Setting up

This is where the real fun and games begin, the printer setup and driver installation. Even though I have set up a few B9180 printers (3 to be exact) I am going to follow the Quick Start guide to the letter for this review.

A warning note is physically stuck to the top of the printer telling you not to open the top door. You should ensure all doors and the speciality media tray are in the closed position before moving on to stage two. The next step is to connect the printer to a power supply - fortunately I do happen to have a much longer cable than the one supplied. Connect the power cord to the printer and to the wall outlet, the printer turns on automatically. You should now select a language that you want the menus to appear in. Press the arrow keys to scroll through the 10 available languages. Press the OK button when you understand what it says.

Press OK if you understand this	Don't press OK if it looks double Dutch

The B9180 uses eight ink cartridges and the instructions say that before unwrapping the cartridge you should shake it vigorously for at least six shakes, this makes a total of 48 shakes for all eight inks. Of course you could take my time saving tip and hold two cartridges at the same time, which will result in only having to do 24 shakes. The reason for shaking is that the pigment ink particles will over a period of time sink to the bottom of the cartridge, they need to be suspended in the liquid to ensure an even mixture.

Vigorously shake cartridge at least six times	Each ink must fit in the correct slot
Each cartridge has it's own unique shape, which will only fit in one slot

The ink compartment is located at the front of the printer, press the front door to open and fit the ink cartridges. Each ink cartridge has it's own shape which means you can't actually put it in the wrong compartment. Fitting the cartridges is straightforward, they easily push into the slots and sit securely in place. Each high capacity cartridge contains approximately 27ml of ink, we will see how many prints they will produce. Unlike other A3 printers, the inks on the B9180 remain stationary, the ink is fed to the printheads via thin flexible tubes.

Once all eight cartridges are fitted, the door must be closed and the printer primes the inks. This process is noisy but only lasts for about 45 seconds. The priming starts the ink flow and purges any air out of the tubes. (Air is the main culprit for blocked nozzles).

Lift blue cover	and remove the four setup caps

Now you can open the top cover, remove the packaging and tape that keeps the printhead assembly in place whilst your printer was being shipped etc. Lift up the blue cover to reveal the orange setup caps. These must be removed by giving each one a sharp tug. The caps will contain a small amount of ink from the priming process.

The four print heads must also be shaken at least six times before opening the container. Once opened the protective caps must be removed and the printhead wiped with the enclosed pre moistened swab. Three strokes should be sufficient, discard the swab and use a fresh one for the next printhead. Take care not to touch the gold contacts on the heads.

Printhead with protective caps	Clean each head before fitting (swab included)