Actually I should have mentioned that the local printing from the W8.1 machine is the PRIMARY problem. The issues all seem related to not having bi-directional communication in the driver or due to Windows spooler. The hangs are reminiscent of not sending the EOF to a LPT port in the DOS days of piping commands. The sharing is just another symptom of how crappy the W8.1 interface to the printer has become.
I have only USB 2.0 ports on this 2012 Dell Inspiron Studio XPS with core i7 and 12GB. It is wired to the router with CAT6 10-ft cable, no wall jacks or breaks between the PC and the router. I have disabled the firewall to attempt networked printing. But that does not appear to be the problem. The printer shows up shared on my wife's laptop, and READY. All issues are between the local PC and the attached printer P1006. I have tried multiple USB cables, all high quality A to B designed for printer usage.