Generic Printer Ink

I've found the very cheap inks have a tendency for the cartridges to run dry - either that or they don't actually contain much ink. (Yes easily 5x cheaper than Epson originals). More expensive cartridges do much better and are fine for day to day work. But for high quality output on quality papers and for true colour reproduction you really need the manufacturer's own cartridges.
My problems with past Epson printers has been with nozzles clogging. This always seemed to happen more frequently with third party inks and I found I used half my ink doing head cleaning cycles. However I only use my home printer every now and then.
The danger is that if one or more nozzles are starved of ink during printing then they can over heat and burn out - the flow of ink acts as a lubricant and coolant to the nozzles. If this happens then your printer is useless and no amount of cleaning will fix it.
Anyway after several broken Epson printers over the years I've now bought an HP printer - that way you get a new print head with every new cartridge.

Willy,
I'm very interested in the types of repairs you have effected on Epson printers. I am currently wrestling with an Epson C80 Stylus, for a buddy of mine (I enjoy the challenge of trying to help others, and am generally successful, although not bashful about asking for advice/help from others when I'm stumped).
After returning from a three week trip, my friend could not get this Epson to print. He purchased, and installed, replacement recycled cartridges from Office Depot. Still would not print, even though the Ink Monitor indicated plenty of ink in each of the cartridges. I suspected dried nozzles. I've gone through the ''Nozzle Clean'' cycles more times than I care to count. Printing the pattern started to show a little of the pattern but never more than that. Is there a manual method of cleaning the nozzles? I must confess, I haven't been able to determine the ink path from the cartridge (tank) to the paper.
Would greatly appreciate any guidance you can offer.
Thanks. Pete

I have had a problem where I let one color go too far down, and the nozzle clogged. There is no quick fix. I generally, after running the nozzle cleaning utility several times, until I see a faint print pattern. Leave it set over night, and the nozzle(s) seem to clear.

The over night trick to clear the nozzle usually works for me.
Another trick is, if one nozzle in blocked, is to print a word document that has a lot of print on it, but change the colour of the print to the same as the blocked nozzle and print on the plain paper setting but change the type of paper to photo/best photo setting, doing this makes the printer deposit far more ink that in the text setting thus acting as a cleaning cycle. It also saves wasting ink form the other cartridges while doing a complete head clean.

If you are getting real cleaning problems I would suggest that you purchase a set of cleaning cartridges, available from 7dayshop.com; they contain only cleaning fluid.
I have found that if the nozzles will not give a good nozzle print after three goes ( colour cartridges installed), stop and leave the printer over night, they clear themselves 99% of the time. Once again go for a feed system cheaper than refill cartridges and no mess and no sponge in the tanks.

Could you please explain what a feed system is?
Thanks!

The feed system consists of a bank of 6 external tanks (this is for a R300 Epson)with a set of tubes going to a bank of six special cartridges installed in the printer. These tubes are a permanent fixture and and designed to travel with the printer cartridges while printing. This is all supplied as a kit, cost approx

do you know if this feed system is also on the Epson R320?
KT

I have an Epson R220 and a R320. The same auto refill system will fit the R200, R220, R300, R320 and R340. They all take the same cartridges.
Follow the directions closly on installation, it can be tricky but worth the work. I use re-fillable cartridges in my R220 and a Auto Fill system in my R320. When the re-fillable cartridges in my R220 reach the end of their life, (yes everything has an end) I will replace them with an Auto Refill system. Once you get set up and running, you'll never think about going back to cartridges. (Manufacturer, or aftermarket)

ihave had my continuous ink supply system for a few years and youre rite they are brilliant,however it is playing up at the mo and not printing properly,ive just took it apart and soaking it all in ink cleaner,has anyone else had this problem with the ciss as i dont know what else to try,failing that ill have to buy another kit

Also known as bulk ink system. See my other post on upper level of this thread or http://www.inksupply.com/

There are many other suppliers of these systems, the one referenced was my personal choice.

Another name is CISS(Continuous Ink Supply System).It can save your cost greatly.Details,please refer to www.doit-cmy.com.Types of CFS are available here.New types of Epson Models like C110,R285,CX7400 are avaible,too.

Thank you kindly. This information is very usefull for me. Great site! Thanks again!

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http://www.neolink.ro

There are fancy cleaning ink carts you buy from ink refill sources, but again, heres' what I do.

Get your hands on paper shop towels(like mechanics use) or clean cloth like an old T-shirt. Cut or tear into a small swatch, soak in warm water, wring out, but leave damp. Place under nozzle parking station where the ink carts rest. The damp swatch is between the ink cart nozzle face and the parking cap. Use the wide printing gap for envelope to increase distance and allow swatch to rest there. Now, allow the swatch overnight and test in the morning, repeat until successful. Since this is long process and uses ink, yada, yada, it really is a last resort for the user. In no way allow a inkjet printer to be left unused too long as "drying/clogging" occurs and in Epson's a PITA. Unlike other inkjet vendors, you can replace the ink carts since the nozzles are part of it, you usually correct the problem, not so with Epson. Canon too has the problem but at least you can buy the nozzle assembly and far easier than Epson to repair.

tada -----Willy

To all who responded to my inquiries,
Please accept my sincerest gratitude for your very timely, prompt, instructive information. I have made a composite of all the input you provided and will make good use of all I've learned from you.
Again, many thanks.
Pete Edman

I HAVE had this happen. I never knew if it was because they are generic or if the Epson ones do the same. But if it has even been just a couple of days I may get terrible color output and once in awhile black,too. But I've had that happen with the Epson cartridges, too.

This is most detailed instructions I've found online:

http://www.repairfaq.org/samnew/printfaq/pcfesc800cph.htm

Plus, this one is not trying to sell a specific cleaning kit.

I have an EPSON Stylus Color R300 and have never had a problem with generic inks. But I just had a bad experience with the company that sells them. Inkjets.com. I ordered 2 complete sets on September 2nd and I just received them today September 19th. I want to warn other people. Really poor service! The e-mail I sent them came back even though I used their web site to write to them. They must be going out of business. I'm going to find a new company since they're much more inexpensive this way. Does anybody have suggestions?

I also have an Epson R300 Photo printer that I use mainly for cd printing. I pay $37.85 for 2 sets of cartridges (2 black and 10 color) and I pay $9.99 for an additional three black cartridges. This totals $47.84.
Shipping is under $10.00.

I buy these from an ebay store (http://stores.ebay.com/Ink123shop) They have over 19,400 sales with feedback at 99.6% positive. The few negatives are people who claim they did not get their order or were shorted. (very doubtful claim) There were NO negative feedbacks about their ink quality that I could see. They ship out of Canada and shipping to me has been 4 - 7 business days. I'm in Alberta nd they are nearly 2000 miles away in Ontario.

I have never had an issue with their ink or the way that they conduct their business.

Iv'e been using a Canon i865 for several years now, started of with Canon inks at $26Aust after 12 months changed to generic at $8Aust never had a problem and the same quallity. I do stay with using quality paper though.

My first ever printer was an Epson Stylus 800, and I still kick myself for using generic ink because the print quality deteriorated to the point that I had to chuck the printer out.
Perhaps generic inks have improved since then. I happily use generic toners in my laser printer because a bad cartridge does not damage the actual printer, but if I ever get another inkjet it will be genuine cartridges all the way.

I have used Hp and Canon printers in the past and only lately bought an Epson stylus C65 for home use.
I was attracted by the company "bla bla" concerning the new 4 cartriges (black, cyan, yellow, magenta)system that according to them will save you money being.. "separate cartriges"!?!?!
To my surprise I realized that if one of the colour cartrige is missing or out of ink, one cannot print in the "black mode" at all. This is something I could do on my old HP and Canon, I could infact print with the black cartrige even if the colour one was missing.
We all know that printers companies make a lot more money on the sale of ink cartrages than on printers alone.
Unfortunately the end user is paying too much of a high price by being forced in this case to buy a colour cartridge even if he is not using it.
I feel as if I have been "legally" ripped off!

Wait till you own a Dell Printer. You have a limited resource, It's made by Lexmark but Dell has the rights to only Dell Ink Cartridges. I did see a Lexmark adapter for a Dell Printer but none of my friends will take a chance to see if it works. I too have come across fairly new printers with after market ink cart. and boy did it make a mess. To me it was'nt worth cleaning, the sopping pad was over filled and the ink was all over top to bottom with ink. Walgreens advertise refills @ half cost but i do'nt know of any of my friends have tried it. Test it and let us know. Thanks Ron

I have been useing Epson Inkjet printers for seven years now.I have never bought Epson Ink and have never had a problem with generic.I do a lot of Photo printing with very good resultes.If you don't print color very often the ink has a tendincy to dry out.

Do you use a specific generic epson ink or just any one that you see?

I have an Epson Color 880 for four years. I use nothing but generic ink and I have never had a problem. Occasionally, I print family photos as large as 8 X 10, with very good results.

I have been refilling my ink cartridges for years and haven't had any problems. I have a Canon photo i960 with six colored cartridges and I do a lot of photo printing. The only thing I found out is a cartridge will last about a year and then the photo's do not reproduce properly. When that happens, I buy another set of cartridges and start refilling them. I estimate it cost me about 10 cents to refill a cartridge.