Inkjet Printers and Dried Ink (HP v. Epson)

You may have to move to a color laserjet to escape ink drying and clogging issues. However, the C80 I had did die and a replacement printer was not much more than a set of Epson inks from the local stores.

What I have found to be a good deal is the Amazon.com inks. I can't tell you if they will meet your needs, but it's what I'm using now.

bob

>I like the archival inks Epson offers, but obviously >can't maintain them. Can someone recommend a decent >printer with good economic inks (no remanufactured or >third party) that will last me more than a year or two?

Epson has the best photo printer, however, there is no maintainence-free printer. You oughtta do some regular maintainence.

If you want to save more money and time, spend less time on maintaining your printer, and get rid of clogging, you can try the spongeless bulk ink system from InkRepublic.com

Their system can meet your requirement:
1. good economic inks
2. last me more than a year or two

Basically their system can last forever (your printer wont), you can continuously use their bulk system on your future printer, for example you can use their ink kit for R800, and R1800 ...etc. pretty neat and no brainer.

Here is their site: http://www.InkRepublic.com

Recently I found out that compatible ink cartridges saved me money. They don't cost me as much as manufacturer's. And they work on my printers, too.

Steve

http://www.top-ink.com

Far too many ink printers use a simple "parking/cap" method when not in use. If allowed too long in non-use the ink will dry, plus the capping method tends to eventually collect its own gunk. One reason a simple wiper is used to remove build-up found in many ink printers.

Since, I've repaired far too many printers to count, here's some good advice. Even, if you don't use the printer often, print a simple test page or document just to keep the ink path ways "fresh" and renew the ink. Plus, when on an Epson, you place a small clean cloth swatch damp with simple glass cleaner on the parking pad between the ink head and cap. This will redampen old ink and ink head, let it sit for 10-15min or more if needed. Do this only if repeated cleaning cycles(at least 6) fail. The media lever should be on "envelope" to widen the gap to install the swatch. Depending on the Epson model you need to remove cover for full access or be very handy otherwise. Of course you take this at your own risk.

tada -----Willy

Even though the Epson C80 is a good printer and economical to use, there was a drawback. You couldn't remove the ink and expect them to work when you reinstalled them. The later models do have that capability. They have a small chip in them. The printer reads the chip and knows how much ink is left in the cartridge. The C80 and earlier versions do not have this capability.
A couple years ago, my C80 was replaced by the C84, for just this reason. I left the ink in place and, along with a couple spare cartridges, donated it to a church for their annual sale. I also attached a note saying not to remove the ink unless they were empty.
I worked in retail sales for a number of years and found that both HP and Epson had their advantages. I presently use both the C84 and CX6400. Same ink in doth units. I lean toward Epson because of the individual ink. If you buy all 3 colors at the same, the cost is about the same. I have found the Epson color seems to print more pages per cartridge. With the high capacity black, I can get 1250 pages with the regular capacity it is about 850. This is using the draft mode @ 22 pages per minute. I haven't lived long enough to see how the color photo will fade, as they estimate upwards of 75 to 85 years with the correct paper and storage methods.
I agree with one thing though. Regardless of which one you get, it is best to print out a test page once a week to keep the ink flowing properly.
Even though a lot of people use refil kits, I question the chemical makeup of the original vs the refil. All manufacturers have their own lab. The problem is that they all change their ink chenistry every year to two. They say it is to improve it. How can a refil kit, with the same ink, refil both the Epson and HP ptinters? I can't be sure, but rather doubt that the stores use totally different ink for all the printers on the market? Do they have different barrels in the back room for HP, Epson,Canon, Lexmark, Xerox, etc.?
I switched to Epson because they were the first to have both parallel and USB, which could connect to 2 different computers at the same time, PC and PC or PC and MAC. Which ever sent the print job, that was the one to print out. This was a cheap way to share a printer without a network. I used a desktop and a laptop. Desktop on parallel and laptop on hot pluggable USB. Now it doesn't matter too much as most are USB.
Just my opinion.

John .... I was an Epson fan for about 15 years. However, I just bought a Cannon Pixma IP4000 and Cannon has made a new friend. My wife's Epson C80 has done good considerering it rarely gets used, but my last Epson, C82, finally pushed me over the top. I've had to many problems with the last several Epsons, although customer support was good. The cannon is a fantastic machine. It's construction and features are quite good. It's quiet too! Something really nice about the Cannon, if the head does go south on you, just flip a lever and out it comes for replacement. It's a well thought out machine and put's Epsons to shame, in this price range anyway. Cannon seems to be more concerned about the customer than does Epson. Oh, one other thing, the Cannon software is better than Epson also. Hope this helps. Al

I, too, am looking for a new photo printer. While the Epson I had back in the day produced very good results, it didn't get used on a daily basis and everytime I went to use the thing I had to run an inkjet cleaning. I was recently told that HP cartridges come with the inkjets built in, thus reducing these issues.

While at Best Buy last night, they told me that by powering the Epson printer off after each use, you reduce the inkjet clog issues.

Just thought I'd share.

I had a canon printer which did the same thing and you could not clean the head. I had to buy a whole new tray to stick a new cartridge in.
I stick with HP. and for the most part if the ink drys on it, just use alcohol wipe to clean it.

I had the same problem with a old Epson. The crowning blow was when I came back from a 2-week vacation, and found the nozzles so badly clogged that multiple runs of the cleaning procedure did not help. I deep-sixed it (I wouldnt want to even give it to anyone) and went back to HP. You generally can clean their nozzles by placing the cartridge working-end down on a damp (not soaking-wet) paper towel for 20 or 30 minutes.

Replacing the cartridges will not help the clogged nozzles in Epson or Cannon printers, whereas it will for HP printers. I doubt that removing the cartridges for periods of inactivity will help either; there probably will still be ink in the tube that can dry and clog. In fact, it may be worse as the entire tube may clog.


Use of third-party inks was discussed, but no mention was made of the type of prints you desire. Do you want photographic archival qulity that will last for decades, or do you only need relatively short-term quality as for many business presentations? For archival quality, I would be wary of third-party inks, whereas they may be fine over the short term. The early inks from the manufacturers themselves held their color balance for only a year or so; now the photo inks can last for decades when used eith the proper paper. I have not tested lasting quality myself, but from what I read, Epson inks probably have the edge in this respect, but with Cannon and HP close behind. (This may change at any time as they are all working on better ink formulations.)

With ink-jets, you must consider the ink and paper combination. For archival prints, you need photo paper and dye-based inks. For black text on ordinary paper, pigment-based ink is better. For this reason, most new printers can take two types of black cartridge; you use the one appropriate for the job.

Bob suggested that perhaps a color laser would better fit your needs, and I second that. A membe of my users group recently got a Konica color laser for less than $400, and I would judge the color prints on ordinary paper to be at least as good as ink jet prints on the same paper. I have not seen any prints made on photo paper, but my guess is that they would not be as good as ink jets because photo paper is made specifically for ink. Although the initial cost of a laser is higher, the overall cost is reportedly less as toner produses many more prints than does ink. The downside is that it is slow for color prints. It makes three passes -- one for each color --and prints only about 4 or 5 ppm. Monochrom printing is, however, up to 20 ppm.

Hope this gives you some food for thought on printer and ink selection.

Frank

My unit clogged shortly after warranty period ended. I called Epson, then called the repair facility they suggested. The repair facility informed me that the Epson print head cleaning mechanism has faulty engineering in the C80. Their advice: junk the unit and buy a new Epson
C86. Yeah, that'll happen...