to know what it looks like.

There is no tab to set the option from Control panel>devices and printers>rt clk on 7610>properties, just two tabs "general" and "hardware"

Win7 pro, using word 2007, on ethernet cable.

[Piaroa]

At one time a duplex unit (attachment, not built in) was available for the 7610, but it didn't work. It is now discontinued, and there is no way (according to HP) for print duplex on the 7610. Yes, I found it out the hard way, by talking to several people at HP, all with the same story, AFTER I bought the machine. There appears to be no high-quality, wide-format replacement that actually works.

[andrew91]

Hmm ... on my machine (Vista):

Control panel -> Printers -> right-click on 7610 -> Properties

displays a window with 7 tabs:

General, Sharing, Ports, Advanced, Color Management, Security, Device Settings

On the Device Settings tab there is an exapandable tree containing these options:

Form To Tray Assignment -> Tray 1 -> [drop-down menu containing various paper sizes]

Installable Options -> Automatic Duplexer Unit -> [drop-down menu containing these options: Installed and Not Installed]

When the automatic duplexer is installed, the second option on this page should be set to Installed in order to get the duplexer to work.

On my machine this option was set to Installed before I installed the duplexer, which is why I said in a previous post that the driver detects the duplexer even when it is not installed.

Re what does the duplexer look like ...

It is in two parts - both parts contain rollers.

The main body is 4ins deep - much deeper than the "thingy with the rollers" that is fitted when no duplexer is installed in the printer.

The duplexer part number is C7G18A.

google->image for this part number returns loads of images, including images on various HP websites.

On my duplexer unit there is a sticker containing this part number near the top left-hand corner, when the unit is viewed from the side that fits into the printer.

[andrew91]

The 7610 duplexer part number C7G18A is still available (in the UK, at least) - try searching on ebay.

And the duplexer works, after a fashion.

But it seems that there is an issue with the interaction between the 7610 driver and the duplexer that causes the image size to be reduced.

HP support claims that this is due to  a limitation in the duplexer hardware, but detailed investigation points to a driver issue.

I can post the details if anyone is interested.

The summary is that there is a partial workaround for this issue:

install the 7610 printer to use the HP 990c driver (for printing only).

[Actually this workaround was suggested by HP support before they changed their story]

This workaround works fine when printing whole pages on A4 paper.

But the 990c driver doesn't understand A3 paper, and suffers from another issue that affects duplex printing in N-per-sheet and booklet mode.

There is also a workaround for the booklet mode issue.

Again I can post details if anyone is interested.

[kim2011]

Well guys, I have the same problem as you, will not double side. I have a feeling that for most of you the operating system won't matter because you don't have a duplex unit installed. If you are like me I thought I had one, even took it out and put it back in, I mean of course it must be a duplexer it looks like the picture (the side that has the HP, never found a pic of the other side) it's curved and has rollers and it came with my printer, makes sense right? Apparently I was wrong, I finally had the time do to the online chat with tech support and I took pictures of "my deplexing unit" both sides and showed the support tech. This is when I found out, nope not a duplex unit, they DO NOT come with the printer.
I am not a happy person! One of the main reasons I bought this printer was because it "auto" deplexed. No where did I see you had to purchase the unit separate. I wouldn't have bought this printer, I would have bought something else with the auto duplex feature. Yep, not happy at all!